Blue Linkia Stars

SINNERMF

New member
My Lfs got in a medium sized Blue Linkia Starfish last week. I was wondering if they are totally "reef safe". I've heard people say they'll eat sponges, Tunicates....... Anyone know what the story is for sure??
Thanks,
Mike
 
Re: Blue Linkia Stars

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8401941#post8401941 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SINNERMF
My Lfs got in a medium sized Blue Linkia Starfish last week. I was wondering if they are totally "reef safe". I've heard people say they'll eat sponges, Tunicates....... Anyone know what the story is for sure??
Thanks,
Mike

The only thing people know for sure about the diet of the blue linkia is that they don't know what it is. There have been some reports of sponges and tunicates being eaten, but no studies have been done.

These stars frequently die from poor acclimation and should be left at the LFS for at least a few weeks to see if they die in the LFS tanks (a common occurance).

Even if it lives there, don't bother purchasing it unless you have a very large tank (125+ gallons) with a lot of live rock (200+ lbs). Otherwise it is very likely it will starve in one year or less.

Brian
 
Definitely agree with the above.

IMO, and as an aside there are very few animals in our tanks that meet the hard core definition of reef safe (meaning they would only ever eat algae I guess). Crabs of all sorts, shrimp, urchins etc are all commonly kept in our tanks as "reef safe" when in fact they are quite omnivorous. Lots of chances we take without thinking about it, that probably pose a more realistic threat.

As far as the star goes, it has far more worries about survival. It may eat sponges and tunicates...may not...maybe only some...and probably you would not see much of a difference because the tank often does not sustain many of these types of animals to begin with.

We know that Linckia do not eat:
-detritus
-algae in the sense of nuissance or macro algae
-overall meaty things

We suspect they eat:
-biofilms and the microbial life associated with it
-perhaps certain encrusting animals like bryozoans
-possibly certain types of sponges, tunicates and the like, as mentioned.

We know that Linckia can take an extraordinary amount of time to starve, over a year, and that there are few if any signs of trouble. 18 months is the "success" mark. Many claim success long before this..long before they should.

They are, in my book, an animal for the "ban" list.

Other things to consider: If your LFS does not acclimate, or keep their specific gravity around the 1.025 -1.026 mark, then I wouldn't consider them. As mentioned, if your tank has less than a minimum (absolute minimum) of 150lbs of LR, it is also a concern. If the tank is less than 6 months old it is a flag. Acclimation time is also critical.
 
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