Feather Stars ( Crinoids )

[scubabr53]

I just received a present from a friend. He cached a feather starfish wile snorkeling down at Caribbean?s. Knowing my interest in reef keeping he had broad it home in the plastic container. I'de read that Feather Stars ( Crinoids ) were nearly impossible to keep and I am not sure was this a good gesture or not.
I had to take it and give it a chance for survival; otherwise it would a die anyway. My questions are:
Has anyone kept a feather starfish for a wile?
If answer is ?YES? than what did you feed it with?
Thanks for any available tips.
Ben.

 

[scarf_ace1981]

i've seen them for sale in Fistown but have also heard they are impossible to keep. to bad your friend didn't know better.

 

[jhale]

from what i've read they filter the water.

it's going to be a challenge to culture the food in time to try to feed
it. I'll look for some links that might help.

your little present may end up costing you quite a bit of money to care for.

 

[scubabr53]

Scarf,
Thanks for giving me confidence on a failure.
Did anyone actually have tried to keep them in the past?

 

[scubabr53]

Jhail,
I'll see what I can do. As much as I love my hobby I am not planning to go broke because of it. I live in Brooklyn, 5 min walking distance from Brooklyn Aquarium. I am not sure if they have any in stock but I'll try to get some info from tank’s curators. Wish me luck.

 

[jhale]

that's a good idea.

otherwise I found this company that sells plankton kits, and the equipment to culture your own.

https://3kserver7.com/~frank/secure/agora.cgi?cart_id=1747418.23192*455QC7&product=LIVE_CULTURES

there are a few people here who might be able to take care of the starfish, you might want to offer him for adoption if you can't get the plankton in time. I hope the aquarium comes through for you. let us know.

 

[jhale]

oh by the way they only eat at night. that's when they open thier arms and suck up the plankton.

 

[prattreef]

Ben,
You might be best off offering the star to the Brooklyn Aquarium as they are more likely to be able to care for it. Sadly, they have almost no record of success in captivity ( hobbyists anyway) and as others have said, providing the proper food in the proper quantities will be difficult at best.

You might get it to live for a few months, but really it will only be slowly starving to death. Good luck. Randy

 

[scubabr53]

Everyone, thanks for advice. I'll check with BA and see what can be done.
Maybe they’ll give me a year pass to BA. Just joking.
I am not sure if they accepting living creatures from general public, but I will check with them anyway.

 

[scumonkey]

I ve had one for two months and it seems to be thriving (fingers crossed)?!
It has more and longer legs now than when I got it.
I have been slowly target feeding it nightly with a mixture of Cyclop-ezze, and Oyster eggs($). Plus whatever else it might grab from the tank while I'm feeding the corals and fish. I also dose Phyto......????who knows what it likes????
I see it has its arms open most of the time, but when the food passes by in the current, it starts curling and uncurling them- I assume it's eating something? It has stayed in the same high flow underhang ever since i I've had it. It's only moved once, and only an inch away, that's because the Anemone I got from Solby Moved in right over it's head. If I had known better- I wouldn't have bought it (thus not helping to further the market for them),
They should really be left in the sea.

 

[jhale]

overnight it back to where it came from

then send the bill to your friend

 

[sporty]

I have one for about 8 months...it started off as maybe 2-3 inches when first gotten and it has withered away slowly.
Then I read an article that they are very hard to keep because of the amount of food it needs in the food column... that in order to keep it satisfy you would pollute your tank.Even the author of the article said that they are better off left in the ocean because it won't thrive ...mine is still around but is probably 1/10 of its original self.I tried finding the article and if I find it I'll let you know who the author was and which magazine it was even though I believe it was FAMA AQURIUM.

 

[DonCisco]

Do you guys have a picture of it? That way if some knuckleheaded newbie (me) sees it, I will know better than to get it. So... a pic for identification purposed would be greatly appreciated by this knucklehead

 

[reefman]

Ben,
You might be best off offering the star to the Brooklyn Aquarium as they are more likely to be able to care for it. Sadly, they have almost no record of success in captivity ( hobbyists anyway) and as others have said, providing the proper food in the proper quantities will be difficult at best.

You might get it to live for a few months, but really it will only be slowly starving to death. Good luck. Randy

I agree

 

[scumonkey]

Do you guys have a picture of it? That way if some knuckleheaded newbie (me) sees it, I will know better than to get it.

 

[herman]

The problem with many animals including crinoids is that they seem to be doing well in our tanks for several months and then they just die. In fact they are slowly starving. A lot of the animals we would like are filter feeders, meaning that they sift food from the water colums.

In nature crinoids tend to hang around where the waters rise from the deep to catch the food. Crinoids are super slow and the food basically has to come to them. In our tanks with all the filtration it is almost impossible to feed. Food can not be given to them sporatically but constantly.

There is however one way to keep these guys. Its expensive and quite a pain in the butt. Grotech makes a piece of equipment called a phytobreeder. Basically it is a phyto reactor with light connected to a doser. One dosing pump sends food to the reactor. Another pump brings fresh water into the breeder and yet another pump feeds a constant supply into the tank. So the feeding part is handled. Now you have to deal with the excess nutrients in the tank. For this you need a rediculously oversized skimmer. With all the nutrients the skimmer will go nuts and skimm a lot. The next problem you will encounter is specifig gravity because the skimmer takes out a lot of saltwater. This necessitates constant monitoring and balancing on your part. All in all it will set you back at least 4 thousand on equipment alone.

I was at fishtown today and I saw the crinoids in their tanks. Basically they are already dying. They all look like crap.

To recap, they need a constant food supply while also needing pristine waters. We as hobbyists are just not ready for it. There is so much more that we need to learn.

 

[LeslieS]

I was at fishtown today and I saw the crinoids in their tanks.

This is REALLY irresponsible!

 

[scubabr53]

Thanks everyone for advice. It seems like my star trying to survive by caching floating food in the water column. It curling arms and sends food down to feed.
Is it enough to survive? I do not know but I’ll give it a fighting chance. Still planning to go and offer it to Brooklyn Aquarium for adoption.

 

[jhale]

you still need to provide the proper food in amounts large enough for it to survive. that's the hard part.
I think to even have a chance the whole tank has to be devoted to them.