Starfish

Hey everyone!

I was just wondering if anyone has any starfish in their reef tanks or have any experience at keeping them. At the LFS they usually have a couple of small-medium sized starfish, in orange, red and blue colourations.

In the limited research i have done it said they can be fed meaty foods by stick etc, however they also eat algae and the like off rocks.

I think they would be a nice addition to my reef tank but I just wanted to make sure i didnt rush into purchasing something that only had a limited life span.

Thanks!!!

Breed

 

Starfish(actually called Sea Stars now) can be a challenge to keep believe it or not. You would be better of with a Chocolaate Chip Star or Knobby if you have a fish only tank. For reef tanks, I would stick with Serpents, Fromia and brittles! I would stay away from Linkia's and Sand Sifters as they are not as forgiving and tend to have a poor track record IMO.
They are highly secretive however and you may not see them much, though they are very beneficial at keeping the substrate and live rock clean.
They don't handle changes very well(ie. salinity, pH, alkalinity)!
That is it in a nut shell...

 

I had a sandsifting sea star briefly -- very briefly. Got it home and put him in the tank...then I noticed all sorts of posts mentioning how it could possibly clean out my deep sand bed of all the good critters I was trying to keep alive in there. Out it came and back to the LFS. The girlfriend no longer gets to encourage impulse buys...

 

hehe! no worries thanks alot guys!! I might give it a go, but ill have to do some more research on the species etc.

Thanks!!

 

+1


A word of caution Breed:
Be careful when deciding on starfish as some species are predators and hunt at night when the fishies are sleeping. Smaller fish may become a meal for them.

 

I think your triggerfish will eat whatever starfish you put in the tank!

 

No problems, I just wanted one purely for show to make it look more like a reef, the last thing i want is a killer starfish on the lose!! lol

LOL knowing him he prolly will!! I might ask him if he likes starfish

Hrmm well that may cause problems, maybe its better if I pass again hehe

 

How attached are you to that triggerfish?

 

I love him cause he has attitude and he is developing his tail and fins. They are only lightly outlinned in black and his tail is only a light orange... Im waiting for him to turn pink.

Lol it seems that him and the Lemonpeel are threats to anything and everything new that i wanna put in haha!

Id rather him than a starfish thou. Every since i removed my epaulette shark that outgrew the tank, he was the first fish in. And what a bargain to for $30

Cheers

Breed

 

I like triggerfish too but they're just too much work for me. I've always been a big fan of the lazyman's (or woman's) reef. If it don't eat flake food, I don't want it in my tank.