Clam Killer ! FYI for you Clam Keepers

[Scream311]

OK so Ive Finally Figured Out what has been Murdering my Precious Clams in COLD Blood and wanted to Share this Caution with my fellow Maastards


I was losing my clams one by one and just couldn't figure out why until today !


a Worker whom i thought was Harmless except for maybe when it came to small fish which it could grab in its arms length decided to grab for more then that. A worker whom i kept soley for the purpose of scurrying around under the ledges and rocks, eating detritus. This Worker is a Green Brittle Starfish. i caught him Knocking over my Last Clam and Digging into its body cavity, sad sad day.11796

[Europhyllia]

Gross.

( I always cringe when I see shops post them on their stock lists. Why would anybody want these when there are much safer ones to be had ? )

[Scream311]

haha yea the one i have in my moms tankis HUGE ! and everyone thinks its ugly as heck !

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii77/scream311/IMAG0589.jpg
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii77/scream311/IMAG0590.jpg

what type of Starfish do you keep Karin ?

[Mike]

They are called green deaths, that should be a clue. We have a couple of bigger serpent stars.

[Scream311]

gotta Love the LFS that dont WARN you about them ! lol

and then all Salty Sites say REEF Safe, sure but what about the Clams !!!!

:bareteeth:

[Europhyllia]

I got Harlequins. They have that white/black prison uniform look and are very gentle. They don't get huge either. One of them comes out to feed with my Mandarin on the goodies I target feed them into their little cove

[Scream311]

Harlequins Nice. Ill have to keep an Eye out for them

[ShAgMaN]

Ya, my serpent did the same thing...one large purchase was enough. No clams for me.

[Mike]

I think serpents are okay, brittles are not. As far as starfish go, we have the serpents (big and small), basket, Sand sifter, and linkia.

[kkiel02]

Plus Ive always heard the Green Brittles are fish eaters. I would pull him out if you get the chance. I want to get mine out and it isn't even green. If I could have it my way I would just stick to all my little mini brittles and get rid of my brittle and serpent or at least put them in the sump.

[Scream311]

Ahh that's a good odea Kevin. Well as long as they don't get sucked up into the Return Pump. The sump would be a good home :-)

[kkiel02]

I caught my brittle today! He is usually hidden in the rocks but today he was way out in the open so I took my chance. Now hes in the sump. The reason I wanted to do this is in the 125 I found him in the "fish killing stance" where it was up like a bar stool waiting for something to go under it. Plus he just massive and knocks eveything over. Hes probably in the 18 inch range. My serpent is still in the display but it is alot smaller. Maybe 10".

[OrionN]

I don't think it is the star fish that is the killer. It just eat a dying clam. Your clam was killed by something else, most likely parasitic snails.
These green serpent star can eat fish but not really efficient at catching fish. I had clams and fish in my tank, never lost a fish or a clam in the years that I had him. I moved, got rid of him and never got one back. I see him in posture to try to catch fish, but he had no luck in my tank. I got plenty of small fish from Royal Gramma, yellow tail damsels, clown fish, Mandarin and others when I had him in the tank. They were all fine with him in the tank