Jestersix

What fish eats brittle starfishes and stomatella snails?

Im looking for a fish that eats brittle starfishes and stomatella snails that I can put in my 10 gal.
Brittle starfishes are wrecking my zoas, stomatellas are breeding like crazy.
Oh by the way, I think Ill be giving away from stomatella snails this weekend to people in the Sunset/Richmond area of SF.
Dont want to go anywhere else.
So back to the topic, are there any fishes you guys recommend?
 
The problem with a tank the size of 10g is that any fish that MIGHT be able to eat brittle starfish will be way too big for your tank, not to mention brittle stars tend to hide in rocks and so forth.

If your rocks are small you could possibly remove them and swish them around in a bucket with a little povidone/iodine in it and that might kill them to the point of making them fall off.
 
sfsuphysics said:
The problem with a tank the size of 10g is that any fish that MIGHT be able to eat brittle starfish will be way too big for your tank, not to mention brittle stars tend to hide in rocks and so forth.

If your rocks are small you could possibly remove them and swish them around in a bucket with a little povidone/iodine in it and that might kill them to the point of making them fall off.

They bailed on rocks I dunked in H2O2...the bottom of the container was covered.

-Gregory
 
sfsuphysics said:
The problem with a tank the size of 10g is that any fish that MIGHT be able to eat brittle starfish will be way too big for your tank, not to mention brittle stars tend to hide in rocks and so forth.

If your rocks are small you could possibly remove them and swish them around in a bucket with a little povidone/iodine in it and that might kill them to the point of making them fall off.

I suspect he is talking mini brittles or which there are a few fish that would work. Pseudochromis are known to sometimes eat them. Some wrasses. I had a basslet that only ate them, but you won't find it on the market.
 
If it is the tiny brittle stars, I am surprised to hear they are destroying zoas.
From everything I have heard, they are fairly beneficial detrivores.
Instead, they might be eating the already dead parts of the zoas, killed by something else,
or just eating detritus in and around the zoas.

If you do have a ton of mini brittle stars, that huge population could be a result of ideal conditions,
which means lots of detritus. That same condition could be killing zoas due to water quality.
And if that is the case, adding a fish likely would just add more detritus, and make it worse.

But that is a lot of "ifs". So really just some ideas to think about.
 
rygh said:
If it is the tiny brittle stars, I am surprised to hear they are destroying zoas.
From everything I have heard, they are fairly beneficial detrivores.
Instead, they might be eating the already dead parts of the zoas, killed by something else,
or just eating detritus in and around the zoas.

If you do have a ton of mini brittle stars, that huge population could be a result of ideal conditions,
which means lots of detritus. That same condition could be killing zoas due to water quality.
And if that is the case, adding a fish likely would just add more detritus, and make it worse.

But that is a lot of "ifs". So really just some ideas to think about.

They don't eat them, but they sure as hell can irritate them into staying closed... as the old saying goes, a closed mouth doesn't get fed (light or food).
 
gerbilbox said:
Can I have some stomatella snails? I'm not in SF but I can travel.

Sure, If you can come over to the city this weekend.

Nah, not killing zoas, just harassing them forcing them to close haha
My yellow tail damsels are ignoring them =[
 
Try pulling some out of the rock and dropping them in the water column. The damsel just may get a taste for them :)

What other fish do you have?
 
Looks so ugly =[

@joost, I don't got messages yet as im not a BAR member yet. Just give me your email and we can talk from there
 
muhli said:
gerbilbox said:
Can I have some stomatella snails? I'm not in SF but I can travel.

Sure, If you can come over to the city this weekend.

I can certainly make it this weekend. I'm not sure how to contact you since I don't want my contact info searchable on the Googles...oh I got an idea. Get my email from this temporary image, send me a message and we'll take it from there:
http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/k539/gerbilbox/email.jpg

Thanks!
 
Back
Top