finally found a reef safe and hardy starfish

[sticky polyps]

very good post. nice tank also!

 

[reeferstace]

FYI, seastars and brittle/serpent stars are no more related to each other than mammals and birds are to each other or mammals and reptiles.

"Seastars" are in class Asteroidea. Brittle/serpent stars are in class Ophiuroidea.

 

[ryan1985]

Ryan, did your starfish finally eat the piece of fish you gave it? Interested in stars, but know that most of them don't last long.

yup, it took several hours, but every time i looked the piece of food was smaller and smaller, and eventually gone

very good post. nice tank also!

thank you!

Hey Ryan. How are stars doing? I'm interested in purchasing the same ones for my tanks and was wondering what if anything you spot feed them.

doing great! i would rear on the side of caution and try 1 per 75g or so, and see how it does before ending 2 or more.

 

[ryan1985]

 

[reefwiser]

Ryan do you just have one left since adding them in November of 2014? Or are the other two hiding?

 

[d2mini]

Here's an old time lapse video I have from over 2 years ago that shows them moving around.
The brighter orange one got damaged by my mp60. He lasted for quite a while after that but eventually perished. The other is still around. The orange one I had had for a few years before that, the other one was received in 2012.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pLMaFa_6uL0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[trmiv]

Well I got one of these guys today in an order from KP Aquatics. The water it was in was VERY high specific gravity. About 1.040. I was shocked, I had to check it three times to be sure since it was so different from the other inverts I received. I acclimated the best I could, but really I'm not confident after making that big of a jump.

 

[trmiv]

Mine appears to be doing OK after his large salinity acclimation. I stuck some LRS fish frenzy on his arm earlier today and he's been eating it for hours. He's puffed up since he started eating. The piece is almost gone so he's definitely munching on it.

 

[jason2459]

It's generally safer to go down in salinity quickly then it is to go up which should be done a lot slower.

 

[dogface 13]

sick looking tank. very clean

 

[banthonyb71]

Patrick is also very hardy and reef safe:

However he is somewhat temperamental and may be occasional Aggressive towards squids. and is best paired with a host sponge.

 

[banthonyb71]

best paired with a host sponge.

preferable with pants..

 

[ColtonMeng]

Just my $0.02:


I've had a blue Linckia for over a year now and he is active as ever. No loss in size, and constantly switching between roaming the rocks, sandbed, glass, and surface line.

Also have a 8-10'' squamosa, no issue whatsoever with the two.



Colton

 

[3FordFamily]

Thorny and some "red" star that looks like a smaller red linkia are hardy I've had them for years

 

[laga77]

Here is a common starfish from Tampa Bay Saltwater he has been with me four months and is doing fine. He goes around all surfaces eating algae. I also have brittle star from TBS. Whenever I see an arm sticking out, I turkey baster some black worms and he eats them up.

 

[DEA Coral]

Nice. My serpent star is reef safe.

 

[amrakweno]

I just ordered 2 of these on Friday and should be getting them soon I'll try to keep everyone posted. Also reading through the thread nobody ever said what they might eat. I know people said they ate when spot fed but googling common sea star diet I found www.chesapeakebay.net to show they eat snails,clams,oysters,mussels and barnacles. Now of course that can't (or maybe it can) be a blanket statement as for I'm sure it depends on individual star and tank and so on. But I have about a million collinista snails so if he or she likes those he will have a heyday in my tank. I'll keep everyone posted best of my ability.

 

[trmiv]

I feed mine LRS Reef Frenzy. I usually find the big chunks in there. When he's close to the top I stick some in one arm, and he engulfs it and eats on it for hours.

 

[dg3147]

I stick some dead clam under his arms and he gobbles it up. He even got sucked into my Gyre pump and got his legs chewed up. Still alive and kicking! Has not touched my live clams or other inverts in my tank.

 

[dahos]

Picked this guy up the other day.