Serpent star, DANGEROUS?

Right now Im acclimating a massive serpent star into my 75 gallon reef, from my 24 gallon FOWLR (the bristle worms were starving him out ), but now Im beginning to worry that he might go after my small pair of black O. clowns that like to rest on the sandbed at night? :-/ Is there any risk of having a large serpent star eat sleeping small fish? ( 1.5" ) Please include 1st hand experiences and info, thanks

Right now Im acclimating a massive serpent star into my 75 gallon reef, and now im beginning to worry that he will attack my pair of small black O. clowns who like to sleep on the sandbed at night. Is there any risk of having a large serpent star attack small ( 1.5" ) sleeping fish? thanks!!

 

I had my bangaii cardinal disappear, didn't know from what, (had 2 medium brittle stars and one tiny serpent star) then the serpent star killed my 20 dollar cleaner shrimp 5 mins after i put it in. After i realized what happened, they went back to the LFS

 

Yes they are evil. I had one (fairly large) and 4 smaller fish went missing. After giving him to my lfs, I bought replacement fish and all are still present. I suggest putting yours in the sump or give it away. :-/

 

Star fish are, as Amazing Aquariums' (my LFS) so eloquently puts it, opportunistic scavengers. (So are Crabs, but this is a Starfish thread, so I'll stick to the topic)
That being said, starfish will eat anything from detritus and dead co pods, to a fish that is just big enough to fit in it's stomach. If they are kept fed, you won't have any issues, but knowing how hungry they are is the roll of the dice. Good luck. Mine lives in the sump and has been there for 6 months after it ate my fire shrimp. It's lucky it wasn't out in the front yard. : )

 

if it is massive i would say unless you have a massive tank then more then likely it will go after the fish.

I had a serpant once that must not have had enough food in my 75g (it was a small serpent about the size of my palm) One night I come home and he is on his tippy tips with his body arched (looked like a bridge) He was fishing....waiting for an unexpectant fish to swim under him to grab him

 

Even simple inverts can repeat a rewarding behavior.

Basically if they find a sleeping or sickly fish and it becomes food they will repeat that behavior. It then becomes a learned behavior.

I would not trust one with smaller fish or wrasses that find shelter in the sand or cocoons.

Much better members of a clean up crew with less risk.

They are a great oddity, with stunning coloration but I would never own another.

 

I have a bright orange serpent in my 120 gal that as been with me since 2008. Never bothers anything and rarely comes out of rock except when I feed mysis or other meaty food. He's about 8-10" across.

 

I keep 2 or 3 serpent stars in each of my non seahorse tanks.
When I tried them in my seahorse tanks, the cool temperature (68°) wasn't tolerated by the stars.

 

I have a 14" Serpent Star in my 55g and have not had a problem with him eating/threatening my Oc clowns, or Cleaner Shrimp. I do feed him a chunk of raw shrimp about every 10 day when I feed my RBTA's. Note: feed the shrimp first, then feed the star/RBTA's as shrimp are little thieves!
I also just put 2 10"Serpents in my 185g, no problems so far.
I have read that the green stars are the dangerous ones??