Best starfish for coral

[hitman1114]

I want a startfish so bad but I want coral so I want to know what starfish is the best for me I have a 25 gallon love sand and live rock

 

[Macscale]

IMO/IME starfish don't do well in closed systems.

 

[dragonfisher33]

love sand? what is that.

anyways i'm assuming you don't want the small brittle starfish that usually gets introduced into the tank via live rock. there's some luck in getting linkia sea star and sand sifting sea star provided that you have a well established tank and if the available food runs out you have to manually put food underneath them so that their mouth can reach the food. i have a serpent sea star that's almost 2 feet long measuring from one tip of the arms to the opposite side of the arm. it's omnivorous so it will eat anything. but if your tank is new, i wouldn't recommend it. just be cautious with any starfish because if it dies in the tank, you're asking for headache.

 

[hitman1114]

love sand? what is that.

anyways i'm assuming you don't want the small brittle starfish that usually gets introduced into the tank via live rock. there's some luck in getting linkia sea star and sand sifting sea star provided that you have a well established tank and if the available food runs out you have to manually put food underneath them so that their mouth can reach the food. i have a serpent sea star that's almost 2 feet long measuring from one tip of the arms to the opposite side of the arm. it's omnivorous so it will eat anything. but if your tank is new, i wouldn't recommend it. just be cautious with any starfish because if it dies in the tank, you're asking for headache.

Oh sorry I meant i love coral

 

[dragonfisher33]

Oh sorry I meant i love coral

oops you did it again. i think you meant live sand

 

[hitman1114]

Oh yea lol smart phones aren't that smart

 

[Wy Renegade]

You can successfully keep some of the large brittle stars rather than the seastars (aka starfish). Brittle stars are scavenger type and can be directly fed, so they don't end up starving or eating coral like most seastars.

 

[carey]

Yep, a brittle star or serpent star are your best bets. regular linkia's and other star fish of that type are either not reef safe or very hard to maintain.

 

[54seaweed]

I have around 4 or 5 big serpent stars , red , green , gray, tan

there fun to watch crawling through the rocks

but really fast if trying to catch them

the green ones are really not reef safe they eat everything and anything they get a hold of

 

[JonathanG]

Yep, a brittle star or serpent star are your best bets. regular linkia's and other star fish of that type are either not reef safe or very hard to maintain.

I was un-aware that linkias are considered not reef safe, why do you say that?

 

[bribo12]

I was un-aware that linkias are considered not reef safe, why do you say that?

She was saying they don't do well in our systems not theyre not reef safe.

 

[carey]

Thanks bribo, thats exactly what I meant. lol

I still have yet to try a linkia and I pretty much will buy and try any critter,. lol

I have a red knobby in my 90g, but that guys isnt reef safe and has surprised me by lasting over 2 years, they also dont do so great in tanks at home.

I also have serpent stars, they will come out and you can feed them meaty chunks of seafood, very entertaining to have and they tend to last quite long even in a home tank.
Not to mention they are about $10 compared to the $30+ that linkias are.
At least near me anyways.

 

[Gregcoyote]

I have some three year old sand stars. If you plant food for them, they do fine in a well established aquarium. Otherwise most other stars do poorly.

 

[hitman1114]

What food

 

[Gregcoyote]

I use shrimp pellets that sink. I place some in their path.

 

[hitman1114]

Cool thank you!

 

[mr_X]

I suggest against a sand sifting starfish in a small tank like yours. It will die of starvation. Target feeding is a long shot. Greg has a 300 gallon tank.
I would go with a serpent star, or any brittle star but green, and it's because green brittles catch and eat fish.

 

[Gregcoyote]

That makes sense to me.

 

[hitman1114]

Plus it comes w the cleaning Crew but yea it make sense

 

[mr_X]

You don't even need a cleanup crew. That's just a way to sell livestock. You don't need a single crab, snail, starfish, or shrimp if you don't want them. Whatever you buy must have food to sustain it, so keep this in mind.