Sand Sifter Sea Stars
- Thread starter TheGuyWho
- Start date
pagojoe
Team RC
Well, that was a bad link, since I used the search link and it's wrong now. It could be that you have a totally different type of star from the ones normally referred to as "sand sifting stars." If you do have one of the Astropecten or Luidia species, you should be aware that they may deplete the fauna living in your sand bed, and that they often starve to death and die without warning. If they sold you brittle stars, which have skinny arms which are flexible, those are scavengers and may be great in your tank. What do they look like?
Cheers,
Don
Cheers,
Don
zooty
Fish Warden
Those are sand-sifters.
One may be OK in an established tank with a deep sand bed.
2 in a new tank will just die in a couple months.
The thread he tried to link to talks about how Stars in a smallish (<100 g) tank will basically destroy and eat all of the good stuff living in the sand and eventually kill the sandbed and themselves. They are best left out of tanks altogether or in large tanks with 4-6 inch sandbeds.
If I was you I would take them back.
Maybe add 1 in a year but I prefer conchs myself.
One may be OK in an established tank with a deep sand bed.
2 in a new tank will just die in a couple months.
The thread he tried to link to talks about how Stars in a smallish (<100 g) tank will basically destroy and eat all of the good stuff living in the sand and eventually kill the sandbed and themselves. They are best left out of tanks altogether or in large tanks with 4-6 inch sandbeds.
If I was you I would take them back.
Maybe add 1 in a year but I prefer conchs myself.
pagojoe
Team RC
By the way, I had one that looked very similar to yours, maybe exactly like yours, that massacred a whole herd of small Conus bandanus in a matter of a few hours. It didn't seem to be able to kill any of the other Conus species, but for whatever reason, it was successful with that species.
Don
Don
