There are numerous variations of the watermelon chalice and although both those are different, probably qualify as "watermelon"

Both of those are super swweeeet by the way.

Man Harlequin shrimp are frikin awesome looking!!! Great pics too!

What were the Asterina starfish doing? I have been looking afoul at some of the Asterina in my tank. I used to have a nice white specie that had evenly sized legs. Now this new darker gimpy looking Asterina like yours has taken over and some of them are toonie sized with like 10 legs!

I am having troubles with some LPS corals receding and I am wondering if the Asterina are to blame as they seem to be hanging out in the problem areas. I have also been thinking of using a Harlequin Shrimp to get them all, but I don't know what to do with the Harlequin once he eats them all. What are you going to do with yours?

I guess I have a question as well... when all the stars are gone, What do they prey on?

That's the basis of my question...they only eat starfish.

This will upset some people. I was advised by the store I got mine from was to freeze a sand sifting star fish and cut off a little chunk of leg about once a week for feedings. They are amazing creatures to watch. Sadly mine disappeared when I added my MP40s I added mine to control an asterina problem as well

I had a pair as well at one time, I had rescued them from a tank where the lady was clueless. As bad as it was i had got a few chocolate chip star kept them in the frag tank and would chop off a leg as they finished the previous. The starfish would recover and start to grow his limb back before he would require amputation again. They have since been re-homed, but i kept them going like this few a few months.

I have hundreds of these stars in my tank. Is the problem eating or sitting on the zoas?

I see them come and go on colonies, and I have definitely had some colonies reduce in size.

Update on the shrimp/star problems?

Me thinks you might be right :razz:! Have any photos of your TSM?

Watermelon it is! I was tempted to get rid of my LPS but this little one has held me back, one of the brightest pieces in the tank for sure!

Thanks Reefer!

I have identified 4 different morphs in the tank to date and I don't trust any of them, if their numbers are spiking and they can be found directly on my coral they are coming out of the tank. I have done about 7 removal sessions ranging from 10 stars to over 150.

As others have stated I plan on keeping chocolate chips in my fuge and snipping off a leg every week, they will be a permanent presence on the reef from now on to ensure the stars don't come back.
They are even better in person, they do this wicked dance similar to a sexy shrimp and the pattern is out of this world! Thanks for the comment.
I would certainly lean that way, I find a majority of the zoas that melt have their coenenchyme mat deteriorate prior to the actually polyp going and a majority of the stars are found directly on the mat gotta put two and two together. Star numbers are dropping fast, my shrimp has gone into hiding though anyone know if there nocturnal?

The white ones that are "perfect" mini stars are safe. It's the grey and brownish ones that I've been eye-balling lately. My Asterina don't go on any live parts of the corals, but do hang out at the edges of where a couple have been receding.

I don't think you will be able to keep a CC starfish alive in the limited space of a fuge unless you have a big@$$ fuge maybe?

I agree on the white ones as I always find them on algae patches around the live rock, the grey ones tend to be found on the top of my zoas while the red ones appear to be much more detrimental popping up in the mat itself.

The fuge is around 60g but is mostly filled with sand, if worse comes to worse I can cycle the LFS route and pick up a Choc chip every two weeks or so. I don't see them being that hard to take care of though.

Red ones? Hmm, I'm not sure I've even seen red ones. Depends what you call red maybe.

Ya, if you got 60 gallons you might be ok then. He will eat your fuge into a desert though. :lol:

All I can say Levi is............OMFG!!!........I so want to come & help you frag zoa's if & when you do it again. I could probably have most if not all pre- sold :biggrin: Absolutely AMAZING dude!!

There probably red because they keep eating all my freaking BAM BAMS@#!@! I will try and snag a macro shot for you in the next few days, there not hard to find that's for sure.

Thanks Greg! You got lots of tank space to fill now eh? When I snip anything I will shoot you a PM, you will have to be first in line @ RC though Kevin has dibs on the lot.

LMK when you are going in for the snip, I am sure I can convince Kevin to put some aside for me.

Oh man! That's awful! I look forward to the macro. :)

Will do!

Forgot to snap one tonight and the lights are off, the numbers are declining steadily forsure though!

FTS:
http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/4499/img3571t.jpg

annnnddd todays FTS:
http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/4428/img3638bf.jpg

Good bye shrooms hellloooo LPS!
http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/695/img3665qj.jpg

http://img594.imageshack.us/img594/6900/img3645vy.jpg

FTS Fuge light on:
http://img847.imageshack.us/img847/1751/img3668m.jpg

FTS:
http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/9661/img3807sh.jpg

Fish:
http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/1583/img3777it.jpg

http://img855.imageshack.us/img855/3600/img3771l.jpg

Misc Coral:
http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/1690/img3734bu.jpg

http://img846.imageshack.us/img846/1986/img3736we.jpg

http://img832.imageshack.us/img832/5686/img3701m.jpg

ZOOASSS:
http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/6561/img3798hs.jpg

http://img855.imageshack.us/img855/7598/img3781eu.jpg

http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/521/img3775a.jpg

http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/6729/img3773b.jpg

http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/3297/img3732bl.jpg

http://img585.imageshack.us/img585/6859/img3681m.jpg

that last pic is sweet for sure:):)

MAN I WANT ALL THE THINGS!!!!!! in that tank. great pictures. where did you get those zoas from? i love zoas.

Thanks Denny, shot a few more tonight hope you enjoy!

I have an addiction...
I have my sources :razz:.

Few big things have happened in the tank as of late, as I'm in point form mood I will point form it...

• Both my Velvet wrasse and Male Lyretail Anthias have committed suicide.
• I'm pretty sure I have spent more time fighting about aquascaping in the last 5 days than I have in my life, on Thanks giving I was thankful for not murdering my brother...
• I'm pretty sure I'm happy with the aquascaping, I also say that every time I finish Aquascapeing...
• The mixing of my red and green cyano bacteria made for an excellent splotched Christmas theme unfortunately cyano isn't cool. I have pretty much eliminated it from the tank as of now but there are still a few patches here and there.
• Aptasia's eat bristleworms, I watched it with my eyes!!!
• Calgary got some wicked giant zoa colonies, I nabbed a few of these and have been filling in the SPS holes of the tank.
• I have owned red planet for a year today!
• On a good note my harlequin shrimp has aggressively been attacking my starfish problem, the numbers are crashing quickly I'm very excited with the results!
• My Skimmate smelled like rotten eggs...
• 2 of the Vortechs have been repositoned to under the new arches, photos below.

Here are some actinic photos from tonight after yet another aquascape, enjoy:

FTS:
http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/659/img3896ra.jpg

Zoas:
http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/2553/img3959cm.jpg

http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/5331/img3952mh.jpg

Others:
http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/7277/img3928z.jpg

http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/5576/img3932nl.jpg

http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/438/img3933on.jpg

http://img37.imageshack.us/img37/2602/img3947mp.jpg

Absolutely unreal Levi, amazing colors but I think I really need to call hoarders for your zoa hoarding :biggrin:

We need a Canreef weekend marathon, quite a few of us here that could partake on that one :lol:.

Pretty sure I have a FTS problem, I scroll through my thread and see the same shot like 4 times... Might as well make it 5 :razz:.

Day shot
http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/525/img4072t.jpg

Red Planet Colony 1:
10-08-2010
http://img818.imageshack.us/img818/1881/p1140044.jpg

Today (Large piece was broken off the rock so there's two colonies now):
http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/3503/img4080xm.jpg

Red Planet Colony 2:
10-09-2010
http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/7215/p1140079.jpg

Today (Again frag to the right was accidentally snapped off)
http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/768/img4085ky.jpg

FEEDING TIME:
http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/4932/img4114n.jpg

http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/8372/img4112tl.jpg

http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/1062/img4100s.jpg

http://img560.imageshack.us/img560/3687/img4089i.jpg

http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/3018/img4124c.jpg

And I went photo crazy again, picked up some new pieces.

Zoanthids:
http://img830.imageshack.us/img830/4903/img4262v.jpg

http://img853.imageshack.us/img853/4315/img4239lk.jpg

http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/4348/img4234q.jpg

http://img818.imageshack.us/img818/2892/img4213as.jpg

http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/2854/img4303w.jpg

http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/112/img4300xp.jpg

dude i need a red planet frag lol

My single polyp frags of the Sunny D's and Captain America Paly's have been sprouting!
http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/1671/img4275k.jpg

http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/9487/img4271b.jpg

Mystery Wrasse:
http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/1103/img4265c.jpg

More Zoas:
http://img845.imageshack.us/img845/2387/img4231x.jpg

http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/6382/img4312w.jpg

http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/8908/img4249rk.jpg

Possible sunset monti? Purchased it from a nutrient heavy system as all the pieces were brown.

http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/3710/img4324z.jpg

Actinic:
http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/3627/img4212x.jpg

Orange Hammer:
http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/6088/img4292qj.jpg

Need an ID:
http://img543.imageshack.us/img543/6610/img4252h.jpg

Dude! So... ummmm... since your Red Planet is growing at a fairly retarded pace, how 'bout sharing some of that this way?:razz:

Best I get around here is Brown Planet and I'm tired of paying so much for it.

I will check with devo, I'm sure were at the fragging stage but hes a little protective of them :neutral:.

Well, he can't be too protective if a piece accidentally breaks off.:razz:

For that monti....google ORA supernatural cap. Which is think is montipora hispida.

For that green coral...looks like Psammocora.

Looking great!! How are the Harlequins working out for you?

This tank is stunning, pretty sure its sold me on dumping several thousands of dollars on colorful button sized corals.

*Flash backs to the numerous physical fights we have had in the past over aquascape...*

Ya. no.
I can snip something off my colony though, shipping sucks that distance though :neutral:.

I would say you nailed the Psammocora ID, do you know what species the actual sunset monti is? This thing is already turning more orange and the green polyps are getting a real pop. Time will tell :razz:.

Absolutely amazing, the numbers of all the brown and whites have dropped dramatically and with manual removal the red's are slowly disappearing as well. Did end up loosing my giant dragon eye colony to a slow melt though, progressive fragging did nothing :sad:. That's the way these things work, I think I would go crazy if I held sentimental value to little sea polyps as I have lost so many of them over the years.