Sand sifting starfish

[Amy83820]

I just got a star sifting sandfish today from the lfs to try to help my dingy sand. As soon as he was acclimated and put into the tank, he buried himself and I haven't seen him since. Is this normal? Will he move around on the sand at all, or will he just stay buried all the time? This is my first experience with a starfish...

[SCR]

Mine did the samething , haven't seen him since. I guess it one of those things that you add to your tank and hope it works.

[Amy83820]

Could you tell a difference in the sand? Did it look cleaner?

[wrenchhead]

Mine hid for a while but he comes out from time to time now.He does a great job on the sand bed though.

[Angel*Fish]

It's my understanding that they eat stuff, you really wouldn't want eaten & that when that's all gone they starve --- :(

[AZDesertRat]

I hope you don't have a deep sand bed and are relying on th pods and live fauna for part of the system. Sand sifting stars eat only live things and not detritus. I tried one and in a matter of months in a 100G with a 5" DSB it wiped out every living thing in my sand. It took 6 months of reseeding to get it back to normal again. If you only have a decorative substrate they are probably fine but unless you have a very large tank, are extremely nutrient rich or directly feed it it will soon starve to death. I wish LFS wouldn't sell them without a warning.

[Amy83820]

I'm having an algae problem with my sand. I have a pretty simple system (90 gal drilled tank, 25 gal sump, skimmer, some soft corals, 2-3 inch sand bed, 3 green chromis, 6line wrasse, yellow clown gobie, inverts), so i'm not dependant on pods. It also seems like i have a lot of detrius in the tank (on rocks, etc). I keep blowing it off the rocks, but it never seems to find the overflow. Despite rodi h20 and weekly changes, my nitrates always seem to hover around 15-20. I'm hoping getting rid of some of the detris will help that also.

[AZDesertRat]

A sand sifting star will not eat detritus. Thye only eat live things like worms and pods. You need snails and a conch for that.

[omni2226]

You can buy a magnum canister filter with the vacum attachment and micron filter. The day you do your water changes pop the can on the tank, vacum the sand/substrate while blowing the gunk off the rocks.
Unplug and remove the can filter, do the water change.

[wetWolger]

I almost never saw mine....would see him like once or twice a month. And eventually my 120gal could not support him and he died :-/

best of luck with yours

[Amy83820]

Is there anything you can feed them? Now i'm scared he's going to go belly up....

[Speckled Grouper]

Have had two in my 180g for 2 years, just moved them over to my new 250g.

[affan]

:smokin: Mine does the same thing. Except that sometimes it doesn't :smokin:

[Angel*Fish]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7481151#post7481151 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Amy83820
Is there anything you can feed them? Now i'm scared he's going to go belly up.... If you are having a nitrate problem, you want to remove this thing from your tank, he is eating creatures that can help you with your nitrates --- For some reason most hobbiests don't find out for a long time that ornamental starfish are rarely something we can keep alive long term in our tanks. Brittle stars we can keep, but they can be fish predators. Don't buy a feather star no matter what the LFS says. I don't think anybody is successful with them - it just takes them 6 mo - 1 year to starve to death.

A 2-3 in. SB may not qualify as a DSB, but there still is a positive effect it can have on your tank. What type/size sand do you have?

Do you have good circulation inside your tank involving strong g/h powerheads?

[SirTrippalot]

Sorry to resurrect this ancient thread, but it is right on topic for me. My LFS sold me a sand sifting star, they told me it would help with my nitrates by eating all of the dead stuff in my sandbed created by my mantis shrimp. He eats 2-3 snails and a week with the occasional clam or hermit thrown in there. I have now had the star in the tank for 3-4 days and he has been pretty active. Should I return him? A lot of people here seem to be pretty passionate about how detrimental they are.

I have a 35 gallon tank with great circulation and about 4" of live sand.

[Sk8r]

I'd get rid of him.

[Squidmotron]

Dang. I've had my sandsifter for over a year.

So, he is not actually helping my sandbed?

[saf1]

Yeah, have to second and third or more the comments about not having "any" creature in your tank that eats the sand bed creatures. Sort of defeats the purpose. There are some snail that will do the job has will a tiger tail cucumber if your tank is stable enough. I've also found, used, and rather like, the clams IPSF sells that mix up the sand. One of those deals you put them in and in under a minute they are gone never to be seen or heard from again.

Yet every once in a while you will see a puff of sand get shot out and whisked away from the current so I know they are there. I have 6 in my 29 gallon bio-cube with about a 6 - 9" bed.

[Get Hooked]

liveaquaria and aquacon along with several other sites say they do eat detritus. I bought one a month ago on the advice of my LFS regarding something to stir up the sandbed. They also recommended I buy olive snails which I did too. My sand sifter is small, no more than 3 inches across.

[Squidmotron]

Do they consume bristleworms?

[JohnniG]

Mine is rarely out, because they stay in the sand

[FTDelta]

Do they consume bristleworms?

No