I was thinking about getting a sand sifting sea star for my 100 reef aquarium. It would be my first star fish. So my question is their anything i should look out for with these guys. Also what is the best food for this guy it says they search for food, but does that mean i dont feed it nothing special. Any info would help, I think it would be a cool animal.
sand sifting sea star
- Thread starter freshbutsalty
- Start date
Make sure when going to buy you purchase a start that has all of its legs and does not appear damaged. As for food mine finds enough in the sand of the 110 that I do not target feed. I use to make sure I shot some myis into the sand bed of the 45 but do not owrry about it in the larger tank. He seems to be doing great.
thank you for the help. Do you know of any other stars that are good for reef tanks? I've just been told to be careful because some can destroy corals, is this true?
Yes some can desroy corals or other inhabitants most notorious is the chocolate chip star fish which is not reef safe. I have heard that usuaually the smooth bodies starts are reef safe and the non smooth bodies are not reef safe. I wouldnt say that this is a fail proof test but a good starting point.
Brittle stars are usually safe--they have spikes, but their actual body is smooth, not knobby like the chocolate chips. Serpent and brittle stars both are good detrivores, but may need to be target fed. They can go after fish if not well fed, but I've never seen either of them touch corals.
thank you guys very much for all the info. I think i will just start out with the sand sifting star and be happy with him. thanks again
I just bought one two weeks ago. He's around 4 inches from tip to tip. He's pretty cool to watch, as he dissapears into the sand. Once he's in, he stays just below the surface and cruises around slowly. He seems to be keeping the sand bed turned. I haven't seen him react to formula one pellets and I'm not sure if I should be feeding him. The pet store said I wouldn't need to target feed. I've got a 55 gallon with a 4 inch DSB with around 40lbs of LR. I'm still adding LR and will eventually be switched over to a reef. I traded in a chocolate chip star and bought the sifter. He's pretty cool. I also have a green brittle star that's 10 inches long and a brown brittle star that's around 5 inches. They leave everything alone. I do feed these pieces of shrimp and pellets.