Red fromia starfish

[travis9791]

I recently went to my LFS looking for a brittle or serpent star. They did not have either. They did however have some small red fromia stars. I told the man there that I had a 144 gallon DT with a 30 gallon sump that had been up and running four months. He assured me this would be A good fit for my tank. I drip acclimated the starfish for 1.5 hours when I got home.The starfish only moved about an inch from where i placed it in the first 24 hours. The next morning I gently moved the starfish to see if he was alive. I placed it on A new section of rock midway down the tank. Since then He has moved several inches. I see no signs of deterioration and my water parameters are perfect. I read up on these guys when I got home and I see they suggest a one year old tank and even then survival is low. I have one week to return the starfish and I can' t decide if I should keep him or not. My daughter really wants a starfish. If I shouldn't keep this one are there any others that are a better fit?

 

[heathlindner25]

I would return it

 

[anthonys51]

they need a mature tank with good algae growth. but if the levels in your tank and stable and you supplement its feeding until your rock matures a little it should be fine.

 

[travis9791]

My tank levels are ammonia=o, nitrite=0, nitrate=2, ph= 8.2, and my salinity is 1.26. They have been stable for 1.5 months. My rocks are fairly well algae covered with both coraline and green algae. I have read mixed posts on what they eat. Some say you can supplement feeding and others say they only eat microscopic algae that only time can produce. Food is my main concern over water parameters. Has anyone had luck feeding these guys anything. If so what was it.

 

[CStrickland]

There are a few threads where people have been able to target feed them, but it's a vast minority. If you can't get it to take any food from you in the next couple days I'd return it. Nobody really knows what they eat, just that they rarely thrive in new tanks and once in a blue moon somebody gets one that takes food.

I mean, honestly I'd return it now. Starving is not quick and fairly gruesome.Its like they seem ok until it's way too late. Their legs start to decompose and then they expel their guts. Your kids not gonna like that part. You can have an age-appropriate chat with her about stewardship and all that, and buy a hermit crab - they are far more entertaining anyway.

 

[anthonys51]

Your a negative person. I say read up and research. There are a lot of fish and inverts that people once said are impossible to keep that are now kept. Now I will admit I think it probably will die in your tank. But it's probably going to die in the next tank too. So as long as you try to give it the best home possible abd do everything in your power to keep it alive. Keep it

 

[CStrickland]

Your a negative person.

To whom are you referring?

 

[anthonys51]

You your text was a little negative

 

[CStrickland]

You your text was a little negative

You should find a way to express that without making personal attacks. You can disagree without judging me to be a "negative person."
How long have you kept star fish alive for?
I've killed 2

EDIT: I just noticed this, it's cute:

if the levels in your tank and stable and you supplement its feeding until your rock matures a little it should be fine.

I think it probably will die in your tank

 

[anthonys51]

I have killed about 20 star Fish Well not me, but my little friend harely

I will apologize if I insulted you. Meant to say comment negative not you

 

[CStrickland]

I asked how long youve kept them alive though, since OP isn't in the killing game (that'd traumatize the kiddo for sure)

 

[anthonys51]

I keep chocolate chip stars a live for a long time. They even live with 3 legs cut off. I have never kept this type of star fish alive but then again you haven't either

 

[CStrickland]

Chocolate chips are entirely different. You can feed them, and they'll eat all your coral too. Apples to oranges. I'm not saying OP should keep this star, you are. Seems like it's maybe not so easy after all...

 

[anthonys51]

I know nothing about the op. Seems to me it's a bee tank and being his first tank. Just guessing. Means most things will die in his tank. Should he return everything. I mean I been keeping fish a long time. Newbies kill lots of fish. But I will admit op try to keep stuff that isn't hard to keep. Once you mastered the easy then try the hard. It will save you a lot if money

 

[iluvmyfishes]

I have a red fromia and they do not move for a few days or so but then they will. I think yours will be fine. Mine goes all around the glass and in the rock. Once yours starts moving you can throw different kinds of algae sheets in if you don't think there is enough in the tank. I rubber band mine to a small rock, I never see the starfish eat it though.

 

[username in use]

How long have you had yours though. They generally starve over the course of a few months to a year. I tried to keep one in a heavily fed NPS tank for a while, it had a variety of foods available to it round the clock and it still starved.

 

[ScienceRulez]

If the little one's heart is set on a sea star, I recommend the chocolate chip, but only if you don't have a reef tank. The tank here is very eclectic to put it mildly, I even have a leather coral that someone donated,all 4 of my choc chips tried it but didn't like the taste I guess and it's doing very well in the center of the tank. The chip stars are very popular with the kids. The ones I'm taking care of have been in the tank for a little over 2 years and they are getting pretty good sized.

About a year ago we tried a red fromia in the tank and it only lasted a month before it passed on. I agree with CStrickland, you should return it, you don't want your daughter to see what happens when a sea star starts to go downhill.

 

[Jeff4777]

I have a fromia star fish thats been alive in my tanks for over a year. He even steals seaweed off veggie clips

 

[cloak]

Being that the LFS is probably not going to provide this star with the care it needs and the survival rate is already poor to begin with, I would definitely keep it for a few weeks and see if you can get it to eat something. Throw everything at it but the kitchen sink if you have to. Nori, pellets, small bits of shrimp, live black worms etc. Also, I'm not sure what you have going on in your sump, but if there's any sort of life down there at all you might want to let the starfish have at it. (sponges, biofilms etc) Just make sure it's not going to mess with your ATO or get caught up in any pumps or anything. If it's still alive after all this time but you haven't seen it eat anything at all, then you might want to think about giving it to somebody with a much larger more mature tank and let them roll the dice. GL.

One of the links below is about Linkia starfish, but the care is pretty much the same all around IMO.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=497+528+580&pcatid=580

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2002/5/inverts

 

[Jeff4777]

Being that the LFS is probably not going to provide this star with the care it needs and the survival rate is already poor to begin with, I would definitely keep it for a few weeks and see if you can get it to eat something. Throw everything at it but the kitchen sink if you have to. Nori, pellets, small bits of shrimp, live black worms etc. Also, I'm not sure what you have going on in your sump, but if there's any sort of life down there at all you might want to move the starfish down there for a few days too. Just make sure it's not going to mess with your ATO or get caught up in any pumps or anything. If it's still alive after all this time but you haven't seen it eat anything at all, then you might want to think about giving it to somebody with a much larger more mature tank and let them roll the dice. GL.

One of the links below is about Linkia starfish, but the care is pretty much the same all around IMO.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=497+528+580&pcatid=580

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2002/5/inverts

Interesting thing is I've tried 1 Linkia before and it died (It was decaying already during acclimation I believe). Now I have 2 brittle star fishes and 1 serpent star (these 3 came in as hitch hikers on a large pipe organ coral colony). One of those brittle stars is now near a foot from leg to leg. Plus 2 Fromias which I bought and are doing great. Guess I just got the raw end of the deal on the Linkia. ;\

edit - 1 fromia is a tile sea star and the other is a small red fromia