question about starfishes

[ilovesam08]

Are they reef compat? and what about turbo snails?

 

[rockdog]

Turbos are great! My tank has very little green due to them. Some stars are reef safe some are not. My neighbor has a chocolate star "not reef safe" but he has hadd no trouble in his reef.... so you never know.

 

[ralph atl]

ilovesam08;162497 wrote: Are they reef compat? and what about turbo snails?

There are so many species of seastars that it is impossible to generalize if they are reef compatible. Many are, and many are not. However, most are very difficult to keep alive. brittle-stars are much easier (overall), however, not all of them are reef-safe. Turbo snails are reef-safe, though some live in cooler waters not accustomed to the temps of reef tanks, and are therefore, shorter lived. I have many types of snails that have lived years in my tank.

 

[ilovesam08]

I have a choc. chip but I am getting a good bit of coral tomorrow. and I need to know either to keep him or trade him for something else/

 

[ericmcj31]

it depends on the actual star; I had a choc. chip with my corals, and he did just fine-I put a clam in and he was on top of him like a dog in heat. I had to take him out b/c of that, and that only. Just keep an eye on him, if he's sitting on top of corals for any decent amount of time, then you should get him out--most LFS will give store credit for stuff like that

 

[jmaneyapanda]

Choc chip stars will eventually start mowing the corals. They have insatiable appetites, and you wont notice it, until you really notice it . If you have corals, dont put a chocoloate chip star in there, you will regret it.

 

[tnyga]

sand sifter star is a good addition and does a decent job also

 

[derek_s]

Yeah, sounds like he's gotta go. Can you eat starfish? The chocolate chip variety sounds delicious.

 

[seedless reefer]

I have a blue linkia, sand sifting and three brittles.

The blue linkia adds a nice splash of color.

I would not put in a sand sifting star until the tank is nicely established so it has plenty to eat.

Once the sand sifter is introduced you will only see it rarely.

 

[george]

Depending on your tank size and sand bed size, even in a well established tank, a sifting star can sterilize the sand bed over time. If you're wanting sand sifting in a smaller tank, you'd probably be better served by sand sifting snails, such as Nassarius or Cerith snails.

 

[olds350racer]

I tried a have a chocolate chip starfish in my tank when I first started into coral. The star was mowing down the coral within minutes.