Reef safe starfish.

Here I was, thinking about a starfish ... guess I'd better wait a while. :-/

 

I have exposed many a starfish to air and they lived through it just fine. When I was in Australia visiting a collector's place, they were transferring handfuls of linkias from collection bucket to holding trough and every single one of them was exposed to the air. I doubt they'd be doing that every day if there was any such risk.

 

People have kept them for years on end. There are a few members who have had them a dog's life. However, this is more the exception than the rule. IMO, they shouldn't be taken from the oceans. I would love to see a rule against it.....just because there are so many deaths secondary to aquarists who do not know how to properly care for one. And that is not a slight against anyone in particular.....Remember, I killed one myself. And 10 months into this hobby, I will not put another into my tank....no matter how mature my tank is or how good the params are.

You can always get a sandsifter. Only problem is.....you never see it. It just sifts sand. Under the sand. And it is colored like the sand. Great part of the clean up crew. Your tank is just big enough to house a sandsifter of small to medium size. But only one. Otherwise they will starve.

 

Wont sand stars attempt to eat other animals? When I was at the LFS I saw one doing the trademark starfish trap, where it arches its back into the air and waits for an animal to walk under it. I suppose you could shove a piece of krill under it any time you saw this kind of behavior though.

 

As long as they are fed, they will not resort to that. Takes too much energy. That SF had just run out of stuff to eat. I have had mine in my sandbed for months now. It comes out every month or so to say hello (most recently two days ago) and goes back under. I have a 48x18x2 inch sand base for it to explore. So it doesn't run out of food. Or hasn't yet.

 

Has anyone had or heard of someone that had one of these ?? http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=497 528 578&pcatid=578

 

I have seen these and considered them. However, I am not sure how hardy they are. Haven't done the research yet. I will keep an eye on the thread.....because I wanna know too. And I will start looking around for information regarding such. I really like the red-marble type.

 

i think i either have a brittle sea star or serpent sea star should i remove it it came in on my new rocks

 

Fromai's are about as hardy as a Linkia which is not very hardy. I have had a purple serpent for over a year and he is the hardiest and comes out alot when I feed the tank. He is very cool to watch him eat

 

I just purchased a scarlett linkia from my LFS, I did the drip acclimation method for two and a half hours just to be safe. It's making its rounds on the glass now