Urgent Sea Star Dilemma

Ok so after much research I have decided to try a Fromia Sea Star (Fromia Milleporella). I went and picked him up today, and am doing a 3 hour drip as we speak. Issue is... The guy at my LFS thought he would be nice and throw in an extra one for free. While I really appreciate it, I was worried about being able to sustain one (let alone two). I have a 26g with 4g fuge. What would you guys do? Any advice?! Should I start looking into which of my fellow hobbyists would like a free Sea Star or put them both in? Thanks in advance!!!

 

Tank is well too small for even one IMO. How old is the tank? Did you make sure both at the LFS and at home that they were not exposed to air?

 

Yeah, I agree; you really don't have a tank big enough for even one.

I tried one in my tank (120gal); it lasted about 8 months.

 

Why?

 

Exposing them to air will slowly kill them. If they get air bubbles inside their digestive tracks, they'll dissolves from the inside out...

 

Has anyone ever seen this actually happen?

 

Yes; it's well documented.

Sometimes, you can get lucky, in that a brief exposure to air won't have a disastrous effect. However, odds are it will.

 

Last question. Can you reference the documentation so that I can check it out? Thanks

 

Just off the top of my head: FromiaDisF

I'm sure Curt (inwall) would have more info on this at hand.

 

I checked it out. The site is a bit chaotic. I couldn't find any documentation regarding the air bubble theory. Mostly just advice to avoid exposure to air which doesn't really prove much. The reason this theory is bothering me is that there are many genus of starfish, Pisaster ochraceus for example, that are happy to spend the entire low tide out of the water. I'm wondering why this doesn't apply to subtidal genus? How are they different and why? I sent WWM an e-mail so I look forward to their response.