do i want this creature in my sump?

One turns into many!
I had a freaking ton at one point. I was picking them out daily \ nightly for months. Finally got rid of all of them.
Good riddance!

 

I agree with "if in doubt- - - "

 

To each their own, but I thought they were pretty cool. I love critters, especially free ones.

Since they're in your sump, I see no harm in leaving them be. The "good guys" are beneficial detritivores and will help keeps things tidy.

 

If they become a problem, harlequin shrimp will eat them i believe, they love starfish, any kind.

 

Respectfully disagreeing. Harlequin's eat tube feet off live starfish, for the effort of catching and eating the tube feet off asterinae, its not worth it. the shrimp will eventually starve.

Personally I love my Asterina, mine feed on coralline algae and dust algae. They basically keep my glass clean for me.

 

Fair enough, obviously you would not keep the shrimps in your tank if you had a great looking blue or chocolate starfish, but some types of asterinae are worse then others and seems a good way to keep the numbers down, then trade in the shrimp, job done.

 

Chocolate starfish are what are most commonly fed to harlequins, FWIW. Like I said, they'd starve just going after the starfish. The output of energy doesn't come close to the amount gained back from the tube feet off ONE asterina. That is assuming your shrimp decide to develop a taste for asterinae, I've seen some that ignore them all together.

I also disagree with buying an animal just to do a job, then returning it. Much too stressful (not to mention unfair) for the animals, especially inverts like shrimp.

Don't want to come across as rude, I just care for animals that we remove from the sea (and all other animals for that matter )

 

+1 to ^^^

Also, adding a predator to eradicate a pest is always risky. Harlequins (and Peppermints) have been known to attack some corals and sessile inverts.

FTR (might just be personal choice, but I feel very strongly about it), I find keeping an animal that purposely mutilates another quite distasteful. Killing something for food is one thing, but chewing body parts off another creature while it's still alive is not something I wish to see.

 

True. However, it's easy enough to determine which ones you have. As with all other sea stars, different species of Asterina have different specialized diets. Zoa-eaters will be found on your Zoa colony. Tweezers or a dip in CoralX will prove faster and safer than any predator. Asterina that come in on coralline-covered rock usually feed on coralline and other algae; some may be scavengers that will scour the rocks and sand for leftover food.

 

Thats fine, just a idea if all else seems to be failing, im sure people have done this in the past and will continue to do so, bound to happen in the wild right.