Starfish

[reefstinger]

Warning on the serpent Stars. Don't get a GREEN bristle serpent they will eat your fish when it grows larger, make sure you get a Brown serpent Bristle Star. I learned this from experience, even fed him well everyday and he still had a appetite for the smaller weaker fish in the tank. just my 2 cents .

 

[reefstinger]

JennM;945870 wrote: Linckias are sensitive. If anyone along the chain of custody (before you got it) didn't acclimate it properly, it will disintegrate.

The trickiest part is acclimating after a long shipping period. Easier if it comes home from a local place, in a short amount of time.

Your best bet in either case is to check the specific gravity it came in before you start acclimating (this applies to anything, really). If it has been in a bag 24 hours or more, pH will drop and once you open the bag, chemical reactions happen quickly and there's a delicate balance between getting it out of gross water quickly enough, but not so quickly that you shock it with a fast specific gravity change (or pH - but pH will be low in old bag water).

If acclimated properly to a tank with stable parameters, they can and will live for many years.

Jenn

Jenn Knows fish n Stars , Nice to see you are still here Jenn, I hope the bus is doing well:yay:

 

[jennm]

Hi Reefstinger (Jerry?)! :wave:

Brittles have the picky legs and while the green ones are the most notorious and likely to hunt your fish, the black and brown ones can too.

I prefer serpents - smooth legs. Less likely to prey on fish. They tend to hide and only come out for food, but they're nifty creatures nonetheless.

Brandon was referring to Fromia stars - one of my personal faves. Again, you want to get them from a reliable source, they need a careful acclimation too - "careful" depending on the shipping time and the difference in water parameters. They too can live for years if properly handled from collection to hobbyist.

Stay away from Chocolate Chip stars. They are relatively hardy but they'll devour your corals.

Jenn

 

[mcphock]

JennM;945870 wrote: Linckias are sensitive. If anyone along the chain of custody (before you got it) didn't acclimate it properly, it will disintegrate.

If acclimated properly to a tank with stable parameters, they can and will live for many years.

Jenn

I thought that linckias had a very high mortality rate in captivity? No one seems quite sure what they eat.... My own anecdotal experience bears this out, but you've got a lot more than I do.

 

[jennm]

I've seen them kept for years. Yes there's some question about what they eat, but I've seen a fair number do well. I also learned the hard way that not every supplier takes good care of them along the chain of custody. It can take days or weeks for the damage to become apparent and they melt I have no scientific data but from what I've seen, at least as much blame can be on handling as on so-called starvation.

Same with Fromias - I've seen them do well for years too, with proper handling and living in a stable tank.

The other thing too - there's no way to tell how old they are when they come into captivity.

I don't recommend them for beginners, nor for newly-established tanks, but for a fairly accomplished hobbyist with a mature and stable system, they can do just fine.

Jenn

 

[destineyfoster]

alt="" /> this my large serpent out and about. They are awesome to watch and easy to care for. I have a smaller one as well. They leave my fishies, corals, and inverts alone. (Although, they think my pistol shrimp digs holes for them. Lol)

 

[massivedynamic]

only ones i ever had problems with were sand sifting stars.. general and choc chip seemed pretty hardy. I bought two sand sifters and they died... finally the 3rd survived and did well for a few months.. then it died.

 

[massivedynamic]

reefstinger;945878 wrote: Jenn Knows fish n Stars ,

jenn knows it all when it comes to salt water. :yes:

 

[reefstinger]

MassiveDynamic;945942 wrote: jenn knows it all when it comes to salt water. :yes:

Thanks Jenn for the reviews, I'm not even close to your experiences with Sea creatures . LOL :up:

 

[jennm]

MassiveDynamic;945942 wrote: jenn knows it all when it comes to salt water. :yes:

Not even close. I know a very little bit in the big picture of things.

Jenn

 

[dylan ringwood]

Well to the new guy I appreciate all of yells knowledge

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[y-not]

This is my Serpent Star.
We've had him for over a year. He knows when it's feeding time. We just never know where he's hiding until we see a leg reaching out from the rock.

My wife always saves him a big chunk of Mysis. It's cool to watch him wrap his arm around the tongs and slid the food off then into his mouth.

Then you get to see the lump on his body and you know it's the chunk of food that he just shoved into his mouth. :tongue:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OiHHnOQgUY">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OiHHnOQgUY</a>

We've also got a sand sifter.
Neither of them have been any trouble whatsoever.
Drip acclimate for 30 minutes and drop them in the tank. No problems at all.

 

[dylan ringwood]

That serpent star is definitely a mover it's pretty cool.

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[reefstinger]

JennM;945881 wrote: Hi Reefstinger (Jerry?)! :wave:

Brittles have the picky legs and while the green ones are the most notorious and likely to hunt your fish, the black and brown ones can too.

I prefer serpents - smooth legs. Less likely to prey on fish. They tend to hide and only come out for food, but they're nifty creatures nonetheless.

Brandon was referring to Fromia stars - one of my personal faves. Again, you want to get them from a reliable source, they need a careful acclimation too - "careful" depending on the shipping time and the difference in water parameters. They too can live for years if properly handled from collection to hobbyist.

Stay away from Chocolate Chip stars. They are relatively hardy but they'll devour your corals.

Jenn

Jenn who is one of our sponsors that carries a red smooth leg serpent???:huh:

 

[jennm]

Well I only work for one sponsor I haven't been by the shop for a bit so I'm not sure if they have one or not, but if you call and ask Fernando, he can tell you if they have one. If not I'm sure he can get one for you.

The red ones are a little harder to come by, but they sure are eye-catching.

 

[y-not]

Dylan Ringwood;945984 wrote: That serpent star is definitely a mover it's pretty cool.

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Yeah, he doesn't glide or slide around at all.
It's almost as if he's walking.

The other (sand sifter) moves but you almost have to mark a spot and come back in a few minutes to see that he's gone anywhere.

 

[dylan ringwood]

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=497+528+580&pcatid=580">http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=497+528+580&pcatid=580</a>

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[y-not]

Dylan Ringwood;946245 wrote: http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=497+528+580&pcatid=580">http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=497+528+580&pcatid=580</a>

Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk[/QUOTE]

That's a pretty cool looking star!
Perhaps I could talk my wife into getting one of those too. :roll:

 

[dylan ringwood]

I could be wrong but it may be peach off finding Nemo haha

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[dylan j_]

Also just want to throw this out there when getting a starfish you got to look at food options you'll have in your tank for them.

Sandsifters will clean deep sand beds and eat the the detrius and miofauna out of it

Brittle/serpent starfish will eat any extra food and detrius which make them a valuable part of the CuC

Basket starfish will clean your water column out of pods and other food float but are tasky to keep up with constant feeding

Most any other starfish will eat algae/diatom but must make sure that there is constant food present other they will starve

Acclimation all mostly depends on the type of star as well as your LFS/online shop par levels. If their levels are almost identical to your acclimation can only be a matter of 5mins if their levels are way off from your then acclimation can up to 30mins but almost any reputable LFS tests their water daily as well as shooting for the ideal water level which most hobbyist shoot for as well so acclimation shouldn't take to long.

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