Zoanthid eating Asterina Starfish

[Blown76mav]

Well after a  few months of my Zoa's disappearing I decided to take a closer look to see what was going on.  At first I thought it was water chemistry but upon further inspection I found Zoanthid eating Asterina Starfish.  I've had the little white Asterina starfish in the tank for years but these are a Grayish/Blue in color.  I guess its time for a Harlequin shrimp   I even found them munching on my GSP (Which isn't all that bad), but I had to take the whole rock cause there are too many to pick off.  I've picked at least 30 in the last two hours off of all my Zoa colony's and I'm sure there are more......

[Boonjob]

Bummer, I had the purple and grey ones and the White ones before... neither messed with my corals(that I noticed)but they were always all over my glass

I tried taking them out of the tank, never did end up getting rid of them completely... though a few tank moves ruined their population.

[HUNGER]

man that sucks but at least u found what was causing it

[lazylivin]

That is good you found the problem. Now you get to have one of the coolest inverts in the ocean. Man I love Harlequin shrimp

[The WuSue]

That is good you found the problem. Now you get to have one of the coolest inverts in the ocean. Man I love Harlequin shrimp

I don't like to +1, but there isn't anything I can add to what Brian said.....and I really agree with that comment.

[Wall_Tank]

I had one for a little bit, until it cleaned out all of my asterinas, I thought I was feeding it enough, but I guess not.  If you ever see it without a starfish in its claws, you need to get a starfish to feed it.

Watching them track down a starfish was so cool.    Uses it's large claw to pop the starfish off the glass.

[Boonjob]

I recently learned that they can and often will feed off a starfish for days at a time and they sometimes will feed the starfish to keep it alive during this process.

[Wall_Tank]

I recently learned that they can and often will feed off a starfish for days at a time and they sometimes will feed the starfish to keep it alive during this process.

yes for Large starfish.   Small Asterinas are gone in under a day.

[Boonjob]

yes for Large starfish.   Small Asterinas are gone in under a day

Obviously...

[Blown76mav]

I had one for a little bit, until it cleaned out all of my asterinas, I thought I was feeding it enough, but I guess not.  If you ever see it without a starfish in its claws, you need to get a starfish to feed it.

Watching them track down a starfish was so cool.    Uses it's large claw to pop the starfish off the glass.

Did they come back after the shrimp died?  I'd hate to buy one and starve it to death, I'd rather give it to someone who needs it, but I also don't want these things to keep coming back.

[Wall_Tank]

Did they come back after the shrimp died?  I'd hate to buy one and starve it to death, I'd rather give it to someone who needs it, but I also don't want these things to keep coming back.

I had the shrimp in my frag tank, which he cleaned out.  I soon tore down the entire system for my upgrade, so I don't know if he would have totally cleaned the population.

I would imagine that if you have enough live rock, the stars will will duplicate in spots that the shrimp cannot get to.