hand feeding a starfish

lwooters

lwooters

AC Members
Jan 5, 2007
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Maryland, USA
I have a chocolate chip starfish that I purchased about a week ago. My LFS owner said that if he gets hungry, he'll come up to the top of the aquarium to be hand fed. He's been hanging out at the top of the tank since yesterday and I tried hand feeding him earlier, he doesn't seem interested though. Has anyone tried this successfully? Any ideas or suggestions? Was he just comming up to visit?
:help:
 
i had a CC star when i first started and he took to hand fed foods great.
however, they do not jsut come to the top when hungary. This myth originated by someone saying they do this because in the aquaculture or grow out wholesalers, they feed the starfish floating food. but this is not necessarily true. it is actualy unknown why theywill coem up to the top, but possibly jsut to find new roaming ground or for gas exchange.
however, they should take eny foods they come in contact with. is the star moving normaly? are the tube feed constantly out and extending at the tip of each arm?
 
Yes, he's moving around fine and exploring and the tube feed are moving back and forth like normal. I tried to hold him in my palm and feed him that way (underwater of course) and he held on to me but didn't try to pull in any of the food that I was putting against his arms. There's plenty of algae where he's been exploring and I understood that he would eat that as well.
 
yeah. CC stars are technicaly carnivours but they will eat any algae/diatoms/detritus that they come in contact with.
not sure how long you were taking, but sometimes it takes a while for them to really get a hold of it. just put the food on the top of one of the arms into the feeders.
 
I actually held the food against his arm for a minute and it looked like he grasped it, but then within a couple minutes he would let go of it rather then moving it down his body to his mouth.
 
He probably wants some meaty food try a chunk of shrimp or fish etc.
 
I have a choco chip starfish I got a couple days ago...i just take a little piece of shrimp and put it next to him with tank tongs, in a couple minutes he's on top of it
 
When I had my CC starfish, I used to drop a chunk of plankton or krill on him anytime he came to the top. He'd also feed off of my filter intake and ate a little bit of algae off the glass.
 
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