Blue Star Fish

[8965]

has anybody kept a blue star fish? how difficult are they to keep?

 

[Foible]

I currently have a blue linkia. I got him in early May. He seems to be growing so I think I must be doing something right. Pretty much just keep your water parameters absolutely perfect and your invertebrates will all be happy. Take your time acclimating starfish. I drip acclimated for about 12 hours for my linkia.

 

[reefrunner69]

They should only be kept in a mature reef tank with lots of LR. 100g is about the minimum recommended to maintain them. They are very susceptible to acclimation issues and require a slow drip acclimation. Many think their linckias are fine in smaller tanks, simply cause it takes them about 8-12 months to starve to death.

 

[Gesh]

Do you feed a blue linkia? or just leave it to the algae?

 

[Atari]

They graze the film off the rocks.

 

[reefrunner69]

Yeah, they won't eat anything you try to feed them, they eat bacteria and bacterial slime.

 

[melissfish]

i saw mine eating brine shrimp while stuck on the glass. I didnt deliberately feed them to him, he caught them with his legs and pushed them towards his mouth

 

[Foible]

I don't know if he's eating it or not but mine walks across the nori in the food clip on a regular basis and lingers there. Most of the time he just slurps around on the LR getting into shockingly tight areas sometimes.

 

[ScurdOfCychlidz]

not to steal a topic here but also not to post a brand new topic...what about a brittle starfish? same thing as this one?

 

[steve-s]

what about a brittle starfish? same thing as this one?

No, these types of stars (including serpent, bahaman and sandsifters) can easily be target fed small pieces of meaty foods.

The more commonly sold Fromia, Linckia and Echinaster will only feed on slime algae and bacteria.

Cheers
Steve

 

[lower11]

This is a little off topic but still with starfish. A week ago i noticed that my chocolate chip starfish's stomach looked to be eatin up. I have one yellow tang, clown, and damsels + 8 Hermit crabs in a 75g. Would the Hermit crabs eat on him. It looks to be healing ok but how long will he make it without eating.

 

[steve-s]

A week ago i noticed that my chocolate chip starfish's stomach looked to be eatin up.

If you mean the mouth in the central disc is gone, then it's not likely the star will survive. Typically a star can survive quite well if it loses an arm or even splits (gets torn) in half but if the star can't feed, it won't heal.

Can you post a pic?

Cheers
Steve