Blue Starfish Reef Safe???
 

Tried to search but found little on the Blue Starfish. Can anyone give me more info on feeding, reef safeness, preferred water parameters etc. I really want one but don't want to kill it.

Thanks!!:)

No one knows what they eat, but it seems to be something growing on the rocks. In most cases it takes at the very least 150# of well established LR to keep them fed. They also need a tank with a very stable salinity.

If you can meet those two demands, and you decide you want one try to get the LFS to hold one for a few weeks. They're often acclimated porrly somewhere along the chain of custody, and it takes a few weeks for the damage to manifest itself. You don't want to buy a dying star. If at the end of the holding period the star has any sort of sores, wounds, missing legs, or looks deflated or wrinkled, don't buy it. Once you git it, you want to acclimate it very slowly over the course of a few hours.

Oh yeah, and they are reef safe.

Nice Avatar! :D :D :D

Thanks guess i will wait till the spring for my LR to mature. My tank is only 4 months old and I am still adding live rock.

It is personally not a star I suggest. The genus, BTW, is Linckia.

The tank must be PRISTINE in parameters and the specific gravity should be 1.025-1.026. It should be a mature reef tank. The key with the LR is not the actual density, but the amount of available surface area, which is why I tie both the amount of LR and the tank size together. Ideally, it would be a larger tank so that the rock could be spread out more. Closely packed LR may not be as beneficial to this star.

Acclimation is also a critical factor.

:confused: What star would you suggest? I don't want one that I will kill from starvation.

Thanks!!

I wouldn't suggest any of the true starfish. Brittle and serpent stars are a good choice. They should be fed meaty foods occasionally though, and the rule about stability still applies. Just stay away from the green brittle star, Ophiarachna incrassata.

im pretty sure this is the star fish you guys are talking about
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m...5/DSC03021.jpg
i had him for about 4 months and he's doing great so far, i feed him once a week but he doesnt always eat the food.

What do you feed it? As a general rule, they will not take to spot feeding. Individuals may, or they may take to certain foods.

In addition, you have a tank that I think would be reasonably suitable (150 or so US gallons)

However, 4 months is not long enough to know how it is doing. 18 months is the critical period. They can be slowly starving the better part of a year without any signs of trouble, most unfortuntely.

The only Linckia type star that I would have fewer reservations about suggesting is the smaller Linckia multiflora. Acclimation, water quality, etc are still important, but this Linckia seems to do relatively better than nearly any other species.

I have to disagree with the whole tank size. I have a well established 29g long that I have had up for 6 years & my Linka has been in it for 5 of the 6 years. I think after 5 years it would have starved to death by now. I may be and probably am the exception to the rule but as far as having to have a huge tank I dissagree. My tank is a well established reef tank with alot of live rock but like I said it is still only a 29 long. (JMO)

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b4...f/25ed875f.jpg

It is absolutely positively an exception, please believe me :D It is really important to note that it is VERY rare to get this to happen, this is not common, nor can it be assumed it will.

The overwhelming majority of these stars will not live anywhere near that long in our tanks. The overwhelming majority die of acclimation shock or starvation in smaller tanks.

How big is your star? There is a blue morph of the much smaller Linckia multiflora that might very well do fine in that type of sytem.

It's the one in the top pick, I would say it's about the size of a baseball fully extended. This guy zips around my tank like a nasarius snail.

Is that from arm tip to arm tip? That would be very small for Linckia in general. Linckia laevigata - the common blue Linckia in the hobby, gets up to a foot across, and I typically see them in an LFS easily stretching over the palm of my hand from wrist to fingertip.

Normally Linckia multiflora has some blotching...but it is considerably smaller (about 5" across), and much "hardier" in tanks like yours.

Has this ever "dropped arms" which is the standard method of reproduction?

Mine is aprox 4in across from arm to arm. It has never dropped any arms. Mine is not blotched just solid blue like in the pic. I also have this one going on 3 years in my 55g. I know it's not a linka.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b4...f/DSCF0195.jpg

That's gorgeous. Phataria, not a distant relative of Linckia but rather uncommon in the hobby. Your have the first I've seen (well, except for one dying at an LFS). Does that one take to any spot feeding that you have noticed?

The crazy thing is that I picked it up at my wholesaler in Miami. They said it was from the Sea of Cortez & they only recieved a half dozen. I snatched one up & took it home, I dripped it for about 18 hours till PH and salinity were the same 1.026. , 8.3. I went back 2 days later & everyone they had was necrosing & falling apart...I guess I'm just lucky & I take the time to acclimate them.

Not trying to hijack this thread but I have had a hard time with an I.D. on this guy.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b4...nsreef/hgh.jpg

Well, seems rather much like a Protoreaster (several types in the hobby including the chocolate chip, Bahama, red African and general star). The colors of these guys can be exceedinly diverse and that is a particularly nice one. Is that in a reef system or no?

As for your the previous post, yes indeed...not so much luck as the care to properly acclimate.

Thanks, I took a gamble on this guy & though it's not in a total reef system it is in a tank with Ricordia, Xenia & other soft corals. It seems to scavange & takes meaty foods & so far so good with the soft corals. I don't think I'll roll the dice & put it in with my brains, acans, & echnopora.

I would very strongly discourage that too :D

about feeding, i feed mine chopped up octopus and a algae pellet here and there. laat week i brought 20kg of live rock and there was all these little worms on the surface of the live rock, there not dead because there still there but it seems my blue star fish is eating them.
blue star eating:
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m...5/DSC03022.jpg
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m...5/DSC03027.jpg
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m...5/DSC03041.jpg
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m...5/DSC03046.jpg
And here is the little worms
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m...5/DSC03031.jpg