Hi reefers, I was wondering your impressions of the "reef safe" & "fish safe" serpent sea star (Ophioderma sp.) from actual owners. I have read good and bad things (small fish, snails, shrimp eaters) but wanted to get your opinion. Are they worth the risk in a 40 cube? I know they get big but seem to hide in a cave most of the time and good for eating detritus and decaying food. As you can imagine he won't have a heck of a lot of room to roam and don't want him sneaking up on my clown pair nestled in the sand and eating one of them. Any advise would be greatly appreciated! Jarrett
There's nothing they do beneficial that a brittle star doesn't do and without the fear of them being predatory. My brittle star is probably a foot across and has not been a problem. Never see all of him just multiple arms hanging out. I'll post a pic of him tonight when I get home.
Well that's the thing, all the temperament listings on the brittle say semi-aggressive and on the serpent sea star, it says "peaceful". Brittle - http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=497+528+2079&pcatid=2079 Sea Serpent - http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=497+2857+735&pcatid=735 So you can see why I was confused. I figure they are both in the category of keep them well fed and they'll leave everyone alone, if not, then they are as opportunistic as crabs.
The only bad one that I know of is the Green Brittle Star. To the best of my knowledge all others are fine
Never seen a green brittle star. I know the green serpents get blamed for a lot of things. Here's mine, harmless detrivore. This is one I have to disagree with LA on......well not the only one. LOL
I love my sea serpent. I have 1 teeny tiny emperor shrimp and 3 pom pom crabs, and he never bothers any of them. They're all in a 29 gallon nano cube. I'm sure each has a slightly different temperament. I feed mine with little chunks of fish or sea scallop and he's a happy camper.
Green Brittle Stars can be quite nasty http://echinoblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/giant-green-brittle-stars-of-death-when.html http://www.saltwatersmarts.com/green-brittle-star-little-fishy-beware-ophiarachna-incrassata-5839/
I love the music but I couldn't have one so big I don't think. So snakey! lol I saw one at the fish tank the other day that looked just like a snake coiled up under the rocks.
Yea it's actually pretty small. Half-sized or less than doc's. Acclimation took 3.5 hrs. And still thought he was dead when I put him in the tank. But then just about the time the lights were dimming, I saw the tentacles . Pretty neat to me and it doesn't have a brain! That's apparently why acclimation takes a while since they cannot easily adapt to their new environment.
My Red Serpent is pretty big. The disc is about the size of a .50 cent piece, with legs it is 10-12" across.
So is this a serpent sea star? I found it tonight when I was checking out the tank with my phone light not too long after lights out. It's currently living in my big ball of blasto! It's TINY! I'd say probably about the size of a half dollar end to end. Maybe a tad bit bigger. And after watching my video again, I think there may be 2 of them! Yep. There are two. Couldn't get a great pic but here is the zoomed out version of the one above. Can't believe I missed it before.
I guess technically Brittle Stars and Serpent stars are the same thing but I see them separately, that is how I learned them. To me, spikey looking skin is a Brittle Star, smoother looking skin is a Serpent Star. They both have the spikey skin but Brittle Stars are really spikey. If you go to Live Aquaria you will see the distinct difference.
I thought that is where I looked up the serpent.. it said it would get over a foot I think.. will this one or is it a miniature variety? I was thinking the brittle stars they had listed were black and not striped.
Well, I guess I was worried for nothing. My blue legged hermits ripped the banded sea star apart one leg at a time. Evil little devils. I think I have too many anyway. They also killed 3 of my scarlet reef hermits in a few days and stole their shells. Ugh! And I thought I was having a bad day.