Please ID Sea Star - Reef Safe?

[jjencek]

Local guy was shutting down his tank and gave me a number of his loved ones. One of them was this lovely orange sea star. He assured me it was reef safe. I could not pass on it.

Can anybody help me ID it and also let me know if it is reef safe?

Thank you.

 

[flooddc]

looks like a tile sea star.

 

[jjencek]

looks like a tile sea star.

Thank you for the tip. While looking it up, I think I narrowed it down to Biscuit Sea Star. Here is a link:

https://australianmuseum.net.au/biscuit-sea-star

Now the question is .... Is it reef safe?

 

[mhaze]

I have seen these go for over $100 online. I've never had one, and at that price I probably never will, but I have seen them marketed as reef safe. Apparently they consume algae. I cannot confirm that with personal experience though!

 

[Bongo Shrimp]

They do not eat algae, they strictly eat sponges and it will slowly starve to death in a captive setting.

 

[norfolkgarden]

Our tank has plenty of random small thin layers of sponge(?) on the underside of stacked rocks.
Would that type be useful?

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[Bongo Shrimp]

Our tank has plenty of random small thin layers of sponge(?) on the underside of stacked rocks.
Would that type be useful?

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It's possible. The question is how long will it take to eat all go the available sponges? Once it finishes them off it will likely die. These starfish do not survive to any reasonable degree in aquariums and should just be left in nature.

 

[mhaze]

They do not eat algae, they strictly eat sponges and it will slowly starve to death in a captive setting.

That is probably MUCH more accurate than anything I've seen - definitely go with it. I've never even seen one in real life.

 

[norfolkgarden]

If you Google photosynthetic sponge there are several retailers that sell them. They come in red and blue/purple depending on your eyesight.
They grow quickly in a shelving form similar to a monti.
Our flame angel approves...

I can't keep a yellow ball sponge, a red tree sponge or a blue vase sponge alive more than 2 weeks to a month. Regardless of the flame angel.

Yellow/orange "elephant ear" sponge takes over a year to fully degrade. Even with the flame angel.

Since you already have the starfish, a smaller sponge might not be a completely ridiculous expense?


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[jjencek]

As I wrote in the original message, I got it from somebody that was shutting his pretty new tank - due to divorce.

I don't think he had any sponges in his tank. I have a whitish slime like sponges growing under my cliffs. They are pretty aggressive, but I doubt would grow fast enough. It found the sponge within an hour of me putting it in my tank and has been slowly moving through that area since.

I live in central Europe and have not see any sponges for sale in local stores. I will contact other members and keep looking for sponges for it.