Starfish. Urchins for a small tank

[Ghost1]

Hallooooo
I have a 30 gal hex, with about 50-60 lbs of live rock, various polyps and mushrooms in it. The current inhabitants are a bangaii cardinal, black cap basslet, gold line neon goby, 2 gobiodon histrio, coral banded shrimp, anemone crab, boxing crab, various hermits, snails.
I am looking for a small reef safe starfish, I was thinking about a Formia milleporella, but was wondering about other options. I was also wondering about urchins, if there were any that you would recommend.

Thanks
Ghost

 

[Ghost1]

any suggestions?
thanks
Ghost

 

[Marcosreef]

Ghost,
I had a long-spine sea urchin in my 29 and found it had quite the appetite for coralline algae. (Ate most of it in a few weeks 8O )

If you had a bigger tank I suppose that a long-spine would be of benefit, and rather entertaining at that.

Do a search on Tuxedo Urchins. I think this is what some of the members keep in there reefs.

HTH, Marco

 

[Anonymous]

I have a tuxedo urchin in m 75G and it does eat some coraline. Not much though. I've had it a few months and think it is a nice addition. I'm keeping it! Although I'm not sure about putting one in a 29G?

Any 29G owners want to chime in?

Louey

 

[2poor2reef]

I keep a royal tux in a 12g and corraline algae is all it eats. It's been in there for a year and never made an appreciable dent in the corraline. It grows back as fast as it eats it. Of course, I don't scrape the back wall.

I don't know much about sea stars. I keep a blue linckia in my refugium but I've only had it for a couple of months so my opinion isn't worth much.

 

[gtusd]

Ghost,

I have a Fromia milleporella. I love him. He's the coolest critter in my tank. He's totally reef safe. I've only had him for 2 months though, so I can't speak with any authority. I think a Fromia would be an excellent*choice for a 30g as my understanding is they don't get much more than 3 or 4 inches. Mine's about 1.5 inches and after about 4 or 5 days of hiding, he almost always visible, cruising around, under, and over the live rock. He never bothers anything.

*Having done a little research on them myself (let me stress little) I cannot say with any certainty that they do well in the long run. Many who have them in their tanks are like me having only had them for less than 6 months. Many say that Fromia eat algal and/or bacterial films. I've also heard they need sponge to eat. I know I've got tons of slimy growths in my tank but I doubt I've got a lot of sponge growth. What worries me is that these starfish may slowly starve in a tank (much like a mandarin) even though the water quality is great. I hope some more people post to this thread, who have had success with Fromia milleporella and have had them longer than say 10 months and yet aren't buying $35 sponges every week to feed them.

 

[rgardiner]

I have a Fromia elegans and I have the same concerns about him as gtusd. The view in the hobby is that they are film algae and detritus eaters. According to Ron Shimek, the marine biology view, apparently based on only a few observations, is that they are probably sponge predators. I too worry that my beautiful little creature will slowly starve (I've had him one month only). I posted on some other boards inquiring whether anybody had suuccessfully kept them for a lengthy time (ie >year) but got no response.