What star?
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I have the blue Linkia, have been looking at the orange and red and purple as well. These stars are colorful and mine is always out and about.
I also have a sand sifter which is cool, makes an appearance now and again but mostly stays buried outa sight.
I also have a sand sifter which is cool, makes an appearance now and again but mostly stays buried outa sight.
With that shallow a sandbed, you wouldn't want a sand-sifter. I have a serpent star that is pretty cool. It's not the *pretty/dainty*sar like you see in the linckia. Looks more like part spider, part octopus. Fun to watch him come out to eat.
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i have a blue linkia ,green brittle,black brittle, and a serpant.
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The main issue with linkas is acclimation. Even if you do it right, you don't know if the distributor or retailer did. It can take them a full two weeks to start dying from bad acclimation. If you geta good one, they tend to live a long while.
If you can find some Fromia monalis stars, they acclimate very well, are very hardy, and not too expensive. But they're as hard to find as they are hardy. If you can find them, don't pass up on them. They can vary in appearance greatly, from lots of white to very little.
http://www.edge-of-reef.com/asteroidi/ASTFromiamonilisen.htm">http://www.edge-of-reef.com/asteroidi/ASTFromiamonilisen.htm</a>
The Fromia milleporella is a good substitute for that one, also.
If you can find some Fromia monalis stars, they acclimate very well, are very hardy, and not too expensive. But they're as hard to find as they are hardy. If you can find them, don't pass up on them. They can vary in appearance greatly, from lots of white to very little.
http://www.edge-of-reef.com/asteroidi/ASTFromiamonilisen.htm">http://www.edge-of-reef.com/asteroidi/ASTFromiamonilisen.htm</a>
The Fromia milleporella is a good substitute for that one, also.
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PLEASE be sure and acclimate them S L O W L Y. I got a few different kinds in a cleaner package and only one out of five survived. Really disappointing. They are really cool though and add so much to the tank. Just do your homework on the process and follow the steps closely. GOOD LUCK!
Linda Lee;110980 wrote: With that shallow a sandbed, you wouldn't want a sand-sifter. I have a serpent star that is pretty cool. It's not the *pretty/dainty*sar like you see in the linckia. Looks more like part spider, part octopus. Fun to watch him come out to eat.
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Linda carfull of that star. I saw mine taking on the BIG turbo snail + I had lost 2 clearner shirmps before and had no idea what kill them.
I put the blame on the star fish and took it out of my tank.
I have one of those,.. and was told its a "poop" eater. I don't think this is true,.. but if I feed him some shrimp every so often he does fine. I think I will have to get rid of him one day as they get quite big but so far he's fine.
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My experieince with the Fromia (red) and the sand sifting star is that they starve to death in captivity. May take a while but they do. Also, the serpent stars are very cool....just predatory!
I've heard they can be predatory. I researched before I got mine and read that if he's target-fed a couple times a week, he won't bother livestock. Mine's been in the tank since June with no issues so far. Still have my cleaner shrimp and peppermint and haven't noticed a decline in my CUC.
I feed this guy a couple times per week with a treat at the end of a skewer, such as shrimp, squid, octo, etc. Maybe this has kept him from going hunting on his own.
Bought him because I heard he's a poop eater and a sand stirrer, but I don't think this particular one is. He stays pretty much in the same place, so unless my fishes are trained to go potty in that same corner, this one is not subsisting on detritus alone. Or, it could be that since he's nocturnal, he does a lot of wandering at night and returns to that same spot to hang out during the day.
Some good info on
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Honestly starfish creep me out. They are so alien in form and function ... they are about as odd as one can be and still be classified as an animal.
The banded serpent star that Linda has is probably one of the more peaceful of the family. In terms of fish predation the brittle stars are more of a threat with the green ones being known as green death stars. The serpents are less known for their predation and I kept a banded serpent for a long time without any problems.
That being said, the only starfish I would add now are the bright linkias for color. They have vibrant colors that are hard to match. Tyler brings up a good point that they may not be well suited for our aquariums though. The odd thing with linkias is that noone is really certain on what they eat. It is theorized that they eat film algae, but how much do they need to sustain themselves? These things take such a long time to starve to death that they usually succumb to some other frailty so its hard to say...
The banded serpent star that Linda has is probably one of the more peaceful of the family. In terms of fish predation the brittle stars are more of a threat with the green ones being known as green death stars. The serpents are less known for their predation and I kept a banded serpent for a long time without any problems.
That being said, the only starfish I would add now are the bright linkias for color. They have vibrant colors that are hard to match. Tyler brings up a good point that they may not be well suited for our aquariums though. The odd thing with linkias is that noone is really certain on what they eat. It is theorized that they eat film algae, but how much do they need to sustain themselves? These things take such a long time to starve to death that they usually succumb to some other frailty so its hard to say...
