Most beautiful starfish I have ever seen anyone ever keep one of these

[00Warpig00]

My LFS has one of these (Protoreaster linckii) Red Knobbed/Spined star, African sea star. It was very beautiful and eye catching. Nowhere near the size of the one in this pic. but just as beautiful. Never considered a star for my tank, but this one got me to at least do some research. Not reef safe, eats corals sponges inverts etc. Also found some info saying it will eat small fish but with no examples of what "small" means. Size up to 12 inches and should be in a 75G or larger tank although I would imagine at full size of 12" a 5 foot or longer tank would be more appropriate.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lumase/6243856170/

Anyone ever keep one of these? Have any experience to share.
Not looking to buy the one at the LFS. One of the first things I learned was impulse buys are usually very bad experiences in this hobby, lucky I learned it by LOTS of reading NOT experience. I have been resistant to impulse buys thus far. It just got me interested in future possibilities. My tank is a 180G FOWLR with no plans for corals.

Nick

[miguelp19]

wow! a beautiful starfish indeed! it almost looks fake!!! i would definitely research a little more and if possible buy it lol its too good to pass on IMO. but not if you cant take care of it of course

[foo_dog]

that photo is heavily processed with a program. im sure its a beautiful star, but that photo is super altered.

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[skeeter_usaf]

Small fish means small but slow, gobies etc may get eaten. You also need stronger lighting to keep inverts so keep that in mind too. Besides, if it doesn't work out, they are extremely easy to remove unlike a nuisance fish.

[Dustin1300]

I'd agree that the photo looks a bit altered but still a beautiful starfish either way:) I had a marble star fish for some time that was purple/yellow and was absolutely beautiful!

[rovster]

Wow, the starfish in that pic looks like a piece of dessert, LOL!

[sqwat]

i think 75 gallon is way to small for a star like that.most likly has a specialized diet if you can follow that its not impossable.they can live a year on reserves.i have a snad sifter that is a couple of years old but he goes from system to system a month in each of my 5 tanks.this way he doesnt starve.i had a local tank once i live in nj we have these orange stars all around and we also have some cool seahorses pipefish searobins and horseshoe crabs.sea robin is a pulcher i think thats how you spell it very cool with wings.so i kept all of these till they outgrew the tank pretty fast.the orange star ate whole mussels i harvested and had to buy somtimes.it was cool to watch him open them and eat it so if you want to try doing that is way to keep a large star alive but i bet he eats sponges,urchins ,coral or some kind of macro something specialised.like harlequen shrimp you have to have a star they can eat. when crabs and stars eat fish in a systems it is 99% of the time the fish was sick or injured.so i wouldnt wory about that.if you get them i would feed him live clam ,grass or ghost shrimp hope he can live with out sponges and corals to eat cause they are to pricy.good luck.if they get big meals they only have to eat once a month to survive every to weeks to grow and thrive.

[SecretiveFish]

These guys are extremely aggressive feeders which is why I passed on getting one. They will eat other starfish, including chocolate chips, snails, slow fish, crabs, hermit crabs, basically anything it can get a sticky tentacle on, and I would not put it past them to try to eat urchins.

Basically they have the same care requirements as a chocolate chip starfish (in case you do not know, good water quality and target feeding with meaty food a few times a week) but are more aggressive feeders.

ETA: I do not think that a 75 is too small. These guys are meat eaters, not micro fauna/algae eaters like sand sifters.

[00Warpig00]

So I agree the link above was probably highly doctored. Still a beautiful star. Here is a pic of the actual star through a foggy acrylic tank at the lfs.

http://warpig.dyndns-web.com/tank/20111030144103553.jpg

Hmm will have to dig some more. Thanks for the info so far. I do have 3 gobies... nothing else in the tank that might be seen as food. No plans for for corals, urchins or inverts of any type before I saw this star... Still no plans to purchase this one... It's probably long gone by someone who bought on impulse... ;) just keeping my mind open to the possibility in the future perhaps...

Nick

[StephLionfish]

That's one gorgeous starfish... wow... I have plenty of critters I love that it would eat though.

[sharkman121]

not only is the starfish gorgeous, the other pics in the album have some simply awesome shots