Sandsifting Stars

[Rickyrooz1]

Are Sandsifting Stars bad to have in a reef tank? Do they feed on detritus or do they eat the beneficial organisms in the sand bed?

 

[Bruder]

They are fine if the tank is big and I mean big. They have been known to wipe tanks clean as far as good bugs and bacteria and cause crashes.

 

[soccer 24]

put one in small tank and it ended up starving to death after a few months

 

[Mike31154]

I had one for about a year in my 75. Fairly deep sand bed and it neither starved nor did it appear to wipe out all the beneficial organisms. Didn't move around that much either. It fell victim to a White Spotted Hermit Crab I added a few months ago. Herminator has also eaten one of my snails but I'm still reluctant to remove the guy. Oddly enough, the White Spot is an excellent sand sifter, better than the starfish ever was. He often digs into the sand a couple of inches in no time, stirs it up good. Hasn't bothered anything else in a while and doesn't pick at any of my soft corals, but he's growing fast and I reckon I will have to remove him at some point.

 

[AZDesertRat]

Easily the absolute worst thing I ever put in my 100G tank! One star wiped out an established 5" Southdown DSB in less than 2 months. It went from crawling with red spaghetti worms nd pods runing everywhere to the Gobi Desert with no life in it at all. I took the star back to the LFS and spent the next 6 months borowing cups of live sand from friends and buying bottles of Ocean Pods and reef stews to get it repopulated.
I would highly discourage anyone buying a sand sifting star if they want a fully functioning DSB no matter how big or small. I went against the advice of countless people here and from my friends and am still paying for it years later.

 

[Deleted member 143833]

I have 2 in a 180 and after 2 years they are still going fat and happy (though I admit after reading about them I find it unexpected). The bed is not that deep (about 2") but it rows speghetti worms fast enough to keep the stars healthy. I think it helps to have good worm growth in the rockery; I do and I (suspect) that it helps keep the sand seeded (just a theory). Maybe size has something to do with it; mine are about 2.5-3" across (point to point).

 

[clownzcrazy]

ive got a established 40g and bought my sand sifters when i first set it up 6 months ago. still have plenty of pods and everything else and the funny thing is the sand sifters i got have been reproducing like crazy.
ive now got 15-40 1cm-5cm stars running around.

 

[greenbean36191]

Are Sandsifting Stars bad to have in a reef tank? Do they feed on detritus or do they eat the beneficial organisms in the sand bed?

Sand sifting stars are a whole group of un-related stars sold under the same common name. Some do eat detritus, though not as the bulk of their diet. Most don't. Most are predators of infauna. Some are so general in their predation that examination of their stomach contents has been used as a method to sample benthic diversity. Others are picky and will only eat certain types of nearly microscopic worms or snails in the sand. Few species eat "pods," but that doesn't mean that they're not still harmful to the functioning of a sandbed.

In any case they serve no useful purpose in a reef tank and nearly all, even those in large tanks will end up starving after about a year to 18 months at which point they just fall apart (and people often assume they were attacked by something). Those with more generalized diets will fare better, but they do more damage to the sandbed. Those with more specialized diets might not cause obvious damage, but won't last long either.

the sand sifters i got have been reproducing like crazy.
ive now got 15-40 1cm-5cm stars running around.

You're likely seeing adult Asterina stars or mini brittle stars. It's almost impossible for sand sifting stars to reproduce in captivity.

 

[clownzcrazy]

im almost sure there sand sifters as there same color and everything. my Parameters stay at steady readings and have had no other stars in there as i put the tank ina month cycle.
if i had a better camera i would add some pics.

also nothing is impossible.

 

[clownzcrazy]

i respectfully retract that statement as i have no definitive proof as of this moment till they get bigger if they do. as you said after a lot of searching they may just be Asterina stars which do resemble sand sifters.

 

[neo1013]

i have had a sandshifting star in my 125g for 2 years now. i have very few pods in the display, but you can tell where the star has been, he does a good job of keeping the sand clean in small areas.

 

[billdogg]

I have tried several over the years (before I knew any better) - NEVER AGAIN!!!!! Almost certainly doomed to an early death from starvation. One of the creatures from the sea that are best left there.