Pack of "Asterina" Aquilonastrea SeaStars Starfish
We recommend against adding these to a reef aquarium that does not contain shrimp that eat them. Please read full description.
If these animals were not so prolific, stayed to the rock, and only ate green algae they would be great. Unfortunately, they usually stay on the glass, reproduce in mass numbers obstructing the view of the aquarium, eat a lot of coralline algae, and on occasion they will eat zoanthids! We only offer them for sale as there are some shrimp occasionally offered for sale in our hobby that only eat sea stars.(These are food for Harlequin Shrimp / Hymenocera picta / Bumble Bee Shrimp / Striped Harlequin Shrimp/ Gnathophyllum americanum) Aquarist looking for a food source for these shrimp that is unlikely to also bring in fish disease and other coral pests may consider this item as an option. They are often about a quarter inch in size, but can grow to three times that in some situations.
It has recently been suggested that these sea stars should be called Aquilonastrea, but the hobby still clings to the old genus name of Asterina. We haven't been able to confirm which genus these below to so for now we include both.
We keep a limited inventory for this item, but if you are interested in obtaining more please reach out and we will see what we can find.
Like everything listed from TerraReef, these are a aquacultured.
This item is a "stock item" meaning the specimens you receive will not be the exact specimens in the pictures, but they will be clones similar in appearance. Approximate size range may also vary between individual specimens.