is this normal?

I just barely got this starfish today I was told it was a fromia star, I turned off my lights about an hour ago and noticed that he was all curled up funny, I just want to be sure its normal, when I went to turn on the lights to get this photo he started to slowly uncurl them.. anyways here is the pic.

 

that's a cool looking starfish, i don't know much about them but i used to have a green brittle that hates the light. it walked/crawled around in the night (using red led to watch), sometimes i'd shine a white light on it and it would begin to curl and like wriggle itself. i've never had mine curl up though.

 

Yea I love him! he is a really bright orange underneath, I really hope he does well, As soon as the lights turned on he started to uncurl so I thought that was a good sign at least! I guess I will see what he does tomorrow, its good to know your brittle kinda did the same thing.

 

Fromia starfish consume microorganisms and an almost invisible film algae. Because of this, they should be introduced into well established aquariams that have been running no less than 1 year . He will most likely starve to death in your tank and make a mess of it.Don't you listen when we tell you to do research first?:
P.S. IF YOUR SALINITY IS BELOW 1.025 THIS WILL HAPPEN SOONER RATHER THEN LATER.

 

I debated on buying him for a long time, They had a book that I read that said he would eat meaty foods and sponges which I have in my tank. Technically this tank was very well established when I bought it I just broke it down and moved it, I didn't even have a cycle with it, I hope that he will have enough to eat... I will be sure to target feed him, and I keep my salinity at 1.026.

 

Very little can be done to supplement the Fromia diet as its main sustenance consists of microorganisms and film algae that is invisible to the naked eye.Are you sure thats a Fromia? Sorry for some reason I thought your tank was relatively new.

 

Im not sure at all. In fact im starting to doubt it.. I CANNOT find anything that looks like him on the net.. he is black and orange.. very orange on the bottom and black on tip with orange dots. I picked him up at a bran new store that just opened.. It didn't look like there tanks were very established either, in fact they were still setting some of them up, so I don't feel horribly guilty taking it off their hands

 

Keep a good eye on it. They make a mess when they die. I am sure someone on here will help i.d. it but you should know better. Next time take a picture of it find out what it is. Research it. Then buy it.Silly rabbit.

 

haha I tried, I asked them everything, they had a book with a picture that resembled it.. which said it ate sponge and meaty foods so I figured I could hand feed him and make sure he gets a good chunk of meat every couple of days... and of course I am now trying to do more research on it but can't really find anything. I should make an ID this thread lol

 

I do not believe it is a Formia, I will look around for an ID. I also believe there is a chance that it is not reef safe.

Now you know they will tell you pretty much anything at the LFS, starfish. While you may have saved it from them, in my ideal world there would not be demand therefore they would not be cultivated.

Hopefully someone else will chime in with regard to an ID and needs.