my brittle starfish ate my clam!

[tdam]

Has anyone ever heard of that happening?

I have had my clam for about six months. He's sat in the sandbed all this time. A few days ago, I decided to rearrange my tank and I put him on a rock.

So I was looking at the tank tonight, and I see my brittle star's arm inside my clam's shell. I pull the clam out, and it's an empty shell now.

OMG! I want another clam. But I'm afraid this will happen again. Are brittle stars known to eat clams? I wanna kill my starfish now.

 

[insane_reef_keeper]

Don't kill it, trade it in towards another clam.

 

[hnguyen]

from what I heard, they were reef safe and don't bother coral. Are you sure it was the starfish that killed and ate your clam? Or could it have been picked on by something else or just died and the starfish was just doing its job cleaning up the mess? I'm just trying to keep options open as I have a few in my tank as well and I have 3 maxima clams. Don't get me worrying now man.

 

[tdam]

I cannot say I am 100% sure. But his hand was in the cookie jar. That's why I am asking if it be something else. Theb only other suspects are crabs (I have hermits and a strawberry crab) or a coral beauty. But no one ever messed with him when he was in the sand for 6 months.

 

[shrimpy brains]

So sorry, starfish are always a risk with clams. They are designed to pull apart and eat clams/mussels.

 

[hnguyen]

Shrimpy Brains;630193 wrote: So sorry, starfish are always a risk with clams. They are designed to pull apart and eat clams/mussels.

I've never heard of that, but hearing it now is kind of uneasy for me! Knock on wood but my bristle starfish has not messed with my clams yet and I've had them for 2 months now. Their all still doing fine and I have them on the sand bed as well.

Could it have been the move itself? Do you have just one clam or do you have more then one? If more then one, was the one that died the only one you moved?

Either way man, I'm sorry for your lost. I'm a big clam lover myself so it hurts to see them go.

 

[smoothie]

Your star took advantage of a dead/dying meal. That's what brittles do to a certain size. Always honestly. Really large ones with a 15"+ wing span turn into good hunters when hungry

 

[rolo65]

Smoothie;630200 wrote: Your star took advantage of a dead/dying meal. That's what brittles do to a certain size. Always honestly. Really large ones with a 15"+ wing span turn into good hunters when hungry

yeah....if you werent careful moving the clam from the sand to the glass theres a possibility you injured the foot....which can heal but if its damaged to much then....well......starfish food....i had 2 maxima clams in a tank with a brittle star for over a year and half.....

 

[tdam]

i'm not aware of this foot that you're talking about. it didn't have a foot that stuck to anything.

 

[stacy22]

Was it a brittlestar or a starfish? They are not the same thing.

 

[tdam]

brittlestar.

 

[jmaneyapanda]

It is extremely unlikely that a brittle killed the clam. Other stars could easily do it, but not a brittle.

 

[tdam]

how does the brittle know when something is dead? does the clam put out a dead smell?

could me moving the clam up from my sandbed to the rocks (closer to the lights) have killed him?

 

[basscyn]

I have a brittle and a serpent star in with my Deresa. Only had the clam for a month or so.

Ya got me worried a bit

Tagging along...

 

[tdam]

well, based on everyone's comments, i'm not going to say he did or did not do it. all i know is that i'm looking at the tank, and i see his arms are in my clam. i pull the clam out, and it's empty!

 

[hnguyen]

BASSCYN;630267 wrote: I have a brittle and a serpent star in with my Deresa. Only had the clam for a month or so.

Ya got me worried a bit

Tagging along...

+1, I've been keeping both eyes on my clam's making sure theres nothing on them. I've notice my brittlestar likes to go underneath some of my hornets frag plus but I haven't seen it bother them.

But then again. I had a blue hornet just disappear out of no where. I mean the super glue holding it to the frag plug was even gone!! I was like :yikes: where did it go!! This happened 2 weeks ago and I still don't know why. Other then that, everything seems fine.

 

[tdam]

i will say that i've had both the star and the clam in the tank together for awhile with no problems. i have seen the brittle come out and steal scallops from my anemone but that's about it.

 

[ralph atl]

There are soooo many species of brittlestars and soooo many species of seastars.....They each have their own targeted food.....an already dying clam would be a meal for a lot of your tank inhabitents....

 

[pamelahaley]

Methinks it was already dead when your star found it. I needed my nassarius and brittle star to tell me my giant snail was dead... or else I would have left it in there and killed the whole tank! I thank the scavengers.