[ace_92101]

Originally Posted by Ron Reefman

One of the coolest things that has ever happened to me in my almost 15 years in the hobby, happened today. I was doing some maintenance in my 125g DT (I have an algae issue). I went to grab a wad of hairy algae off a rock that has a couple of RBTA’s on it. As my hand got close, I saw something move and disappear into the sand next to the rock. It happened so fast and I wasn’t really looking at the sand, but at the algae on the rock, that I had no idea what it was. I took a small frag out of the tank and went to the spare room where I do fragging and other maintenance. When I came back out with the cleaned up frag I looked to see if there was anything there… or if my mind was playing a trick on me. But no, it wasn’t my imagination. It has a central disk that’s about 1” or a little bigger and has 7 to 9 VERY branchy legs that when fully extended make it about 3” to 4” in diameter. I didn’t get to see it very long as it disappeared into the sand again pretty quickly, but I was pretty sure it was a basket star! BTW, I've NEVER put a basket star in my tank on purpose! It must have hitchhiked in on something I collected in the Florida Keys or the beaches of Sanibel! Here is a very short You Tube video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIID...ature=youtu.be


Here is a still of it.



And the next time it was out I got a real treat! I was ready to shoot more video and I got over a minute of it eating! The video is a bit choppy as it had to be reduced in size to email from my cell phone to my computer. Here is a 90 second You Tube video, I hope you enjoy it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Clun...ature=youtu.be

Interesting. They look a little like stinging hydroids.