Red Sea Star Questions

[Tennyson]

First of all, are or red sea stars (from liveaquaria) easy to take care of? I've read on all the articles that they search the live rock and sand for detritus and algea, is this all true? and will they do good in a 46 gallon tank with lots of live rock and live sand? I don't think anything will harm it.

 

[rssjsb]

You'll need to be a little more specific - there are several types of red sea stars. Brittles and serpent stars are pretty hardy. Most of the rest are not. Can you go back to L.A. and see the species you're interested in?

 

[Tennyson]

Sure, its Fromia milleporella. Its called the red sea star. But my lfs says Red Bali Starfish, I'm pretty sure they are the exact same.

 

[wrasseguy2]

the fromia and linkia star fish are very hard to keep long term in our tanks..and if you are to even try one you need a large tank with lots of live rock for them to graze on plus the tank need to be very mature...but the first trick is to get one that is healthy..it is not really known what they eat and most starve in aquariums...i think that your tank is too small to try this star and going by your profile i see your tank has been up for 5 months...so i would pass on this starfish

 

[Tennyson]

Wait, are you talking about those ones that get really big (1 foot long) and have long arms and come in different colors like brown, blue, red, or black? I'm talking about the one on this link, and there are alot more pics of them if you google image red fromia starfish on them.
http://images.inmagine.com/img/imagestate/v3052/v3052010.jpg

Sorry if this is the same starfish your talking about, but I'm pretty sure I'm talking about a different type of starfish that doesn't grow more than 4 inches. Liveaquaria says that they are moderate to take care of, whereas the linkia is difficult.

 

[greenbean36191]

Nope, what he said applies to the little 2 inch Fromia. Even though they stay much smaller, their needs seem to be almost identical to Linckia. They need large, established tanks with lots of LR.

 

[Tennyson]

Oh, OK, forget it, no Fromia for me. I'll just stick with serpent stars. But thanks anyways

 

[wrasseguy2]

i thik you would be better off to stick to the serpents...i have a red one here is a old pic of mine..he is not out much in the day but at nighti s all over the place..so getting a new pic has been hard it is a little larger than this now... i feed mine krill squid or some meaty food 3 to 4 times a week

 

[rssjsb]

Tennyson, you should check out the caribbean harlequin serpents. They're really cool. Live aquaria and etropicals sell them sometimes, as does sealifeflorida.com. Ccriters.com also has a bright red serpent right now.

 

[Tennyson]

I know! I love harlequin serpent stars and the red ones too. But I'm afraid they'll ship to me during school, then I won't be here to get it, unless I order it during a week when I have no school. Arent the red serpents harder to take care of in some way though?

I already have a really lazy and bad serpent star that doesn't even look attractive. Its muddy brown colored with brown stripes. Its so lazy, it won't go out for food at night if the food is more than 4 inches away, and thats at night, forget about the day. Do you think that if I do order a serpent from online, would it be better than my current serpent?

 

[rssjsb]

Well, they don't need to eat that often. It could be that your serpent is just not hungry when you're trying to feed it. I think that behavior is pretty typical for serpents. I've got a huge brittle star in one of my tanks. I never see his body - just his legs, which are stretched out all over the place.

 

[wrasseguy2]

my serpents and brittles do not move all the time at night is the only time i do see them but my brown one just hangs out in one spot...he does eat though anytime i offer some kinda meaty food they both go after it