Good Starfish

[Tito2491]

I really want to add a small starfish in my 20 gallon long reef that wont damage coral, attack fish or cause any other problems in my tank. Is there a Starfish out there for me?

 

[Brenden]

serpent.

 

[steve-s]

Agreed but look for banded species, they stay small. The hobby has made two distinctions (we never told mother nature ) refered to as serpent (smooth arms) and brittle (spiky arms). In reality, they are the same genus/species in many cases. In regards to "brittle stars", look for black or orange. They stay the smallest and are less a concern in regard to predacean. The green brittles are commonly (but not always) the danger.

All of these mentioned have the ability to be target fed as well as being scavengers. They are by far the best choice for long lived survival.

Cheers
Steve

 

[nsu7]

Hey Steve, this makes me wonder about a sand sifter. I've had 2 now and I cannot get them to take target feedings. I think the last one died, but I never found it when I moved everything into my new 210. Is being unable to target feed sand sifters common?

 

[steve-s]

I never found it when I moved everything into my new 210. Is being unable to target feed sand sifters common?

This is actually very common with this species of star. It is looked upon as a predator and LFS sell it as such leading people to believe it can be fed like the fish. Truely it cannot. This particular star hunts the fauna within the sandbed, worms, amphipods, copepods and so on. The biggest problem is not that it won't accept foods, it will. It's that the foods offered are not nutritionall complete and near impossible to do so. When these animals prey upon something they eat the whole animal, not just a piece of it. There in lies the problem with being effective able to supply a complete meal for this type of species. Also included there are Linkia, Fromia, Echinaster and the like.

Cheers
Steve

 

[Tito2491]

How about Orange Stars? I read they stay at 3 inches
Also I like the red stars , serpents grow to ''10 and I wouldnt like him cramped up in a 20 Gallon long