Sea star fromia

[CrayolaViolence]

Well, I wanted a sea star. I swear to god when I got it home from the store it was dead. Not a twitch. Significant other said, no, fromias are slow, give it time. Next morning it was on it's back and the hermit crabs were munching on it.

What did I do wrong? I acclimated it over an hour, I did a salt water drip. I still say it was dead in the bag and said something to one of the store people but they don't guarantee live stuff (can't blame them) but yesterday I saw another fromia in their tank "sitting like a person" with its "back" to the glass. I swear it was dead too. No one else seemed to think so.

 

[CrayolaViolence]

I'd like to get a sea star but need something hardy. Basket starfish? Are they hardy? I mean, they cut those suckers up into little bits and make more of them.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Basket stars and feather stars are VERY difficult to keep. They are like NPS coral and get all their food by filter feeding.

Have you looked into any serpent stars or brittle stars? They tend to hid under the rocks most of the time, but mine do come out to feed.

 

[CrayolaViolence]

I have looked at them. You'd think basket starfish would be easy since they are so hard to kill even by hacking them up.

 

[Jeff4777]

I have both a Fromia and sand sifting star in my reef tank for atleast 8+ months. I can say this... they are both crazy fast. They can cover 6 feet of movement quicker than you think. (Sometimes they will sit in the same spot all day).

I'd bet it was dead\dying when you got it. Linkias are notorious for this but fromias tend to be a bit better.