splitting brittle stars to populate tank?

[Experiment397]

hey so im just pricing out and researching before i setup my tank, and was wondering if anyone has every purposely split a brittle star and let the 2 halves regrow then put them in the tank so you in theory had 2 brittle stars? i just remember seeeing a display on brittle stars and their ability to regrow/ repopulate from splitting or fracturing at the public aquarium down in the valley here. if its possible to do this for your own tank do you think it would be a good idea to try? if it works you get 2 for the price of one! thnx

 

[Kevin8888]

In theory it would work if you cut it exactly in the middle... but i wouldn't try it, to high risk IMO, they are fragile for stars. Unlike some other verieties, they have little to no "key systems" in their arms, meaning every thing is in the small disk, so if its not cut just right the could be missing something important to survive. You also risk the star getting infections, or just being unable to recover from the damage, I've seen people cut arms off of linckia stars to feed to harliquin shrimp (keeping the rest of the start in a "farm") but I really wouldn't risk it with a brittle or serpent star.

 

[Experiment397]

Ok. I looked back through my pics from the aquarium and the ones they where using looked like just common red sea stars. I was thinking of letting it heal in the Refugium If I ever decide to try it


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