Chocolate Chip serial killer?!?

[Cvick86]

New to the hobby. We cycled our new tank. We started with a CUC of shrimp, snails,urchin and chocolate chip star fish. Our first fish (damsel) was doing great so we decided to start looking at other fish. We added a larger clown fish which was about 5 months old. He did fine that afternoon and evening. Next morning the fish was dead and the CCS was on top of it. We figured the fish was stressed and maybe died then the starfish started in on it. So, fast forward a few weeks later. We have added a wrasse, maroon clown fish, athinas and a goby. Well all fish are doing great. Woke up yesterday morning fed them and noticed our Athinas (Ralph as we named him) was not out as usual. So we figured hanging out in the rocks. Well we still didn't see him later. We looked in all the holes and crevices. Nothing. Checked over flow even though we were sure the fish could not enter it. We looked all over! Nothing. Finally I looked again and I barely saw a bit of pink under the CCS!! Flipped him over. There Ralph was. Being ate for breakfast!!

We called a fish place and they argued that something was wrong with our water and it killed the fish. (Our water tests have been great) and that the star fish would not eat a live fish.. But I have been researching on line. I found a couple people say their starfish attacked fish. Anyone else had this happen??

We are considering getting another tank just for the starfish so we can get corals eventually...

[BlackTip]

Chocolate chip star fish can and will eat your fish, if it can catch them.

[Dkuhlmann]

I've told many people about CCS eating fish and they didn't believe me. The only thing a CCS is good for is leg removal to feed Harlequin shrimp because their legs grow back once removed.

[aadams22]

Mine never killed anything...but it also only lived six months lol

[Cvick86]

I believe it got it while it was asleep! Our wrasse sleeps in its cocoon,the goby likes to tunnel under the rocks and the clown fish sleeps in a tight space.i think that has kept them safe. The LFS employee was very rude about it and treated us like we had no idea what we were talking about. I love our starfish but I cannot continue having it feed on $30+ fish.

[Pet Detective]

Very little chance the star fish killed your Anthias, more likely it was dead already & the star fish happened upon it's carcass. They are predators, I had one that ate the only healthy pacific anemone that I was able to keep for more than a few months, very upsetting, it immediately was banished to the sump but the damage was already done.

All star fish with spikes or pointy bumps as it were, are predatory.

[pinnatus]

I would find it very hard to believe that a chocolate chip starfish could catch and eat a healthy fish. Even a sleeping fish would have plenty of time to wake up and get away before a chocolate chip star could overwhelm it. Would a star eat a near dead or dead fish? - probably.

I would look for another reason that your fish are gone. New tanks often have a lot of fish deaths, sometimes due to the tank being new, sometimes due to the owners being new, sometimes due to the fish being sick when bought. That being said, you should add new fishes to a tank slowly. You need to let the cycle catch up with the change in bioload. That means add a fish, wait a few weeks, add another, and wait a few weeks. After the tank is established, you can add fish more quickly, but early-on you need to go very slow. If I was betting, I'd say that you added fish too quickly to a new tank, or the fish was unhealthy when you got it, and it sounds like you didn't quarantine it. Just my guess.

[aadams22]

Originally Posted by pinnatus

I would find it very hard to believe that a chocolate chip starfish could catch and eat a healthy fish. Even a sleeping fish would have plenty of time to wake up and get away before a chocolate chip star could overwhelm it. Would a star eat a near dead or dead fish? - probably.



I would look for another reason that your fish are gone. New tanks often have a lot of fish deaths, sometimes due to the tank being new, sometimes due to the owners being new, sometimes due to the fish being sick when bought. That being said, you should add new fishes to a tank slowly. You need to let the cycle catch up with the change in bioload. That means add a fish, wait a few weeks, add another, and wait a few weeks. After the tank is established, you can add fish more quickly, but early-on you need to go very slow. If I was betting, I'd say that you added fish too quickly to a new tank, or the fish was unhealthy when you got it, and it sounds like you didn't quarantine it. Just my guess.

I agree, even my blue legged hermit crabs could escape the chocolate chip star even after walking directly in to it. Theres no way it could catch a live fish

[Bent]

Yes. A chocolate chip starfish can kill a fish. All it takes is a lapse in judgement, dropping its guard, or being asleep and the starfish can grab it.

Likely? No.
Possible? Absolutely.

[anthonys51]

I will say the chance a ccs killed your fish is very very low. Yes it might be possible, but so is winning lotto, but i am not quitting my job anytime soon. like the other person said. your tank is new, you are also new to the hobby, and your didn't quarantine your fish. fish die for no reason even with season pros. as far as the antheis, what kind did you get. because they all need to be feed frequent small serving though out the day (some like the lyretail are easier to keep than others) but being new to the hobby i would stay away from them because they slowly starve to death and die

[e048]

Are you quarantining the new fish? If not there's your problem

As said above ccs are monsters honestly I could see one eating a small goby or a dragonet a clown maybe if the clown was a little careless

Clownfish are heavy sleepers mine still hover in place 10mins after lights go on and I can poke them with a net or a turkey Baster a couple times before they wake up so maybe

Honestly a starfish like that belongs in the belly of a harlequin shrimp or in your sump

[Jeff4777]

chocolate is for Harlequins!

but yeah, CCS can eat a fish. They are carnivores and are not reef safe. A healthy sleeping fish would likely be able to get away. The fact that it happened twice so close together and you/your tank are new, its hard to place blame on the CCS.

[Bent]

Agreed. Other culprits are more likely.

[MondoBongo]

maybe i've just been lucky that my numerous CCS have never eaten anything, including snails.

i've had dozens in my grow out system over the last year and a half as food for my harley, they've peacefully co-existed with a small dragonet, small rainford's goby, and various CUC with no issues.

that aside, it sounds to me like you're not quarantining new arrivals. if that is they case, there's a good chance these fish are succumbing to disease. also possible are the mistakes of a new aquarist. your tank is barely wet and you're already adding things like anthias. perhaps you have some experience that i'm not aware of, but i think there are other things at work here, and you're blaming the CCS as an easy scape goat.

[jayball]

Originally Posted by MondoBongo

it sounds to me like you're not quarantining new arrivals. if that is they case, there's a good chance these fish are succumbing to disease.
your tank is barely wet and you're already adding things like anthias.

probably one of those two, sorry to say.

[killinit123]

Originally Posted by Dkuhlmann

I've told many people about CCS eating fish and they didn't believe me. The only thing a CCS is good for is leg removal to feed Harlequin shrimp because their legs grow back once removed.

not to get off topic here but wanted to ask about the leg removal for CCS.. I have a pair of harlequins and i buy them CCS every other week or so.. I was wondering if just removing legs was a more cost effective option? but people have told me it doesnt work very well.. have you tried this? do you still do it? and if so how long does it take for the star to regrow its leg?

[MondoBongo]

Originally Posted by killinit123

not to get off topic here but wanted to ask about the leg removal for CCS.. I have a pair of harlequins and i buy them CCS every other week or so.. I was wondering if just removing legs was a more cost effective option? but people have told me it doesnt work very well.. have you tried this? do you still do it? and if so how long does it take for the star to regrow its leg?

you need a whole bunch of CCS to make this viable. regrowth time varies, but it does work.

i usually feed whole CCS to my Harley, but i had a few that amputated legs by sticking them in to the skimmer or return pump. the wounds we healed over fairly quickly, in less than 5 days, and it showed signs of growing back as quickly as two weeks, but they were all subsequently eaten, so the test stopped.

my guess is you would need more than 6 of them at least to sustain leg harvesting for any length of time. i'm shooting for 10+, as soon as i have a safer place for them to reside than in a sump with lots of pumps they can hurt themselves on.

[Dkuhlmann]

Yes I was told at least 10 were needed for the leg regrowth to be viable.

[killinit123]

Originally Posted by MondoBongo

you need a whole bunch of CCS to make this viable. regrowth time varies, but it does work.

i usually feed whole CCS to my Harley, but i had a few that amputated legs by sticking them in to the skimmer or return pump. the wounds we healed over fairly quickly, in less than 5 days, and it showed signs of growing back as quickly as two weeks, but they were all subsequently eaten, so the test stopped.

my guess is you would need more than 6 of them at least to sustain leg harvesting for any length of time. i'm shooting for 10+, as soon as i have a safer place for them to reside than in a sump with lots of pumps they can hurt themselves on.

thanks for the info it seems like i would have to set up a dedicated ccs tank if i wanted to accomplish this