Crinoidea

[NPSMVP]

Since this is a topic often fraught with misinformation in the hobby I thought I would share my own story on the methods I've used to care for my feather stars. I received my first one a year and a half ago after many months of research and planning. I have found that they are not as difficult to keep as they are made out to be. I feed mine Benepets Reef Food, Reef chili, and Azox coral macro diet. I broadcast feed mine every day and they have responded well to it. I think the main reason they fail in tanks is because people either impulse buy them or they buy them and overdue it with chasing numbers which makes them sick or kills them. For filtration I only have a skimmer, no sump, no reactors of any kind and a 5% water change once a week. I realize that I am in a minority with keeping these successfully but I hope to dispel alot of the misinformation surrounding them since you can't really go by alot of what you read in this hobby.

 

[calk me Q]

congrates to you MVP.
I had three in my 15'' cube but two of them were mashed to bits by Vortech. Seems they dont like the flow in there initial position so they swim. The only one left has moved around for many positions and finally sat at one position and it did well too.
Also, there are many other guys in the NPS forum they succeeded in keeping them alive. The longest record may have been two years and over.
But these animal are not shipping very often (even in here china) so there are not many anecdotes about keeping them.

 

[SeaCucumberFan]

I wouldn't say crinoids are coral. When I was a kid and visited the aquarium section of a butterfly pavillion in Denver I saw a red one literally WALK around with their tentacles. Ever since that I wanted one but maybe my LFS doesn't have them.

 

[Tweaked]

Secured one for myself a buddy has been keeping in a store tank for three months. Said he can usually tell how they are going to do by the health when they receive them. I myself am worried about the flow issue.

 

[Bongo Shrimp]

Secured one for myself a buddy has been keeping in a store tank for three months. Said he can usually tell how they are going to do by the health when they receive them. I myself am worried about the flow issue.

You cannot tell the health of a crinoid by looking at it and if they are going downhill, you usually won't know it until arms start falling off. Three months is not a long period for keeping a crinoid as they can take nearly a year to fully starve.

 

[SeaCucumberFan]

Well I asked my LFS if they have crinoids...

Unfortunately they don't have crinoids