i need something to clean up the bottom of my tank. i've been told to get a starfish but what kind? will it eat my octo? i've been hearing that brittle's have ate octos. please help!

I think brittle stars are your best bet. They clean a lot.

Avoid GREEN brittle stars, bahama stars, chocolate chips stars, etc. Those are carnivorous and aren't just scavengers.

Serpent stars and other brittle stars should be fine. A linkia star woud add some nice color.

ok thanks i'm getting a serphent star from my lfs today. is there anything else that will help clean up? he ate his first fiddler yesterday and he made a mess out of it so i need to keep the tank clean.

ive actually found that peppermint shrimp make great clean up crews. they are fast enuogh and cheap enough to keep away from the octos and not to worry if they do get eaten. they are always quick to jump on leftovers. also small blennies ive noticed make good cleaners. they tend to be small enough that the octo isnt interested in them and the ones ive had for years with my octos just sit in front of the dens waiting for food to come out and the octos dont ever bother them(kinda like watching a person feed their dog table scaps).

i got a serphent sea star, a tiger tail sea cucumber, and a sand sifting star for a clean up crew.

My serpent starfish has to be 10 years old and has lived with at least 10 different octopuses over the years. He's all I've ever needed as a cleanup crew although my tanks are so aged there's quite a population of bristleworms that clean up as well.

i have a green common urchin. the octos never bother him, and he does a GREAT job of taking down green hair algae

daddysquoc,
I have to ask, what is a green common urchin? I thought I have had at least one of all but the long spined (don't make me look up the name please) but I am not familiar with a "green common". If you don't know its official name, can you describe it a little? Does it pickup shells and anything loose? Does it have stripes of "velcro"? Is it short or long spined? Are the spines very hard and pointy or short and sticky? Do you know which ocean it comes from? Sorry for all the questions but I enjoy my urchins and thought I knew most of the most "common".

dwhatley:
sorry for not being specific, it's an Echinometra mathaei from the Indo-Pacific area. its spines are short and it picks up any scrap shells/rocks(thermometers :lol:) that it can find. it's about 3 in. across.

Daddysquoc,
Now, I am really confused. I have several rock boring urchins but they don't pick up stuff, only my pin cushions stay covered in the natural and unnatural things they can find (like my ammonia checkers). None of them, however, are green and I am always looking for a new color. Does it look like this?

http://www.nps.gov/archive/kaho/KAHOckLs/rkbore.htm

not really. if you can find Complete Encyclopedia of the Saltwater Aquarium, it's on page 354. by the way, when i said green it wasn't part of the common name, i was just describing it

My brittle star lives in harmony with my hummelincki now. I wish I knew exactly which species it is, but all I can say is its brown with dark brown central disc. I assume a common one in pet stores.