Here is one of two Chocolate Chip Starfish that I insisted were so cute, we just had to have them!

Up close, they look soft and doughy, like a cookie! The day my bf bought them for me, I was ecstatic. We put them in what we call our Puffer Tank, which holds all of our aggressive fish. Anyway, the starfish adapted very well and immediately commenced to roaming around their new home. Satisfied and happy, I ended my day with a smile on my face.

The next morning when I woke, I went to look at my starfish. Still doing great, still roaming around… wait a minute. Why is that starfish on top of that tuxedo sea urchin? What’s he doing? I grabbed the eel’s feeder stick and gently nudged the starfish off of the urchin. Still not fully awake, I couldn’t figure out why the urchin looked different. So when my bf got up, I told him what I’d seen and asked him what was going on.

“Oh yeah,” he said “Those starfish are so cute, aren’t they? So innocent looking! You just had to have them! Your starfish ate my urchin!” Then he started laughing, and in his best imitation of me, said, “Oh, they’re so cute… can we get them? They’re only seven dollars… killers, they’re killers!” Further research informed us that these cute, innocent creatures would eat anything that moved slower than them. And they can move pretty quickly, lemme tell ya!

Oooh, I felt so badly! My bf has teased me to this day about my choice in sea life… but it’s all in good fun. The two starfish were transferred to what my bf calls the “Doesn’t play well with others” tank. He had previously bought a Picasso Trigger fish, which we were reassured would get along with the other tankmates in our Puffer tank. Not. Into Solitary he went. But now he has some buddies with him. And he moves around way too quickly for these starfish to make a tasty meal of him.

Well, ya live and learn, right? I did learn that no matter how cute something looks, it can still be deadly. And, as my bf always says… research, research, research! :)