star fish control help

[Slpolo121]

i have many little star fish and little serpent star fish all over the tank what will help me take care of this problem. please help thank you.

[Tennyson]

Harlequins are probably your best bet for getting rid of them. But, depending on the size of the population, you may need 2 or 3.

[revaltion131]

Harlequins will not go after the mini-brittles and serpents. They are too fast and/or strong for the shrimp to bother with.

[crvz]

if you're talking asterina stars, a harlequin shrimp should do well.

[spw4949]

My harlequin eats mini brittles like a champ!

[J. Montgomery]

IMO, asterinas and mini brittle stars are beneficial to a tank.

[revaltion131]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13946586#post13946586 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by spw4949
My harlequin eats mini brittles like a champ!

Really? Mine's left the couple I have completely alone. Though, he always has a sand-sifter readily available and digging that up is probably easier than trying to pull a mini-brittle out of the rocks.

[spw4949]

That's probably true, I would assume the easier the meal the better!!!

[Slpolo121]

thank for all the advice. thinking about getting a harlequin but worried since i got a couple of wrasse in my tank. my 2nd tank is only 46 gal bow front and that shouldn't be a problem since there is nothing in there that harm shrimp. how many would you recommend for 90 and how many for 46. also is it true that they eat coraline alage since i seen mine tank coraline almost disappear in the last couple of months.

since i do have wrasse and they might eat the shrimp. is there a fish that is reef safe that would eat the asterina starfish.

they are getting way out of control: i have so many that they are closing up my clams and zoa etc.. it all over the glass and rock. i see at least 20 on each. rocks and it is not a pretty sight.

thanks for your help in advance.

[revaltion131]

What kind of wrasses do you have? Shrimp-safe or not seems to vary almost species to species.

[Slpolo121]

green coris wrasse 4 inches, i saw him eat a peppermint shrimp. scott fairy, and leopeard about 3 inches both.

[revaltion131]

The Scott's and Leopard should be no issue, but if the coris already took out a shrimp, I wouldn't trust it with another one, either. I don't personally know of any fish that would deal with the stars, but some one else might.

[Slpolo121]

thank for your help.

i do have 2 large cleaner shrimp. and peppermint shrimp in there but they are always hiding except when the coris wrasse is under the sand. the large shrimp is ok but the smaller ones has been eatten. so most harlequin is small right. don't think it would be safe.

thanks

[E.intheC]

typically the smaller stars overtake a tank with high nutrient loads.. you might want to look into that aspect as well. I've heard they're somewhat self regulating, but I don't know about that

[Slpolo121]

that would be true also. since i do have anthias and i only feed frozen food. on my 120 gallon but 40 gallon at work it all over the place i feed them pellet and flake. it set on auto feeder and even the lowest setting there is alot of pellet that comes out and that tank is crazy.

thank for the help.