erndog1001
Premium Member
My favorite LFS gets his weekly delivery on Thurs. So i generally go in late in the day or as early as possible on Fri to see what new goodies he's brought in.
This also means that I'm very familiar with his tanks and I can spot something out of the ordinary right away.
This very thing happened 2 weeks ago. As I perused his new livestock I spotted something all curled up around a coral that's been in the tank for some weeks now.
I've only seen Basket Stars in pictures and on TV but I was pretty sure that's what it was. A quick inquiry confirmed it. So I paid for the thing and said I'd pick it up in a couple of days.
I used the time to try and find info on keeping it alive and happy. There isn't much. But everything I read said it's very hard to keep one alive and healthy bc of the way it feeds. Ok np I thought. I'll give it my best shot.
When i went to pick it up the owner informed me that it had lost an arm and offered me a refund if I wanted to change my mind. I said no. I'd give it a shot anyways.
So I brought it home. acclimated very carefully and placed it in the tank.I purposefully did this late in the afternoon so the lights would be very dim. I was encouraged right away that it started moving about and exploring its new home. So I watched it for like an hour as it wandered and then I left.
I came back a couple of hours later.By now the tank was in moonlight phase so I had to use a flashlight. I found it all wrapped up around a Grogonian frag. So I grabbed my bottle of coral food I keep mixed up (BRS reef chili great stuff) and gave it a couple of squirts. It immediately spread its arms out to full length and fed. Yeee haaa I thought lol
So this went on for a couple of days. I would find it in various places wrapped around something. And I kept feeding it in small portions like 3-4 times a day.
On the 4th morning I couldn't find it. i looked and looked. the lights were very dim so I waited an hour and came back. Then I found it. Firmly in the clutches of my large green brain coral!! I quickly discovered it had lost all but one of the rest of its arms too. I found them spread around and all balled up on the bottom.
Well I figured it was a goner and I wanted to see how this whole scene played out with the coral So i left things as they were and just watched. Over the next few hours two things became obvious. the coral was not going to get this large meal down and (to some extent anyways) the starfish and its detached limbs were still alive!!
Its been 4 days since this all took place. I eventually removed the starfish from the corals mouth and found that the main body was pretty well turned to mush. A fact not lost on my large Maroon clown who swooped in and grabbed a piece that was hanging off .
Ok here comes the weird part. The legs seem to be still alive!!! They remain balled up on the bottom of the tank. But when I feed them they react as if still attached!! So there it is. I'm going to be keeping close watch and I'll report anything more that comes of this here in this thread. I figured since very little seems to be known about these guys that I should share my experience.
P.S. i returned to the LFS and found that the leg that came off in his tank is still there and alive too
This also means that I'm very familiar with his tanks and I can spot something out of the ordinary right away.
This very thing happened 2 weeks ago. As I perused his new livestock I spotted something all curled up around a coral that's been in the tank for some weeks now.
I've only seen Basket Stars in pictures and on TV but I was pretty sure that's what it was. A quick inquiry confirmed it. So I paid for the thing and said I'd pick it up in a couple of days.
I used the time to try and find info on keeping it alive and happy. There isn't much. But everything I read said it's very hard to keep one alive and healthy bc of the way it feeds. Ok np I thought. I'll give it my best shot.
When i went to pick it up the owner informed me that it had lost an arm and offered me a refund if I wanted to change my mind. I said no. I'd give it a shot anyways.
So I brought it home. acclimated very carefully and placed it in the tank.I purposefully did this late in the afternoon so the lights would be very dim. I was encouraged right away that it started moving about and exploring its new home. So I watched it for like an hour as it wandered and then I left.
I came back a couple of hours later.By now the tank was in moonlight phase so I had to use a flashlight. I found it all wrapped up around a Grogonian frag. So I grabbed my bottle of coral food I keep mixed up (BRS reef chili great stuff) and gave it a couple of squirts. It immediately spread its arms out to full length and fed. Yeee haaa I thought lol
So this went on for a couple of days. I would find it in various places wrapped around something. And I kept feeding it in small portions like 3-4 times a day.
On the 4th morning I couldn't find it. i looked and looked. the lights were very dim so I waited an hour and came back. Then I found it. Firmly in the clutches of my large green brain coral!! I quickly discovered it had lost all but one of the rest of its arms too. I found them spread around and all balled up on the bottom.
Well I figured it was a goner and I wanted to see how this whole scene played out with the coral So i left things as they were and just watched. Over the next few hours two things became obvious. the coral was not going to get this large meal down and (to some extent anyways) the starfish and its detached limbs were still alive!!
Its been 4 days since this all took place. I eventually removed the starfish from the corals mouth and found that the main body was pretty well turned to mush. A fact not lost on my large Maroon clown who swooped in and grabbed a piece that was hanging off .
Ok here comes the weird part. The legs seem to be still alive!!! They remain balled up on the bottom of the tank. But when I feed them they react as if still attached!! So there it is. I'm going to be keeping close watch and I'll report anything more that comes of this here in this thread. I figured since very little seems to be known about these guys that I should share my experience.
P.S. i returned to the LFS and found that the leg that came off in his tank is still there and alive too
)
