Need some asterina starfish

[bhbbhb]

So I had lots and lots of these asterina Starfish - so I got a pair of Harlequin shrimp. I figured it was going to take them a long time to reduce the population of Starfish. Well, several weeks later - I am hard pressed to find any in my tank. So, does anyone know where I might get some of these to feed the shrimp? I am also trying to catch them and pass them on. Just not sure of best way to get them. I have a chocolate Chip starfish in another tank. I was thinking of trying to lure them by placing the large starfish in the tank. Anyone have experience with that? Also if I want to feed them part of the chocolate chip starfish - do I just cut off part of a leg and drop it into my tank?
Thanks for any insight or suggestions
Bruce

 

[putemup]

My tank is all but over populated with the starfish. A few years ago I saw like 1 or 2 now they're everywhere. The funny thing is that they don't bother any of my corals or anything (else for that matter) so I don't bother them. I have no idea how they got in my tank, what they eat or besides manually, how to get rid of em. Lol.

I guess it's like a tense relationship.

 

[tanks4life]

They come in on liverock, and they can reproduce by simply pulling themselves apart. I did an experiment a few years ago where I chopped all but one leg off an asterina. Since he had 6 legs that left me with 6 pieces. Well in about 2 weeks time I have my 1 starfish with 5 new "buds", and 5 new starfish identical to the parent.

Some are coral eating pests but from my understanding alot of the ones we encounter are harmless detrivours. (Sp.) I have them in all my tanks and have never had an issue. Mostly the white outline with grey centered ones. Either way however they are a good part of the clean up crew so long as you don't have corals come up missing.

 

[raz0945]

The reason most people don't like the asterina starfish is that it will leave white spots on your coraline algae as it eats it off your rock or back glass. I pick them off when I see them, I used to have hundreds, now just a few.

 

[gacolt]

i have tons of asterina stars,i pick them out when i see them except for one that live in my overflow he's bigger then a quarter and he stays in the overflow.
the bottle trick should work with catching the shrimp put a leg of the starfish in a bottle with a string attached to it when the shrimp go inside the bottle pull them out

 

[seth the wine guy]

My pair used to come running when I would put a chocolate chip in. Shouldn't be hard to catch them at all. I used to cut one leg off at a time and leave the rest of it in the sump.

 

[lsue]

I have a lot of them in my tank, I have noticed that they will irritate my clams if they are up by the mantle. I also have a whole bunch of tiny brittle stars, can't think of the name right off hand. To think I actually bought some.... My LFS told me that Harlequins won't eat those.

 

[i_luv_coral]

I have some I can give you...

 

[bhbbhb]

It was actually easy to catch them. I used the suggestion to put some of the star fish in a jar. They found their way inside pretty quickly.
Now i think I am going to give them to someone who lots of stars and can keep them fed. Let me know if anyone is interested. Live in Sandy Springs near 285 and Riverside.