is this normal?

[stevefromga2000]

i have a chocolate chip star fish in my tank, and i also have a few variuos snails. well, one of the snails died, not sure why, and then the starfish went over top of the shell, which still had the dead snail in it, and sat there for many hours. finally, when it moved, it looked as though the star had eaten the dead snail. is that what actually happened, and is that normal?

 

[lando]

Yes, that is what happened.

 

[Hara]

Yes, that is normal, it is what scavenger creatures do. That starfish will also eat anything it can catch if it is hungry enough..such as sleeping fish. Be sure to keep it fed.

 

[stevefromga2000]

is there something in particular that i can feed to just him? usually, he seems pretty sastified just moving around and eating off the glass and ocassionally eating off my rocks. is there a particular food i can get for him?

 

[Hara]

The easiest thing is to get some fresh/frozen cocktail shrimp. Cut one into about 4 pieces, then take one of the pieces and put it on the sandbed, place starfish center over the top, voila, target fed starfish.

 

[stevefromga2000]

is that healthy for them? i assume that by feeding them the shrimp they get all kinds of nutrients. will that affect my tank in any way? also, could i just feed the rest of the cocktail shrimp to my fish and my coral banded shrimp?

 

[Hara]

is that healthy for them?

I wouldnt tell you to do it if it weren't ok....

yes, you can chop the shrimp up and the rest of your tank will enjoy it. It will aversely affect your water quality if you over do it, just like any other food.

 

[stevefromga2000]

how often? maybe once a week or so?