Dead Blue Linkia starfish

[Whylde]

I just looked in my tank and my Blue Linkia looked funny, I picked it up and it's it's entrails were hanging out about two inches. I've heard of cucumbers doing this, but not stars. Anything I need to worry about, and any ideas why it might have died?

[ninjamini]

They have a very poor survival rate. You have to acclimate very slowly. If its not done well they will die in a month. How long have you had it? How long did you acclimate? How big a tank with how much liverock? What are you water perams?

[JamesJR]

all kinds of reasons. They just don't do well in aquariums.

[Tang Salad]

It's possible your aquarium is too small and it starved.

[Cin288]

I have had mine for over 2 years

[HBtank]

Hard to keep. Don't know why it would of done that...

I got lucky and have had mine 5 months so far, it is totally plump and happy. They need a wide variety of life in a tank. THink fo them as a super mandarin, not needing just pods, but as many types of tiny sessile invertebrates as possible, among other things.

I waited a year to get one. It loves fresh rock and will spend days on new pieces. I am thinking I will rotate rock from my refugium into the tank "feed" him.

[650-IS350]

Just make sure you SLOWWWWWWWWWW acclimate them... some say 2 hour drip method...

Water parameters out of wack??????

[lawdog]

They are not hard to keep... if you acclimate them slowly they can live for years in a well kept reef tank.

I have had one blue linkia in my reef for the last 3 years.

[Whylde]

Parameters are good, good enough for seahorses and pipes. 7 month old tank, lots of food. I was told they eat detritus, wrong?

[JamesJR]

Yeah, wrong. No one is really sure what they eat. The cases here are usually the exception. Acclimation is very important but the problem is it has been in and out of aquariums to get to you and it is hard to know if the people before you acclimated it correcltly.

[masterswimmer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8709210#post8709210 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by lawdog
They are not hard to keep... if you acclimate them slowly they can live for years in a well kept reef tank.

I have had one blue linkia in my reef for the last 3 years.

lawdog, congrats on keeping yours alive that long. You really should not be encouraging others to take these beautiful critters out of the wild. Their survival rate is abominally low. Yours is no doubt the exception.

Nobody has posted that it is impossible to keep them, just unbelievably difficult to find that exception.

The Linckia's with the best survival rates appear to be the Linckia Multiflora's. The blue's, purples, reds and oranges are exponentially more difficult.

The diet of these animals is really a mystery. Some say they feed on a film/slime algae. An extremely mature tank, one year +, would be a good starting point for consideration (if someone HAD to have one).

swimmer

[chucksta1]

Lfs sold me one and the only questions they asked were "how big a tank" and "How long has it been up". They considered one hundred and one year to be minimum answers, or no sale.

That said, he got a slow drip and has been going for about seven months.

[greenbean36191]

It sounds like your LFS asked the right questions. Don't count yourself successfull yet though. You still aren't out of the woods with these guys until around 12-18 months. If they live longer than that then chances are they're finding enough food and will do well for a long time.

[Speckled Grouper]

My blue Linkia is approaching it's 3rd birthday :)

[lynn53]

I've known several people that have had no luck with them at all. The confusing thing is all three invert books I have say they are fine to keep and eat detritis or small meaty items...just acclimatize them super slow. Makes you wonder.

[masterswimmer]

Maybe helpful (http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-06/ac/feature/index.php)

Calfo, from the article:
The beautiful Blue Linckia sea star is perhaps the best known and most popular and sought after variety. They have rather poor rates of survival with aquarists. Most folks tend to do quite poorly with individuals of this species, exacerbated by sensitivities in shipping and handling. For best success, buy these creatures only on sight and after at least five days of acclimation (stabilization) to a dealer's tank. After that, it is advisable to stock them in mature aquaria with aged live rock and few other grazing fishes or deposit feeding invertebrates. A good rule of thumb is a maximum of one Linckia laevigata per 100 gallons.

swimmer

[GroYurOwn]

how old are those books? its been relatively recent that people have really been questioning what these guys eat, and i have found plenty of misinformation in books that are only a couple years old. its always better to ckeck it out online BEFORE you buy, since that info is constantly being updated....dont just try to find the answer that works for you, find the one that works for the animal.

[xtm]

super hard, if not- impossible to keep. Totally hit or miss

[samw]

I've had one for a little over 4 years. However, each year, it got smaller and smaller. By the looks of it now, I would say it won't last another month.

[nsreefer]

It would seem that these are the moorish idol of inverts. IMO Animals with such low survival rates should be left on the reefs.

[cristhiam]

I had an orange that lasted 1 year and then shrink and fall apart. :( won't be getting another one.

[JokerGirl]

I've had my Purple Linkia for about 4 months now. It was missing two legs when I got it, and they are about half grown now. You'd be surprised at how fast the suckers can make it around the tank :)