red star feeding?

[momentumfoto]

So I bought a small red sea star and was wondering what they eat. I have no fish in the tank yet but have a snale and 2 small hermit crabs and 1 small rose Anem. I do have alge growing and live rock growth that I can see. The sand is starting to turn slightly brown. All this I hear is normal. I just need to know what to feed this star or if it will do ok on cleaning the tank.
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[greenbean36191]

So I bought a small red sea star and was wondering what they eat.

That's a good question, and one the people that work with them would like to know too. The answer is that no one knows, but they seem to to best in tank with lots of established LR. It doesn't sound like your tank fits that bill, so it might be best if you returned the star. They generally can't be target fed.

Also, that anemone is in extremely poor shape. It is severely bleached. It will need a lot of feeding and excellent water to recover. Again, it's probably best to return it and wait for your tank to "mature" a bit.

It sounds like you have a fairly new tank. It would probably be in your and the animals' best interests to slow down a bit. Start your stocking with a few fish and some hardy corals and then work you way up to the more delicate inverts like these as your tank ages.

 

[momentumfoto]

Ok thanks for the info... I will put the Anem and the star into my friends established tank. I will let the tank age and then think about them. The anem is much more purple in real life... I think the camera bleached it out. I am looking at it now and it is nice and purple.

Thanks again.

 

[scottflanagan]

i don't mean to hijack this thread but why close it so soon. especialy if momentumfoto plans on putting it in a friends tank instead of returning it to the lfs.
i myself have about 60+ lbs of live rock and a bit of live stock. i have admired the red frime(?) stars at my lfs for some months now.
i plan in doing some resurch and i figure this would be the place to do so so if anyone has any experiance keeping these beautiful little inverts please post your input.
scott

 

[momentumfoto]

great!!!! hope more people can chime in... info info info!

 

[Plankt0s]

From what I have read nobody knows what they eat. Is the (red frime) a linkia?

 

[scottflanagan]

well how long have they lived in other peoples tanks???
if no one knows what they eat i guss the question is will they survive for multiple years in an established reef tank.
i don't like to suport taking an animals out of nature. In the rare case that i do buy from a lfs and not a fellow reefer i want to make sure that it will survive for years so i don't feal too guilty about my purtchause...

 

[momentumfoto]

hard to believe nobody knows what they eat????? with all the crazy new science we have now they dont know???? weeeeeiirrrd!

 

[greenbean36191]

Is the (red frime) a linkia?

Fromia and Linckia are two different genera of stars.

hard to believe nobody knows what they eat????? with all the crazy new science we have now they dont know???? weeeeeiirrrd!

There is a lot of seemingly basic stuff that we just don't know about critters in the ocean. Research is dictated in large part by money, and field work takes a lot of time and a disproportionately large amount of money for the info gained. If learning that information doesn't offer either large economic potential or potential for broader knowledge (does it help answer a bigger question?) it generally doesn't get funded. Unfortunately, the returns for life history work don't justify the cost except for heavily fished species.

 

[momentumfoto]

ahhh makes that $ence

 

[scottflanagan]

So has anyone had much sucess with red fromia stars in their tank??? if one could give a rough estimate of their home aquarium life span what would it be?

 

[cla337]

pretty unpredictable. I bought 2 at the same time. One lasted a month, the other lasted about 10 months. They seem to do fine, then they hit a threshold and deteriorate. All my stars seem to do that though...Although they last longer and my OG sand sifter is still going (3 yrs).

 

[Lev F.]

If you want a Star, then an Ophuroid will be a good choice (excluding basket stars.) They are generally easy to feed. If you want a more "Star" looking star, then Linckia Multiflora is probably the best choice. Nobody knows what this species eats, either, but they do better than most stars in captivity.

 

[Spyogenes]

I had a Red star, it seemed to be doing well then one day is started to "disolve" all of a sudden and about a week later he was gone. There didnt seem to be anything I could do to stop it. I felt soo bad. I would love another one, however I dont think I will be getting another one.

semper fi
spyogenes