Sea Star Recommendation

[cotter4601]

I'm looking to add a sea star to my tank to help clean it up. I have a cucumber, but I think a star fish would help stir the sand. I've had a sand sifting star before but it died after about 6 months and a banded sea star ate a few fish....

What do you recommend as a good safe star? Will a sand sifting star fish take mysis or something?

 

[Salamander]

Sand sifting stars are not good in most tanks. They eat beneficial micro fauna in your sand and when its depleted, they die. Their diet can not be supplemented. They must be easy to catch in quantity, because unfortunately stores always have them.

Try a serpent start or a brittle star. Green brittle stars are known fish eaters but most others are great. They'll kelp clean up food scraps etc but won't stir your sand bed. Try some nassarius snails or maybe a fighting conch for that.

 

[cotter4601]

Thanks.... I know the sifting starts don't have a long life in most tanks and didn't want to get another for that reason.

 

[RedRider001]

i agree brittle stars are a good choice they are cooler to look at also

 

[cotter4601]

Any of the brittle stars better than the others? Should I stay a way from the serpant sea stars then?

 

[Elysia]

In general, the green brittles are the known fish predators and the ones people are warned about. I have heard people on here blame either serpents or brittles for fish deaths, but it is hard to know whether something else gets to the fish, and the stars start to clean up and get blamed for the crime rather than praised for the clean up. I've never had a problem with any of mine -- brittle or serpent. Look for an intact body, down to the tips of the arms. If put into the middle of the tank, out in the open, the star should high-tail it to the a side, looking for cover. Often times, the scientific names used by importers are suspect, so its tough to shop that way.

 

[cotter4601]

My local LFS has a couple banded serpants. They are black and brownish... I might wait and order in a brittle though. Any recommended sites for ordering clean up crews? The place I normally order from doesn't has sea stars at the moment.

Thanks for all the info.

 

[MartinEric]

IMO get the brittle from a LFS that has had it a while, as they do not ship well.

 

[cotter4601]

Wish I had that option.... My LFS isn't very good. I have to order in just about anything I need/want. I'm looking at a Fancy yellow brittle from liveaquaria.com.

 

[billdogg]

+1 with any of the brittles except the green - yellow, black, and red can be found around here fairly often. I also love serpant stars - you may not see them until they smell food, but then LOOK OUT!!! they will appear from nowhere to chase after scraps.

 

[cotter4601]

Just ordered a fancy yellow brittle star from my local lfs. Hopefully he is able to order it so I don't have to pay shipping.