Sand Dollars in reef tank?

[brynkal]

Does anyone know if sand dollars would be OK in a reef tank (both would they be bad for anything in the tank, and would they likely live)? Just wondering, since the little ones are so cute...

[wicked_NaCl_h2o]

In a very large tank they might survive for a while..if you have a very deep sand bed maybe. There are a lot of people that say it doesn't matter how large of a tank you have they will eventually die in captivity. I have a sea biscuit, bought it months ago and it does very well. The lfs I got it from said they had it for years and that was in a shallow sand bed. I don't know what it eats but it is very hardy, really cool creature. I was lucky enough to take a picture of it while it wasn't burried all the way in the sand.
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb23/wicked_nacl_h2o/Picture2030942.jpg

[brynkal]

Thanks, it's good to see your sea biscuit alive and well! I think I'll bring a dollar home the next time we find a small one, and see if it does OK.

[cmlloveless]

Where would you collect it from? A lot of the sand dollars are cold water species!

[brynkal]

There are lots of them at Lido Beach in Sarasota, definitely not cold water :-)

[cmlloveless]

Just wondering.. I just know they are everywhere in cold water systems! Go to California down to mexico and they are everywhere!

[wicked_NaCl_h2o]

I don't think it matters if the water is cold or warm. What really matters is can your sand bed provide enough food for them. I think sea biscuits can handle captivity better than sand dollars. I meant to say this in my first post on this thread. If you can find a sea biscuit, it would do better and live longer. Everyone I spoke to about sand dollars they said they don't do well at all in captivity. Maybe they were doing some thing wrong or maybe these creatures should stay in the wild.