Red StarFish sticks his arm out of the tank

[itsmeraja86]

Hi all,

My red sea star is usually very active and from last evening i started to see that he pops his arm to the surface of the tank...
He goes back obviously but my concern is it looks like when the wave on the surface goes on and off its arm slightly exposed to air.. I am really concerned about that though..

Is this a normal behavior? No signs of reddish or any other issues in particular though.. attaching the photos

first picture is from the Display side and second picture is from the top so you can see the arm sticking out.

 

[SecretiveFish]

I would guess that he is hungry...

I don't think exposing an arm to air is going to harm him, but try target feeding him to see if that makes the behavior stop.

 

[itsmeraja86]

what would be the right food for him? not sure if he likes flake food.. i have nori sheet.. if he likes i would clip it..
Frozen Brian shrimp, Frozen mysis shrimp?

 

[lonbrat]

Lol he's waving at you, friendly behavior-

Id try fish flakes maybe frozen mysis? I've never had a red starfish, but I've had serpent stars and bristle stars..? Brittle..? Well whatever they are- mine ate whatever I fed my fish. He might not like your chemistry- snails will leave the water if something is wrong with the tank. Id check just to be sure ^^ might have copper or low calcium etc.
But then again, snails and starfish are totally different.

And he might just be a unique star who likes feeling the temp change from the water to the air ^^

 

[itsmeraja86]

Lol he's waving at you, friendly behavior-

Id try fish flakes maybe frozen mysis? I've never had a red starfish, but I've had serpent stars and bristle stars..? Brittle..? Well whatever they are- mine ate whatever I fed my fish. He might not like your chemistry- snails will leave the water if something is wrong with the tank. Id check just to be sure ^^ might have copper or low calcium etc.
But then again, snails and starfish are totally different.

And he might just be a unique star who likes feeling the temp change from the water to the air ^^

my water parameter seems to be good.. he isnt eating any food.. tried flake, nori ... but let me try some mysis later .. that being said he moves quite a lot and my snails and other inverts seems to be doing good...nothing alarming....
spot feeding is tough though coz my freakin occilaris clown steals food from mr

 

[SecretiveFish]

Fromia starfish are algae eaters unlike serpent and brittle stars so I am do not think mysis will do the trick. Personally, I would get some of the Formula 2 frozen cubes and try feeding that to your starfish.

 

[itsmeraja86]

i read about Formula 2 cube and it looks like when thawed it becomes jelly state.. so any advises on feeding technique for Formula 2 Cube?

 

[Whiterabbitrage]

Fromia don't eat algae. They eat biofilm composed of bacteria. As long as your tank is aged enough then there's no problem. Mine used to do that sometimes and he lived for years.

Oh, if you want to increase your biofilm, you can try mixing dry coral food, such as Reef Roids, with some tank water to make a slurry, then use a pipette or turkey baster to blow it into the rocks. That should give bacteria something to grow on.

 

[itsmeraja86]

Thanks Morgan, I will try that to create biofilm.. in the past i saw bio film but now my tank is >100% in terms of flow (2500 Jeabo WP20, 1, 550 GPH power head at the right side lower behind the LR, 1 750 GPH on the left side middle to get some movement, 1 250 GPH left bottom behind the rock. plus my BRS mini reactor[Running GFO+Carbon] outlet at the right side and left side is my SWC HOB Skimmer......) No Sump .. so i literally have no visible signs of bio film..


he is just about 4 weeks in my tank the first two weeks he stayed where i place him but third week he slowly started moving .. from end of last week he was like all over the place Its a 29G FOWLR and has 2 occilaris clown ,2 yellow tail damsel and 1 fire goby.. 1 Cleaner shrimp 1 blood red fire shrimp .. (10 CCU's) i love his cool moves.. tank is around 5 months old and i am starting to add corals...