Sand Sifting Star

[mrpope]

Are sand sifting star fish bad for a live sand bed, or a developing sand bed?

 

[HoopsGuru]

Yes, they will devour everything available in the sandbed, which will disrupt its function. Also, once out of food the starfish will starve. Such a starfish would ideally require an enormous tank with a sandbed.

 

[Gauge]

I have a friend that had a sand sifter that was about 4-5 inches across in a 10 gallon tank with VERY coarse sand and it lived for several years. I think the reason he died was the type of sand, honestly. There was also a TON of rock in this tank. It was stacked top to bottom, front to back.

I've also got a 42 gallon hex tank (very small surface area vs. volume) and I have 2 sand sifting stars... one's about 6 inches across and the other's about 4. They've been with us for a pretty good while so far.

 

[scuba_steve]

http://www.ipsf.com/#anchor47808

hoops what ya thought on these??

 

[HoopsGuru]

I have a friend that had a sand sifter that was about 4-5 inches across in a 10 gallon tank with VERY coarse sand and it lived for several years.

It's important to distinguish whether the starfish in question is a sandsifter that eats the infauna in the sandbed. These belong to the class Asteroidea (your typical thick armed starfish). I would be surprised if the one your friend has was such, or he was very lucky and it found food elsewhere (exceptions are everywhere for every guideline).

hoops what ya thought on these??

I think they would be super, they instead belong to the brittle class of starfish, Ophiuroidea. They sift through the sand but do not eat the infauna. Unfortunatley my order of gunk from IPSF years ago didn't have any like they said it might .