Feather Starfish

[Neokane]

Ok.. So my Girlfriend, being wonderful as she is, picked me up a feather startfish for my birthday.
I was hinting around at her that I advise against her choosing something for the tank without running it by me, and I told her a mandarin was out. So she picked me up a feather starfish and a hammer coral.

Both are beautiful, but after researching the feather starfish, I have learned that they are hard to keep.

Of course the lfs has 0 returns on inverts, so I have no other options besides trying my hardest to keep this neat creature.

I have chosen to feed it phytofeast 2x per day, morning and night.
any other recommendations?

Thanks!

[Anemone]

I have chosen to feed it phytofeast 2x per day, morning and night.
any other recommendations?


They are nighttime feeders, so I'd try after lights out.

Kevin

[Neokane]

Yep, that is what I read. my lights are only on a 12 hour cycle, so this is pretty easily done.

[Badkarma88]

I saw my first feather starfish a few days ago at my LFS. Very neat! Good luck with him.<iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=156700584506744" width="568" height="320" frameborder="0"></iframe>

[Josh_84]

Unfortunately it probably won't last very long. Our tanks don't have the proper conditions and food for them. I read a very interesting article on them but don't know where unfortunately. I believe the person who wrote the article had a dedicated tank for it, but with the amount of food required, nitrate and phosphates were through the roof. I had one for about a month and then it started to fall apart.

[NeilFox]

There are probably less than a dozen guys in the world that can keep them. They only eat essentially one specific food per species. Look on the NPS forum if you really wan't to try. You will need NASA level engineering skills in addition to being able to dtermine their target food. I will try to find the link. You will need some fairly deep pockets also. Your feeding regime can eat up more money than a small SPS tank and require more care than a three month old baby.

[NeilFox]

Actually about 4 or five of that dozen are members here. I think two of the guys are listed in the best tanks in the world with truely awesome setups. Not saying it can't be done but NPS at this level involves a level of dedication and monetary investment that makes a TOTM SPS reef look like a glodfish bowl.

[Dexters Reef]

Actually about 4 or five of that dozen are members here. I think two of the guys are listed in the best tanks in the world with truely awesome setups. Not saying it can't be done but NPS at this level involves a level of dedication and monetary investment that makes a TOTM SPS reef look like a glodfish bowl.

There are probably less than a dozen guys in the world that can keep them. They only eat essentially one specific food per species. Look on the NPS forum if you really wan't to try. You will need NASA level engineering skills in addition to being able to dtermine their target food. I will try to find the link. You will need some fairly deep pockets also. Your feeding regime can eat up more money than a small SPS tank and require more care than a three month old baby.

+1
I tried one a few years ago and unfortunately it only lasted a few months. I tried feeding marine snow, and other brands of fiter feeder food and had no success.

I recently read an article in some saltwater magazine about these, and this guy was an expert reef keeper and marine biologist, and he tried nursing these back to health, and keeping them alive. While he was able to do it, they needed a dedicated low flow species tank, with target feedings of very specific food many many times a day.

[Dexters Reef]

Since you already have it, you need some tips. These are very challenging creatures. Ill see if I can dig up my magazine article on theml. In the meantime, I read this success story which has some good tips
http://www.reefsmagazine.com/forum/reefs-magazine/79032-journey-crinoid-keeping-michael-lukaczyn.html