Sandsifting Starfish

[Pisces]

I'm guessing that these guys are not reef-safe?:rolleyes:
We have had one for at least 9 months now and he's grown considerably in that time, even lost two arms and grew them back rather quickly. We've lost two recent fish additions in the past couple weeks, a cleaner wrasse and a royal gramma, and I'm suspecting the starfish got them even though he has never bothered any fish prior to this. It just seems that as he's getting larger (7" across) he's getting more of an appetite and he's going places he's never gone before like on the rocks and inside the rock work trying to find things to eat. The two new fish had acclimated just fine and were doing very well with no signs of stress so I don't think that they just died on their own and then the starfish ate them like my husband suggested. I think they got ambushed by the starfish during the night because I know the gramma had taken shelter in a rock near the sand bottom. I know for a fact that the starfish did end up eating the gramma one way or the other because of the rather large bulge in it's body the morning I discovered the gramma missing. When the cleaner wrasse disappeared I didn't see any evidence, but no body or remains were found either.

So I guess I'm asking if anyone has any info on these starfish because I can't seem to find it in any of my books and I don't know what the proper name is for them. Are they predatory or really just scavengers? I'm ready to take him back to the LFS where I got him if they'll take him.

[gbolton]

I would venture to say it is not your Sand Sifting Star. I have a Sand Sifting star and have had him a while and he does not seem to bother any of the other inhabitants. The only time I ever really see him is when he is moving to a new location and then he just disappears back into the sand.

[OrionGirl]

Scavengers--but if there is not enough food for them in the substrate, they will go looking other places. Do you feed the star at all? If not, start! They need supplemental feedings, especially if you don't want your sand fauna depleted. Algae tabs and pellets are excellent options, and easily fed. I use a riser tube to target foods to the star fish at least one a week--more often if I see them out a lot.

[gbolton]

So I am just curious the way I have been feeding is making sure that I squirt some Formula One into the Sand at feeding time. What other exact foods would you reccomend? And how exactly would you feed it and how often?

[BrianH]

Not sure what type of "sand sifting" star you have but I feed my serpent star pieces of krill with a set of tongs. The star will come out and take the piece of krill from the tongs.

Brian

[Gealcath]

What species of seastar is it? Need to make sure its a sand shifting star fish and not something like a chocolate chip starfish.

[Pisces]

That's just it, I don't know what species it is because I can't find it in any of my vast collection of books. I know what a chocolate chip is, that's not it. I know that knobby starfish are the bad ones, smooth ones are supposed to be ok. This one is tan colored and very smooth and he does bury into the sand and he's larger than my hand now.
There are two serpent stars in the tank and they never come out of the rocks, we usually just see their legs wave around to grab at food.
Two of the LFS's around here call it a Sand Sifting Starfish. I'm posting a picture of it here if it works. He was in the process of regenerating his legs. They fell off when my husband was pouring in tank water and didn't know the starfish was under the sand at the spot the water was going in. He said the starfish took off like a shot and left two legs behind.
Anyway, the starfish eats like it's his last meal. any foods that go into the tank he's right there. He'll go up the glass to the surface and hang himself out backwards to catch flake foods. He gets shrimp pellets, he eats the leftover frozen foods that hit the bottom, you name it he eats it. I have no need to physically put food by him, he's there in a second. He doesn't stay under the sand much either, he's usually out and about though he does bury himself now and then. But like I said the instant food goes in, he's right there.
I'm blaming the starfish because there is nothing else in the tank right now that could devour a fish with no remains over night. I have one very small rock anemone that doesn't bother anything. And I would be able to tell if it had swallowed a fish because I had a large anemone do that before and I could tell it had eaten something big. I did see the bulge in the starfish, it did eat the fish. How it got the fish, I don't know.
I'm just pretty sure he's going back to the LFS where we got him this coming weekend.

[gbolton]

Mine is a Archaster typicus

Here is are some links about them

http://species.fishindex.com/species_2787archaster_typicus_white_burrowing_star .html

http://www.marinedepotlive.com/1304394.html

http://www.wildsingapore.com/chekjawa/text/s602.htm

Pisces is this what you have?

[Pisces]

http://www.aquaticphotos.com/details.php?image_id=167&mode=search

I finally figured out how to post a pic on the Aquatic Photos site, hope this works.

[dward254]

Dude,

(is it ok to say Dude still?)

That's one of the greatest pictures I've ever seen. Much better than the guy with the 750-gallon tank with 10,000 types of coral. You have captured nature in action at it's most complex form-regeneration.

Thank-you.

[Pisces]

Um, Dude-ette, maybe...;)

Thanks for the compliment on the photo.

Can someone identify the starfish I have from the photo?
All the photos I've seen of Sand Sifting Starfish have stripes on them and mine doesn't, does that matter?

[skooby]

That looks identical to my sand sifting star. I would be allmost positive it is a sand sifter. Hope this helps.

[Pisces]

Thanks Skooby!
We went to the lfs where we bought the starfish and asked the owner's opinion since he seems to know his stuff, and he really didn't think that it would eat a fish unless it had already died or was in the process of dying. We still have it in the tank and nothing else has happened yet.