Impossible...right?

[shanet1975]

Woke up this morning and my 2 Ocellaris clowns are missing. Looked all around the tank inside and out and nothing. Could be one of the dogs got them, but they sleep in our room and can't get out. Then I noticed my Sea serpent star;s belly is about the size of 2 small fish. Is that at all possible?????

 

[jayman10134]

before yesterday i would have said no way. but i came home from work yesterday, turned the lights on a my orange shoulder tang had pieces of his gill missing and his tail was chewed up. the only thing i could think of that could/would do it in the tank is my serpent star. so i definately think it is a possibility.

 

[.::Jun77::.]

yap, that is possible is it the green one?

 

[jayman10134]

mine is. the orange shoulder is about 5 inches. i didn't think it would attack something that big. i thought possibly it had fought with my clown tang, but the clown tang does not have a mark on him.

 

[shanet1975]

Nope. He/She is the brownish one. Probably 10 inches from leg to leg. Looking everywhere for my camera, but I think my wife has it in her bag.
Still kind of blowing my mind. 2 whole fish? One star? In one night?? He os going to be a pain to get out of there...

 

[jayman10134]

just get another clownfish and a fishing pole. apparently its perfect bait for serpent stars.

 

[shanet1975]

Hahaha Few beers and we should have him.
They wouldn't be hiding really well in the rock or anything for mating? I'm pretty new to this and not sure about many things??

 

[jayman10134]

how big of a tank is it?

 

[shanet1975]

37 gallon. Found my camera, now just need to figure out how to get pictures on here. I think I remember. Give me a bit and I'll have a picture of it.

 

[shanet1975]

Here is the star and my tank

 

[NateHanson]

Did you notice anything odd about the fish recently? Any chance they were ill? How long have you had them? Notice any sores or cloudy spots on their skin recently?

If they died, it would be totally expected for the serpent to make short work of them. Predation seems to be much less common, but still a possibility I guess.

When clowns "nest", the hover over their favorite spot, and don't move very far. But I've never seen them bury themselves in rock such that they can't be seen. Assuming you've looked at the back side of the rockwork, I think you'd see them in that tank if they were there.

 

[jayman10134]

i think the serpent star definately ingested them. whether they were dead before or not we will never know, but i have never seen a serpent star that fat. well, at least now you get to buy some new fish.

 

[shanet1975]

They seemed happy and healthy and looked great. I have had one for about 6 months, the other I introduced about 2 weeks ago and they seemed to have doing great with eachother. Both loving the anemone. Anything is possible I guess.....Should I remove the star before introducing another pair? Or do you think it was just a fluke?

 

[NateHanson]

Two weeks is possibly the right timing for a Brooklynella infection. It can kill within a day of showing symptoms, and the early symptoms are very hard to notice if you don't know what to look for.

No way to say, but it's a possibility. Might want to leave the tank without fish for a few weeks just to be safe.

 

[shanet1975]

There is still a yellow tail damsel and a yellow watchman goby in there. Would they also catch this? I'll go do some research on it as I have no idea what it is. Thanks again for your help.

 

[Greg Hiller]

>yellow watchman goby in there. Would they also catch this? <

That fish is particularly likely to get eaten by the green serpents (Ophiarachna incrassata). They are really good at catching small fish that tend to perch on the bottom of a tank. They can arch up on their legs to form a small cage. When the fish swims in....all over.

 

[shanet1975]

Sounds pretty cool to watch, but not so much in my tank... I got the star (not a green one) from a fellow reefer who I bought some live rock from and didn't do any research on it other than it was peaceful and reef safe (says liveaquaria). Is this serpent star doing much good in the tank, or should I get rid of it?

 

[Greg Hiller]

>Is this serpent star doing much good in the tank, or should I get rid of it? <

Usually it's the green ones that cause a problem. Serpents are nice because they eat up excess food and other dead critters, but they are certainly not necessary. If you feed it directly once in a while it might be less likely to eat other things.

 

[shanet1975]

Sounds like a plan. I'll try that...

 

[shanet1975]

Well...Was cleaning the tank with the mag float and then all the sudden here comes one of the nemos all chewed to cr@p. Dead as a doornail. No fins or tail. Really odd. Not sure if whatever was eating it threw it up, or just let it go or what. Still one missing. Pretty weird stuff....