A new starfish for my tank.

[Luis]

Hi, I saww this two starfish in the LFS and want to know if they are reef safe and what do they eat..

Thanks a lot.

 

[Anonymous]

I would avoid most starfish with thorns.

The second looks like some sort of Linka starfish.

 

[Anonymous]

Before you should buy ANY starfish....what are your parameters...how old is your tank...how large is your tank...how much live rock do you have...

Starfish are destined to die a slow death in a tank that does not have close to pristine water conditions, a lot of live rock to graze on, stable water parameters including very low to zero nitrates and stable alkalinity and pH.

Either way, make sure you acclimate these for a couple of hours using dri or cup by cup method.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi,
The LFS said that Linka are detritovores, was he BSing me just to sell it, he was only 8 bucks and 2 inches, or what are they, grazers or detritovres. I have around 25 lbs of live rock with only a chromis and a firefish in a 27 hex, I figured I can use him as sort of a different member of my custodial ensemble...what do you guys think?

 

[Fishwise]

Hey,

They are detritovores, but are not limited to that. They will eat all kinds of stuff. Ive seen many eat sundried algaes and chunks of squid and other meaty fish foods. Ive also had some help clean up dead fish. Really finicky to water conditions, but live well if handled correctly in transit from holding facilities to LFS and so on.

 

[Anonymous]

Cool, then he wasn't pulling my chain, the LFS said they had it for a while just no one knew it was there, so being it has acclimated to captive care then hopefully I can keep it for a long while.
tanks

 

[Anonymous]

They need a long time to acclimate to your tank after purchass. Two or three hours of acclimation should be used. I take an hour and a half to acclimate snails.

 

[Anonymous]

Be careful...the lfs was both right and wrong.

While starfish are detrivores, that is not their normal diet. Actually, no one is really sure what exactly starfish eat, but they are live rock grazers. They live off of the lifeforms inherent in good live rock.

They will not survive the long term on detrius material. And in a capive situation competeting with fish, inverts, and the other filter-type feeders, they do not have a good chance on a continual basis to get a proper diet. This is why most "star experts" will tell you that 75 lbs. of lr is the ultimate minimum to keep 1 starfish. Of course, this is for most of the Linkia.

The exception are brittle stars. They have a much better chance in most tanks. They are far more mobile, and use their arms to "filter" passing water and grab food during feeding time.

 

[MandarinFish]

Chocolate chips eat each other, small urchins, anything they can catch.

Linkias don't do too well in captivity.

I love stars, but they are challenging to keep alive, happy, healthy, and not eating other little critters.

 

[Anonymous]

Is that 75lbs lr/starfish for a small one, or a large 6 or 7 incher that you see from time to time? I figure if it is small, then you wouldn't need so much rock...but they do grow...eventually. And by "grazing" do you mean that they are strictly herbiverous (sp?) or grazing on the micro and macroinvertebrates within the system along with the algaes? Just asking because to me the lifeforms are all the critters, algae and bacteria that cover good lr. Just wondering if you had one, and have you ever seen it eat anything that you can describe. I know that nobody really knows what they eat...just posing some possible MS thesis questions on the biology of tropical stars.

 

[Luis]

Thank you guys for all your replies. Well my parameters are:
Calcium: 400 ppm
Temp: 79
Salinity: 1.024
Phosphate: 0
Alkalinity: 10 dKH
pH: 8.2

Nitrate: <5 ppm

but after all the information I got I think is better to hold on those creatures for now until I know more about them.

Thanks again.

 

[Anonymous]

Personally, I would stick with serpent and/or brittle stars.

 

[Anonymous]

I take an hour and a half to acclimate snails.
:lol:
You know they ship them dry right?

 

[Anonymous]

I take an hour and a half to acclimate snails.
:lol:
You know they ship them dry right?

I do not order them on line. I get mine at the LFS. I slowly acclimate them over an hour and a half and I suffer no deaths. When they just plop in I end up losing a few.

I guess when they go from dry to water there is not much you can do about acclimation, but once they were in another tank there is no reason to chance shocking them with a large SG swing. My tank 1.024 and the LFS is 1.021.

 

[Anonymous]

Is that 75lbs lr/starfish for a small one, or a large 6 or 7 incher that you see from time to time? I figure if it is small, then you wouldn't need so much rock...but they do grow...eventually. And by "grazing" do you mean that they are strictly herbiverous (sp?) or grazing on the micro and macroinvertebrates within the system along with the algaes? Just asking because to me the lifeforms are all the critters, algae and bacteria that cover good lr. Just wondering if you had one, and have you ever seen it eat anything that you can describe. I know that nobody really knows what they eat...just posing some possible MS thesis questions on the biology of tropical stars.

I believe this is for any of the starfish in the linkia family, and it is a minimum. I would assume that is just a starting point, and you go up from there depending on eventual growth and mature size. For the blue link, I would say you need a minimum of 100 lbs or lr or more for that one star.
I have an orange linkia in mine, and I have easily around 100+ lbs of LR in my 60 hex. I also have 2 brittles. The brittles I spot feed once a week, but those guys are great food collectors. When it is feeding time, they stick their tentacles in the flow and grab everything!
I am not sure, as I don't think anyone agrees 100% on what they actually consume, but my understanding is that they are herbivores primarilly, but supplement their diets with exactly what you stated.