1/5 of a hitchhiker sea star...any ideas?

[reefgoddess808]

Bought some liverock about a week ago, I found this guy crawling on my glass today. Pretty neat, I hope he grows his other arms back soon! Any ideas on what kind of star this is?

[GerritM]

Asterina sp.

[reefgoddess808]

Thank you! I hope my puffer doesnt eat him!

[squishifishi]

astrea stars don't really have normal arms...they're very stubby and lopsided because of their asexual reproduction method.
Most are very beneficial, but a few types are coral chompers, so be warned.
cute though! have fun!

[reefgoddess808]

I google some pics last night. They stay pretty tiny and I def saw the mutli arm lopsidedness. I currently dont have any coral except for a few hitchiker button polyps. I do plan on adding corals in the future though. Maybe some mushrooms and a colony polyp.

[Posidion]

I had those asterina stars in my system for years...(mixed softies to sps) they never presented any problems except the tank take over by population numbers. That was easy to stop however, just bought one shrimp that eats starfish. Drawing a complete blank on the name right now on way to church now or I'd look it up for you. Hope someone will fill in my blank.

[Posidion]

Harlequin shrimp. Brain fart over

[reefgoddess808]

LOL, thanks for the input! If this little guy makes it to multiply that would be awesome!

[squishifishi]

if you end up with a ton of them, bumblebee shrimp will also eat them:)