Asterina Seastars & Zoanthids

[ScruffyRubicon]

I have been pulling asterina stars out of my tank like crazy for the past few weeks because I have suspected that they are eating my zoanthids. As I expected, my zoo colonies have been thriving ever since.

Since this isn't really documented anywhere, I have decided to do a little experiment. I am placing a couple of zoos in a bowl and am going to photo document what occurs when about 20 of these stars are placed in the bowl with them.

Here is a pic I took earlier(in the main tank) of a star on a patch of zoos.


Here is a pic of the zoo after the star was removed:


To the best of my memory, those zoos were fine yesterday.
Here is a link to my previous thread.

[ScruffyRubicon]

Here are the two zoo colonies for the experiment (the two small polyps have not opened yet):

[ScruffyRubicon]

Here is another shot:

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Off to add the stars

[LadyReefNeck]

The first 2 pictures are excellent Eric!

That's exactly what happened to 95% of my zoas too! I wish I could have gotten a good picture of it happening.

[ScruffyRubicon]

Originally Posted by LadyReefNeck

The first 2 pictures are excellent Eric!

That's exactly what happened to 95% of my zoas too! I wish I could have gotten a good picture of it happening.

That was actually the most damage I had seen one do.

[ScruffyRubicon]

So far I have had a few go on the rocks and one or two circle the base. One in particular keeps coming and going. I am keeping an eye on him. Pics will come

[ScruffyRubicon]

I may have to re-do this experiment. Had to leave for a couple of hours and the water got cold. Still watching just in case things warm up and the star fish get a chance to recover.

[ScruffyRubicon]

No chance of this happening today now. My clownfish have decided that I taste good and will no longer allow me to get new stars.

[DarthOcellaris]

thats rough!