ahhhhh!!!!! Today is my birthday and my mom bought me a starfish when I never asked for one. So I then did research on it and found out that they should never be exposed to air. When I took it out of he bag. It had some contact, and I was wondering if alittle bit is okay. Honestly, I feel I should just return this guy.
ahhh geez
- Thread starter fishguru
- Start date
What kind of starfish? I know I have taken my neighbors green monster brittle star a few times and let it crawl all over my arm just to freak people out. It has never seemed to have a problem, but if what your saying it true for all stars, well, I am an idiot and have been doing something very bad.
I have read that about linkia/sandsifting stars, but never about brittles.. time to research quick.
Crap.. I am an idiot.. it appears it is true for ALL stars.. dang I feel bad now.. at least the star is ok and thriving.. It was done at the LFS when we bought the star, the owner of the LFS had it crawl on our arms, I just kind of assumed it was ok after that.
I have read that about linkia/sandsifting stars, but never about brittles.. time to research quick.
Crap.. I am an idiot.. it appears it is true for ALL stars.. dang I feel bad now.. at least the star is ok and thriving.. It was done at the LFS when we bought the star, the owner of the LFS had it crawl on our arms, I just kind of assumed it was ok after that.
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to be honest, i've had two starfish and both of them were exposed to air both when i bought them, and when i put them in the tank. they were totally fine, never had any problems. i, too, have heard that air kills starfish, however...i don't know if it's just for a certain type of starfish or if it's a blanket statement. and what kind of tank do you have?? a lot of starfish aren't reef safe, so that's something you'll want to look into if you have a reef tank. most of the brittle stars (with the exception of the green ones) are ok, but most others aren't all that reef safe. so if he's a chocolate chip or something, you might want to take him back anyways. hopefully your mom won't mine. and happy birthday!
Well, I just learned my lesson. Thankfully without doing any serious harm to the star. I won't ever be doing that "party trick" again. Thanks for opening my eyes to this.. my heart is still racing after reading that about air/stars.
well guys I think I will keep this guy b cuz I found out that it was a red starfish, and it is reef safe. phew!!! thank you liveaquaria.com!!! And I was really glad when I saw my starfish moving about in the bucket where he is being drip acclimated. dont worry I an doing a two hour drp acclimation so Im pretty sure he will be alright.
lol. also I have a question. what and how do you guys feed your stars? I just introduced him to the main tank and I nboticed he was reaching out his arms when i was feeding the other inhabitants. but when i put a piece of food on his limbs that are extended, the mysis just fall off. plz help i really need to knpow how you guys feed them.
I always just hold a cube of frozen food in my hand when I feed my neighbors brittle star. It comes out and just grabs the cube with an arm, wraps around it, and pulls it into its mouth, like an octopus. I have no idea how to feed other stars that don't have as limber of arms as the brittle. If you can get it to crawl on your hand so the mouth is over the food it should eat it. Or stick it in the sand right next to its mouth and let it walk over the food, if it is on the sand. Good luck.. not the easiest of tasks. Most stars you really don't have to feed to often yourself. I only feed my neighbors brittle a cube about once a month, the rest of the time just let it scour the tank for food that feel between the rocks.
I typically drop the food right on it, then it manages to get the food into it's mouth.
Mine really rockets around when I feed my shrimp/crabs. I leave a little bit for the starfish itself, as it's too slow, even in uber starfish speed mode, to get any food for itself.