Serpent star or brittle star

[FatAbott]

I was interested in getting either one of the two I am not interested in the "really pretty stars" . For some reason I really like these two because they look like something that comes out of the aliens anthology ! Although I read/heard that you feed them twice a week. But food is no problem since i live in Florida you just have to go to the docks in the moring to get fresh food. But a couple of questions about them:

1. Which of the two are more hardy.
2. what is really the difference between the two.
3. does the serpent star crawl on the glass (not particularly wanting but Ok i guess none the less)
4. does anyone have any experience with either one

Thank Brian

[tims]

they are basically the same thing.
color variations and sizing is about it.
both are classed as Ophiuroidea .
try and stay away fromthe greens. they are more of a meat eater.. not good if you have fish you want to keep
one of the problems witht them in an over all sense.. they can nto take swings in the tank ( like the SG level)
most are around 4-7 inches in size and need a mix of food.
a few variations will even eat sponge off the LR too.
over all they may not be the best idea for a reef. even the sand stars are not really cleaning the sand, they are looking and eating the micro life with in it.

[c9miles]

I actually have had a green brittle star in my reef tank for about 8 months. He is pretty huge and basically hides under my large rock during the day. He reaches his legs out of every different hole looking for food. I basically give him a few cut up pieces of frozen grocery store shrimp about once a week. He has never touched my fish...which is about half his size, and overall he is pretty awesome to watch and to feed. At night he will come all the way out and scavange for food.

I really enjoy having him. He has never knocked over a coral or eaten my fish...he did however eat my peppermint shrimp. Mine has been very hardy and actually survived a 5 day power outage when the tank dropped to about 60 degrees and killed just about everything.

Not to discredit Tims info since he is a much more experienced reefer than I am, but I just wanted to give you my experience. Goodluck in your decision.

Chad

[tims]

no problem chad..
just keep an eye out on him..since you keep him well fed that is a major plus!

[FatAbott]

So are they considered reef safe and is it prefurable to feed them at night compared to the day

[tims]

Originally Posted by FatAbott

So are they considered reef safe and is it prefurable to feed them at night compared to the day

heheh.. yes and no.....
reef safe .. yes... fish safe....maybe....
most do likethe night time more then the day time, that is one of the reasons so many like the caves.
dont read me wrong, i love the look of the various stars, and it has been a bit since i had one. they too are a bugger that can take some specail care

[Geoff]

as a general rule the larger the central disc the more opportunistic the star will be. GBS are notorious for eating shrimp and small fish.

other than that whichever you like the looks of. serpents have smooth arms, bristles have bristley arms.

G~

[FatAbott]

thanks fellas for all the info.

[Little Luey]

I had a green brittle star for a while, but it ate a lot of my snails, crabs and the last straw was when it ate my cleaner shrimp.