can i keep feather stars?

[tim.hunt7]

i just got this feather star (crinoid) i was wondering what to feed it i heard it just eats detritus in the water any ideas i can get pics if you want

 

[Freed]

Most will die in short time. Not responsible at all for any LFS to sell these or order them in. They eat phyto or zooplankton drifting in the water current so most reef tanks are not capable of supplying enough food for these inverts to sruvive. Even if you do feed from a bottle you will not be supplying nearly enough food for it to survive.

 

[finsurgeon]

Your best chance is to feed small particulate foods of many different types, especially at night (if that's when it crawls out and opens up). In order to keep it, though, you almost have to threaten the very balance of your tank with cyclops, phyto, baby brine, rotifers, other types of zooplankton (invert banquet by Fritz is very potent and seem to make a difference to them). Again, you'll have to have moderate flow and the maximum food sources that may put your tank in danger and you'll need to skim like crazy and have your refugium full of algae and use phosphate binder and change your water frequently. It's probably tough on some of your corals to try this, and I wouldn't recommend it.