blue linckia sea star

[swjunkie]

I have a blue linckia and on drs. foster and smith it said you can put a piece of clam meat or tablet under the star to eat. what kind of clam meat and what kind of tablet?
TIA

 

[austinsdad]

Try some a piece of raw shrimp or silversides maybe.

 

[swjunkie]

what is silverside? Would I be able to use the raw shrimp from the grocery store? My husband said something about canned clams but I dont want to mess up my tank params.
Thank You,
Melissa

 

[austinsdad]

Little fish you can get frozen I think. Do not use anything from the can or anything else with a chance it has additives. That'd be big trouble. Raw, unprocessed shrimp from the grocer will do.

 

[swjunkie]

thanks for the info. I really didnt think it would be wise to add anything canned.

 

[tecwzrd]

swjunkie, didn’t you just set your tank up? I know experienced reefers with very stable tanks that avoid that star due to its difficult nature to keep alive. If it lives past the first month then you will probably be in the clear but these stars are known to die shortly after putting in the tank.

advancedaquarist.com has a good article on the care of Linckia stars.

San Francisco Bay Brand sells frozen silversides and can sometimes be found at lfs.

 

[swjunkie]

the tank he is in has been up for about 2.5 months now. (my friends tank) what I have read from drs. foster and smith the main concern was acclimating it. they said that if you acclimated it right it would be fine. it will not tolerate to much chemical changes. The tank we have him in is a 29g with a few crabs a yellow tail damsel and a blue damsel. I havent gotten my tank up yet. (125g) I have a 10g that I am using as a practice tank as far as water params and I will be using that as a qt tank once my 125g gets up and running. So right now I am just playing around with my friends tank.
Thanx I will read that now.

 

[tecwzrd]

Acclimation is the biggest issue for initial survival but being kept in a large 100+ gal tank such as your is also recommended. Also most recommend “mature” large tanks of 1+ years before adding. I hope your star does ok in such a new tank.

wetwebmedia.com has pretty good overall info on sea stars in general. (Linckia on 2nd page)

 

[swjunkie]

I just read the first one you gave me and it says basically the same thing that I have read my only concern was the amount of good algae to eat. she has been giving her damsels some seaweed as a variety. That is why I was trying to find something to supplement his food. he seems to be doing exactly what they said he would if he was acclimated right and I printed out the drip acclimation info. and followed it to the tee. I am planning on checking on him tonight. We both new giong in that he will need to be in a larger tank. expecting on putting him in mine when I get mine up and running but I think she is falling in love with him and willing to get a bigger tank for him. I am planning on talking to her tonight and telling her that when we do move him we have to make sure that the tank will be more astablished than this one was. Now on to the next article.
Thanx

 

[Brenden]

I have had 2 blue linkias for a little over 4 months now. IMO you need a lot of LR and a stable tank to keep them alive. One of mine has grown from about 5" to 8". I have never seen it eating anything other than apparently grazing on LR algae etc. I have never tried to feed them anything. They are very slow movers and in my tank the food would be gone before they got to it. Acclimation is very important but if your tank is not EXTREMELY stable they will die regardless of how you acclimated it. Take extra care to maintain Alk, PH, temp and oxygen levels in the water. I have pics of them in my gallery.