Asternia Stars

[MadReefer]

It seems both tanks are getting many Asternia stars and not sure how to handle the population other than scooping and dumping.
I have a Saddle puffer in one tank and a Fiji puffer in the other and both tanks have brittle big stars. So I doubt Harlequin shrimp is an option.
Also, I could try a Linkia star but worried the puffers will eat them. Any thoughts appreciated.

 

[Ultimate Corals]

I've put large harlequin in with aggressive fish (lions, eels, triggers, etc) and they survived. Feed the tank really heavy and add it after the lights have been out a few hours.


or option 2

Get a magnetic fish acclimation box with a lid and add the shrimp in there. Toss some stars in there with it. Asternia stars send out a chemical fairmone to all other stars in the tank to get out asap. The first night after adding a shrimp you will see TONS of star fish at the top of the tank trying to escape. You can either manually scoop them up and toss them or you can scoop them up and add them to the acclimation box to give the shrimp a bit of a buffet

Nice thing about keeping the shrimp in a box is after you are done with it you can easily trade it with someone else

 

[redfishbluefish]

I've put large harlequin in with aggressive fish (lions, eels, triggers, etc) and they survived. Feed the tank really heavy and add it after the lights have been out a few hours.


or option 2

Get a magnetic fish acclimation box with a lid and add the shrimp in there. Toss some stars in there with it. Asternia stars send out a chemical fairmone to all other stars in the tank to get out asap. The first night after adding a shrimp you will see TONS of star fish at the top of the tank trying to escape. You can either manually scoop them up and toss them or you can scoop them up and add them to the acclimation box to give the shrimp a bit of a buffet

Nice thing about keeping the shrimp in a box is after you are done with it you can easily trade it with someone else

That is wild! I know it works the other way around.....harlequin's know there is a starfish around because they can "smell" them through their chemoreceptors. So the starfish must put out something that the other starfish can detect that they're about to get eaten. I remember seeing a video of a sunflower starfish out for a hunt of regular starfish, and the regular starfish were clearing out a large path for the sunflower....they knew he was coming, almost like the regular star's were screaming, "Run for your life."

Thanks for sharing.

 

[radiata]

My preference for Asterina star elimination is Naroda Starfish. [Aside: Wifey was recently a little upset when I pointed out to her that a big star in my tank had eviscerated its stomach over a smaller Asterina, and was digesting it.] Fellow elder-NJRC-member Jim Roth recently posted a photo on his Facebook account of a different star eating an Asterina in his tank. My elder-mind can't remember what star he had at the time. I bought my Naroda in January, 2024 from Pacific East Aquaculture. The only NJ ones I've seen locally were at Ely's in Florham Park. They were identified there as "green starfish".

FWIW, I just spent a half-hour looking through Jim's photos on FB, and he's been spending all of his IRA touring the US and Europe.