starfish question

[new to this]

hi people,
i have lurked in the back ground for a few months now and your have all helped with your answers ALOT! thank your for your constant support with everyones questions.

I was wondering if you could help me with what starfish I have bought and what it eats? the fish shop man said he will live on algae and my tank is big enough for one, however when I place him at the bottom of the glass where it is filled with algae( which I let grow for his food before I got him) he goes the other way.
not sure how to put a picture up on this as I'm not tech savvy, he is orange, and in the centre of his arms he has a red pentagon shape. any help is very much appreciated.

 

[rt67ghy]

Welcome to the forum!

Do you know the name of the starfish or could you post a pic? There are many different types of starfish with different feeding requirements.

 

[jam.jo]

Do not be alarmed if the starfish is going the other way when you put it on the algae. If you did this when you first put it into the tank.. they need a little time to acclimate to your tank. They have slow metabolism so they may not eat right away. Most recommend to supplement their diet with small pieces of mussel, shrimp, or clam once or twice a week on top of the algae that is available. If no algae is available then you would need to place small pieces of mussel, clam, or shrimp in it's path. Starfish are very sensitive so make sure to read up on their water quality requirements. Sudden fluctuations in parameters will kill alot of starfish. Especially pH, temp, salinity. Post a few pics and that will be helpful to receive advice. You will need to use a computer to post the pics under the advanced reply option there is an option for downloading pics from computer.

 

[Maritimer]

"Orange with a red pentagon center" sounds a bit like a tiled starfish of the genus Fromia. From what little I understand of them, your LFS guy is right, as far as he went. They are supposed to survive on the sorts of algae that can be found on the liverock of a mature (6 months +?) tank. (They're really beautiful, too!)

~Bruce

 

[new to this]

thank you so much for the replies,
i have attached a picture,( i think ) of the starfish in question. he is in that funny picture because i red somewhere that they might want to eat sponges and hence i moved him closer to the rock. i did read to try feeding him some mussel and that was going to be my next question, if i do this, how often should i feed him ?? and how do i feed him, do i just lift him up gently so i dont hurt him or scare him and plonk him on the food?? i understand they will find food on their own in the wild so should i buy a mussel still in the shell and let him sniff it out ?? any advice is greatly appreciated.
if it makes any difference, i have 2 clown fish, 1 baby blue tang ,a flame angel, a red line shrimp and the starfish in question. my first corals are a toxic green hammer and a yellow tip torch. recently i have been getting salt water from the ocean because i have been worried ill ruin the corals by mixing my own but its getting cold here in Australia and so ill have to start mixing again soon.
thanks once again

 

[jraker]

Looks like Iconaster longimanus, or the Double Sea Star. It seems like it is one of the more finicky sea stars, like Linckias and Fromias. I would return it and get something like a serpent star or a brittle star.

 

[new to this]

thank you jranker, you are correct is saying that it is a icon starfish. you are also correct in saying it's one of the more difficult starfish too look after, which is not what I wanted to hear. I think I might take your advise and take him back, im yet to have a casualty and I don't want to start now! thanks for your help

 

[Ron Reefman]

Serpent and brittle stars are inexpensive and fairly easy to care for when you have a mature tank. Don't rush the process, it just causes heartbreak and problems.

 

[rt67ghy]

If you drop small pieces of shrimp or mussel near it (maybe 1'' away from it) it should be able to find it. It's better to drop the food in its path if it's moving in one direction.

 

[bat21]

From all the research I have done, I essentially view starfish in this way: If it is beautiful, then it is impossible to keep and will starve to death in your tank. If it is so ugly, you don't know if you even want to put it in your tank, then it will thrive and live forever.

 

[GimpyFin]

+1, double sea star. I had one for a while, but lost him shortly after I moved everything to a new tank (which I was afraid of due to the tank not being well established.) Anyway, they are really cool and just mosey around the rock/sand and glass scavenging for food, similar to a linckia or fromia. Outside of a decent sized, well established tank with stuff to scavenge, they don't require anything special, but they are a little more difficult to keep long term than something like an orange linckia or a sand sifting star, IMO.