Unknown Star Fish in Salt Water Aquarium?
by Aquaboy on Wednesday, April 21st, 2010 | 4 Comments
We have a spiny starfish in our aquarium and this is the only starfish we’ve ever purchased. However, today, I noticed that we have what appears to be 3 tiny starfish on the front of our aquarium. They are about the size of a pencil eraser top, are white/cream in color, and look nothing like our green spiny starfish. I’m thinking maybe they rode along in some of the live rock we purchased? Does anyone know what these starfish are and if they’re harmful for our tank? Will they get bigger? We have several mushrooms, a frog spawn, a six line wrasse, green spiny starfish, and a clown fish, several snails and crabs, and a shrimp alive and well in the tank currently.
Other articles you might like;
- Is These Pellets Healthy + More Qs-?
- Would This Hurt The Guppy Fry?
- 90g Reef Aquarium Setup Day 5
- Ideas On Fish For Freshwater Community Aquarium?
- Work Experience Melbourne 2011?
HHHHEEEYYY PPPAATTRRIICCC!!!!!
Sorry I had to
Yes, they rode along with live rock. My cousin has two salt water tanks and they have found some star fish in their tanks. They never purchased any star fish and they person at the fish store said it might have been on the live rock they bought. They have not had any problems with their star fish. Their star fish got a little bigger but has not grown too much.
They’re definitely hitchikers. Unfortunately, just knowing that they’re tiny (for now) and white/cream isn’t enough to make a positive ID.
Try these two pages; they cover most sea stars:
http://wetwebmedia.com/seastars.htm
http://wetwebmedia.com/seastars2.htm
They should not pose too much of a problem with the corals you have there, but keep a careful eye on them. Some starfish will snack on corals. I would think they will start on the muchrooms first if they are going to eat anything. Check out http://www.reefs.org/phpBB2/ they have loads of info on starfish and you may even be able ID your type there. Look in the hitch hiker secton