what starfish to get for 40gal

[ReefsandGeeks]

I've had a 40 gallon tank running for about 5 months and would like to eventualy get a starfish to go with it. What kinds of starfish are available that would do well in a 40 gallon tank?

I have a DSB and 50 pounds of rock. I know i'll have to wait a while longer for the tank to become adiquitly established before adding a star, but the most common star i find at my LFSs(chocolate chip stars) get large.

I have tried looking up the growth rate of the chocolate chip stars and from what I see it is very very slow, leading to beleive if I got a small one to start I could have him for years before having to give him away or more likely upgrade my tank.

Are there other better options for smaller tanks? Do LFSs ever get anything other than chocolate chip stars?

Thanks

 

[Calappidae]

Only serpents. Anything else will outgrow, starve, or catch fish/kill coral.

 

[ReefsandGeeks]

from the serpents on liveaquaria it seems like they can get pretty big as well. do they not need a large tank even though they can get over a foot in diameter?

what about the red sea star? http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=497+528+578&pcatid=578
it says it only grows to 6 inches, and can have it's food suplimented if needed. Even though it is cheap on live aquaria I havent seen any in my LFSs. is there a reason for this?

 

[Calappidae]

Don't listen to liveaquaria.

No, fromia's are highly specialized in diets. Unless kept in a 200+gallon at 1 year establishment in hopes of their natural food source (invisible film algea) is present, they will starve. Shame that retailers like them will post inaccurate information to make a quick dollar. The starfish would be starved in a couple weeks.

Serpents hide in the rocks, even though they get big they are usually curled up in a rock anyway, that diameter is the leg span and all which, like said, is in or under something taking up no space. They rarely are out in the open.

 

[BlueFyre]

I have had a lot of luck with brittle stars as well. Just don't get the green ones. I have a red one and a maroon one that are pretty cool and will take food right from your hands.

 

[ReefsandGeeks]

Yeah, I've learned not to trust most of what retailers say. When i bought my first freshwater tank they didn't say a word about the nitrogen cycle even though I told them I had no idea what i was doing. Just said come pick up fish after the tank was set up. I'd like to think the people dealing with marine tanks in the stores would be better...but that's also not normaly the case.

What do the serpent/brittle stars eat? do they just eat the typical algea found in the aquarium? do they require any special care like supliments/food/shelter?

 

[Xavibear]

They are detritus eaters.They do like chunks of raw seafood.

 

[Calappidae]

Green brittle stars are more oppertunistic than other brittles (if there is easy food infront of them they'll take the oppertunity to grab it such as a slow or sick fish.)