Reef Discussion

[IJG3145]

Brian is my brittlestar which I've had for many years. I originally found him in a tank at Bunarong Aquarium, he wasn't for sale, in fact I found him in the live rock and talked them into selling him to me. He was about 8cm across back then.

Now he's more than 40cm across, feeds from my hand and readily gets into a tug of war with me over food. I mentioned him in another thread and was asked for a pic. Thought I would introduce hime to everyone :) He's mainly red and black but that's hard to pick up on a crappy phone shot.

For reference you can see a yellow 4 litre ice cream tub in one photo and the blue dish is a 40cm wash basin I use for fragging etc.

 

[Wrangy]

That is insanely cool Ian :)

 

[Susan Bates]

Brian is my brittlestar which I've had for many years. I originally found him in a tank at Bunarong Aquarium, he wasn't for sale, in fact I found him in the live rock and talked them into selling him to me. He was about 8cm across back then.

Now he's more than 40cm across, feeds from my hand and readily gets into a tug of war with me over food. I mentioned him in another thread and was asked for a pic. Thought I would introduce hime to everyone :) He's mainly red and black but that's hard to pick up on a crappy phone shot.

For reference you can see a yellow 4 litre ice cream tub in one photo and the blue dish is a 40cm wash basin I use for fragging etc.

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how big is your tank, he is huge

 

[IJG3145]

Just a 4ft. If I just plonk meaty food in the tank, you just see tentacles appear. Because they're so big everyone's first reaction is octopus. Then I rub food on my hand and when I put it in he wraps around my finger and lets me get him out - most times.

He's gone well beyond a size where he can self sustain so I hand feed him to make sure he gets the food. Sometimes when I'm hand feeding the nassarius snails, Brian will grab one of the snails and drag it into his cave. He must snatch the food once the snail retreats to it's shell but the funny thing is he usually deposits the snail back outside the cave once he's pinched the food.

I have a very low bristleworm population these days so between Brian and Fuzzy (the CBS) I think they're eating worms. When I can get him I'll introduce 'Slugworth' the Tiger Tailed Cucumber who often seems to cuddle up with Brian. I got Slugworth from Reeflections 4 years ago when he was about 5cm long, until a few weeks ago he was 25cm long and about as thick as a thick pork sausage. Then he split into two. Sluggy is now about 15cm long and the clone about 10cm but both are a lot skinnier, as if they expended a lot of energy during the split.

Slugworth doesn't mind being picked up but the clone isn't keen on it.

 

[Savage Henry]

I have had a couple of bristle stars that were very similar to that one. Yours looks like Schayer's Brittle Star. The ones I had did really well until my tank got to about above 27 degrees when they started climbing the walls to get out.

Mine were temperate and although I could collect them any day I leave them alone as I know they weren't happy above 26/27 degrees.

Anyway, mine were like yours, very aggressive at feeding time. Great scavengers.