Tip of the Day – 9/19/2012

It’s commonly believed that of all the brittle stars available in the aquarium trade, the big green ones are the ones to avoid. Rumor has it they love to eat small fish, causing a sprawling reef tank to become devoid of fish life within a matter of weeks or months. While there is a great deal of validity to this belief, it doesn’t exactly convey the whole story. All brittle stars can become fish devourers, and will likely do so when they can’t find food elsewhere in the aquarium. Serpent stars, generally thought to be one of the safest starfish for a reef tank, can also develop a taste for fish life. To prevent any starfish from wiping out your expensive aquarium livestock, be sure to spot feed it regularly. A content starfish won’t wander around the aquarium and try to eat things it will have to catch, being fish in our example.