Cool Starfish that can be target fed?

reefnewbie54321

reefnewbie54321

In Memoriam
I really love star fish but cant seem to find any cool ones that you can keep long term. Linkias eat micro-film and from what I know cant be target fed and rarely last long. Chocolate Chip star fish eat softcorals, anemones, and shrimp. Cant think of anything else.

What are some cool starfish that can be target fed and are reefsafe?
 
I have some kind of generic looking starfish that just live in my tank. I never feed them but they continue to survive.
They came on a piece of live rock.
 
I guess theres always some lucky people out there but I'm not one of them. I have never gotten any hoitchhikers worth talking about in all the 500+ pounds of rock I have bought over the years.
 
Some of the brittles that don't get so big I think are cool (wouldn't do a green, but the tiger stripe as an example).

Dave
 
i got 1 sandsifting star....... dont see it to much because its in the sand

but he's been in my tank for about 7 months now
 
I've had a Linkia for over a year now. I feed it cyclopeeze. Not sure how much it actually eats. He's smaller than I remember when getting him, I have a feeling he's slowly wasting away. But, it's been over a year, and he still hauls around all over my tank.
 
I have several brittle stars as well as a serpeant that are doing great. As soon as I pull out the silver sides they come "running" and I give each one a fish. I haven't had any problem.
 
Agree that serpents are your best bet. The little ones that come on live rock are probably asterina stars which a probably ok in a reef tank but stay small. (I have seen reports of them eating coralline algae and sometimes zoas, however.)

They are nocturnal but certainly will come out for feeding. After watching a CC star disintegrate slowly over several months, I've decided that keeping starfish (other than serpents) is cruel and is usually a losing proposition.
 
I have a brittle star and it's pretty awesome. I feed it big chunks of shrimp and he reaches his legs out from under the rock and pulls them in.
 
I wish you could keep basket stars in tanks...

the only success I've had is with serpent stars. I just lost a African Red Knob, or Red General, and a couple other names. He just started melting away, literally. He stoped moving around and after awhile just started crumbling away. I reached my hand in the tank and touched him on one leg, and it crumbled into little pieces. I know it sounds weird but it happened, It's like the starfish was rotting away in my tank but was still alive.
 
I have a fancy yellow brittle star that I have had in my reef for about a year and a half now. It is awesome. Everyone who comes over loves it. It is pretty large, but will climb up and take food directly from my hand. You have to watch your livestock a little with it, but its more about compatability. It ate some lettuce nudibranches I tried to add to the tank, so you cant have them. I also dont add any of the fish that just sit on the rocks like nudibranches. But other than that he doesnt mess with anything in my tank. I have plenty of fish, corals, shrimps, crabs, snails etc.

-Todd
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7793376#post7793376 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by nathan_unsane
I wish you could keep basket stars in tanks...

the only success I've had is with serpent stars. I just lost a African Red Knob, or Red General, and a couple other names. He just started melting away, literally. He stoped moving around and after awhile just started crumbling away. I reached my hand in the tank and touched him on one leg, and it crumbled into little pieces. I know it sounds weird but it happened, It's like the starfish was rotting away in my tank but was still alive.
Click to expand...

Not wierd at all. That is a quite common modus exodus. In fact, this is how my CC star went. Although the starfish will eat, there is something essential missing in their diet when fed in captivity. I have read that it is probabaly a type of sponge.

As for the fromia spp. linked to above, those are also notoriously difficult to keep and if they don't die on acclimation they will probably melt away.
 
Serpent Stars are fun to watch eat, and really neat. Problem is, when they get too big, they will nab any small fish that "sleeps" at night. I lost two manderins when I had one. Didn't think it was possible till I woke up one morning to find the maderin under the star being eaten.
 
I have a tiger serpent star. It can be target fed Formula one pellet food. I have it in my nanocube. When I put a piece of food in the take, it comes shooting out of it's whole to eat. Eating is done in one of two ways. First, it puts its body over top of the food. It's even cooler when it uses one of it's arms to "lasso" the food, i.e. makes a loop with its arm, constricts it and then once it's holding the food, moves it to its mouth. It's pretty cool to watch.
 
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