+KimP Posted May 26, 2011 Share Posted May 26, 2011 Found this crazy thing last week, thought it was a cool micro brittle star but now I'm not so sure. It's out and about all the time, day or night. As you can see in the pictures it has legs that branch at the ends. This is what made me second guess the brittle star idea. I've never seen a starfish with branching legs - not that I've seen it all Then I noticed it has these things sticking out where I would expect another leg to be and I found it sticking these things into a zoanthid polyp this evening. I stuck the little whatever-it-is in my rubble box for safe keeping till I figure out if he's a good guy or a bad one. I did do some internet searching and actually found a picture on wet web media, but there was no discussion I could find on what the heck is up with the crazy legs or if it's reef safe. Any thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teresa Posted May 26, 2011 Share Posted May 26, 2011 weird . . . sorry but i have no idea . . . ???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+dapettit Posted May 26, 2011 Share Posted May 26, 2011 Possible basket starfish. You might google it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhart032 Posted May 26, 2011 Share Posted May 26, 2011 wow that is a basket starfish, they are pretty rare in a captive reef cause most the time they die cause they need lots of care and hand feeding. ive never heard of anyone successfully keep one. i know they roll up in a ball during the day and they are normally nocturnal could be looking for food during the day cause its hungry, from what i understand you have to feed them everyday to every other day. they are beautiful when they get big. they will grow lots of arms and they will weave them like a basket. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhart032 Posted May 26, 2011 Share Posted May 26, 2011 (edited) First time i saw one was in Indonesia we were diving the The garden of eden at night. they were everywhere. it was very cool. thats really the only place ive seen them. Edited May 26, 2011 by mhart032 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gonzobob Posted May 26, 2011 Share Posted May 26, 2011 Yup seen them in the wild, Incredable. Check Reef Centeral for some articles and forum postings. Most of the people I've read about successfully keeping were doing so in NPS (non photosynthetic) tanks due to the heavy feeding requirements. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted May 26, 2011 Share Posted May 26, 2011 What they said, Basket Star. That is so cool! The problem is feeding them, is this in your seahorse tank? It's conjecture but you may have a combination of animals in your tank that it's food source isn't being consumed by something else. How long has it been since you added any live rock to your tank, I'm wondering how it got there and how long it might have been there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mFrame Posted May 26, 2011 Share Posted May 26, 2011 Found this crazy thing last week, thought it was a cool micro brittle star but now I'm not so sure. It's out and about all the time, day or night. As you can see in the pictures it has legs that branch at the ends. This is what made me second guess the brittle star idea. I've never seen a starfish with branching legs - not that I've seen it all Then I noticed it has these things sticking out where I would expect another leg to be and I found it sticking these things into a zoanthid polyp this evening. I stuck the little whatever-it-is in my rubble box for safe keeping till I figure out if he's a good guy or a bad one. I did do some internet searching and actually found a picture on wet web media, but there was no discussion I could find on what the heck is up with the crazy legs or if it's reef safe. Any thoughts? Kim, how large is it? I'm thinking of some of the micro-serpents I gave you, I've seen a small one similar to this in my tank. I thought he was just deformed. Either way, very cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted May 26, 2011 Author Share Posted May 26, 2011 Wow, if this is really a basket star that is so cool. I'm almost positive it (and possibly others) came in on a gorgonian I just got last week. I remember when I was holding it down while the epoxy hardened, I noticed a few of these things wrapped around the branches. I didn't think much of it because I was busy getting the new corals in place. Geez, I hope it doesn't die. I hate to get things and have them die in my tank. It is in my seahorse tank and I have always heavily fed the tank because of not only the seahorses but I also keep sun polyps and a couple NPS gorgonians. I'll have to research how much care this guy needs. Thanks for all the input. I'm so relieved to know what this thing is!! I let it out of my rubble box first thing this morning and it went immediately to one of the gorgs and wrapped around it. I felt kinda bad about isolating it last night Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted May 26, 2011 Author Share Posted May 26, 2011 Kim, how large is it? I'm thinking of some of the micro-serpents I gave you, I've seen a small one similar to this in my tank. I thought he was just deformed. Either way, very cool! I'd say it's maybe the size of a quarter. On closer inspection, some of the branches on it's legs have branches. What a cool creature! This tank never ceases to amaze me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhart032 Posted May 26, 2011 Share Posted May 26, 2011 They can be very small and get pretty big. They do have several extensions on the stars. Those will grow bigger and will grow more. Till it's all spun out. It will look cool i hope it makes it! I'd love to have one in my display. I think there wicked cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted May 26, 2011 Author Share Posted May 26, 2011 They can be very small and get pretty big. They do have several extensions on the stars. Those will grow bigger and will grow more. Till it's all spun out. It will look cool i hope it makes it! I'd love to have one in my display. I think there wicked cool. I just found another one. I don't know exactly what type of tank you're setting up coral-wise, but you can have one if you want to give it a shot. I'm going to do my best to keep them alive, but without crashing my tank I have lots of reading to do still. Anybody out there have experience with something like this? Or even keeping a NPS tank? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesL Posted May 27, 2011 Share Posted May 27, 2011 There was someone on here that had a large black basket star ... they had posted videos of it wandering across the tank. This is the most colorful one I have ever seen. All the others I have seen in videos are black or brown. Yay for cool hitchhikers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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