I see Stars (1 Viewer)

[Guest]

I want to get a star to better shift my sand -- but dont want one that will eat all my pods. Should I be looking at a Serpant Stars or a Brittle Star? I was really shocked at the size of some of these pods I has always imagined them as something you would barely notice, but some of these are surely 1/4" or larger. 1 or 2 I think may be bristle worms -- kinda hard to tell at this size. But I did see a very odd looking larger worm in the sump -- few inches long -- looked like a row of feet or something along each side and about the 1st 1/2" of his body (head?) were a dull to bright red. He was too fast for me to get a picture and I have not seen him again since.

 

[djreef]

Kill him when you find him again. That's a Eunicid. It will kill all your snails, and eat any clams you might eventually get. Quick rule of thumb is -

1. Good bristle worms move slow

2. Bad worms move fast - like real fast

The grey area is fire worms which move kinda slow, but faster than your average bristle.

DJ
= 8-->{I>

 

[Guest]

Luckily it is only on the sump -- I will try to capture the critter. It is certainly hard to find pictures of things on the web to id them.

 

[Guest]

I disagree. Bristle worms are scavengers I have never seen one attack a healthy animal. If one ate your clam, it was because the clam was dieing. I have had a clam for close to a year, and I lots of bristtle worms.

 

[Guest]

MrLimpet read the post wrong, he saided bristle were good. Fast moving worms were bad.

 

[Guest]

Brittle stars are great unless you have a jawfish. (they disrupt their burrows.)

I've learned that they grow pretty fast too. I handfeed mine little shrimp pieces sometimes. It's a riot.

It's amazing how they can sense food and seek it out.

 

[Guest]

Looks like my original question sorta got lost. I want to get a star to better shift my sand -- but dont want one that will eat all my pods. Should I be looking at a Serpant Stars or a Brittle Star?

 

[Cakepro]

I have a brittlestar that's been in my tank for several years (from tactstat way back when)...it's lazy...just moves around to get food, not to stir through the sand. I don't know if all brittlestars are like that, though.

 

[DonnieKim]

I have a seabiscuit in my tank and it sifts the coarse crushed coral in my tank like mad! I dont know if this is detriminal to a reef or not but its really cool!

Maybe someone like reefsavers, or niko, or garagebrian or somebody more knowledgeable than myself could help you on that kinda info! might be a alternative!?!?! Anybody?

just my 0.02cents
Donnie

 

[FireEater]

Donnie, I was at Jungle Jims today meeting Sultros and looking at the Seabiscuit he has. I was thinking of getting it to sift the sand in my refugium.

I did pick up a red brittle star for the refugium. I wanted the yellow tang he has but he wants 50 bucks for it. He has a beautiful green manderin that I will most likely get this Thursday for 20 bucks.

I have a gazillion pods running rampent in the system now for him. The six line wrasse is fat enough to fry up in a skillet. because of all the pods.

Back on topic: Serpents and Brittles really do not sift sand to any degree. They mostly stay in the rocks and forage from there. I have watched mine at night and they really do not sift through the substrate at all.

Mark

 

[Guest]

Ok thats 2 for 2 that say stars dont shift, must admit i'm a bit surprised as almost everything I have read lists them as stirrers, goes to show salesmen will say about anything I guess. So next obvious question is what will shift the sand without eating all the pods. And OK, I'll bite -- whats a seabiscuit -- looked everywhere I could and didn't find one online.

 

[AggieBrandon]

Nassarius snails work well for shifting the sand. Sea cukes work good also.

BNH

 

[FireEater]

I can't find anything about them either online. I know they are sold as seabiscuits and have flat bottoms and a rounded top like a biscuit. They are about 2" tall and 4" across.

You can see them at the souviner stands at Galveston. The dead ones they sell are the white bone as they are hard. They look like a biscuit then.

They do a great job of sifting sand but I can't find any requirements on them. Maybe they are called by a different name and seabiscuit is common.

Mark

 

[rxonco]

I've had a sand sifting star for quite some time now. It does a great job. I never noticed any change in the number of pods in the tank.

 

[AggieBrandon]

It isn't necessarily the pods that suffer, it is the other fauna in the sand that suffers. Same goes for gobies, they eat sand fauna.

BNH

 

[Guest]

would it be ok to keep sand cukes in a 29G. I have heard they are pretty sensitive and a smaller tank is not as stable as a larger one. I also hear they can nuke a tank if they go bad. I like the idea of the odd lookin lil fellows tho

 

[Guest]

We would not suggest putting in a Sea Apple, but
those pointy yellow ones that City Pets seems to
always have doesn't stay on the sand.

We have thought about getting one for our 29 gal.
We just would like to pick out the color between the
two that the Dr.s have. We feel we have enough
trash on the sand bed for it to eat. There are
ways to make a 29 gal stable.

If you want to get one, we will take the chance with it in our tank first.

 

[BrianPlankis]

I also would like to know what a seabiscuit is(other than a famous horse).

Depending on the size of your tank I would steer clear of a sand sifting star, it wiped out my pod population in my 55 gallon. I imagine one in a very large tank(100+ gallons) would be alright? Personally I would never use one again, I like pods more

B.

 

[djreef]

Some sea biscuits/sand dollars are predatory. It just depends on the species. Good luck trying to ID these guys, as they all look the same while they're alive - even under close inspection. As far as gobies go, that too depends on the species. I have an A hectori in my nano that digs through the sand all day long, but he can't get very deep into it - given his limited size. He turns the very top layer over pretty good. Have you thought about getting some of the mini-brittle stars. Those guys just about exclusively live in the sand and move through it to the surface at night.

DJ
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[Guest]

does anyone in town sell the mini-brittle stars? Or does anyone coming to the meeting Saturday have some for sale?