Dad wants blue linka and flame scallop, what to get instead

so fathers day is coming up, my dad isint interested in my tank but he saw a blue linka and flame scallop that he really wants me to get. I know how hard both of these two hard to keep. Is there something else that i can kind of surprise him with? he seems to like the inverts, he liked the blue linka for the color, is there another starfish that looks just as nice but not as hard to keep? Same with the Scallop is there anything out there that is similar to it but not as hard to keep, or do i get both knowing that they wont last long?

I'm really trying to get my dad intersted in the tank, so if this will do it i might get them but i want to know if there is anything else that has a higher mortality rate.

 

Linkas are very hard to keep and a flame scallop is damn near next to impossible to keep alive more then a month or a few weeks , As for Star of any type in a reef not a good idea so little is known of their natural diets and with most corals are top on their menu .

 

ahh thats that i was afraid of i really hate to tell him no, but if i must i must. I still have my 20 that sitll needs something in it, im trying to decide between seahorses and a mantis, just dont know which, im thinking he would like a mantis and if i get on it could be his, but of course lol ill be the one taking care of the tank.

Would linkas be hard to keep even with feedings of phyto?

 

Linkias don't eat phytoplankton. It is believed that they eat 'biofilm' but I don't think many people know exactly what they eat which is why they are so hard to keep. Maybe Curt knows more about their diet and will chime in.

 

um... ive had my flame scallop close to 2 months now and still looks pretty healthy to me... ( knock on wood).. im I lucky? or what sup? ( its on my 29G tank)
ive only fed my tank with marine snow about twice..

 

hmmm ok i guess ill forget about the linka all together then

ive heard a couple having success stories on them, do you spot feed it at all

 

We have flame scallops live at the store for months before they are sold. I think the main problem is them clapping to the back of your tank to never be heard from again.

 

are the electrics about the same? a while back one of the LFS had a couple of them for sale, he also liked those

 

ive only spot feed it once.. then it went to the back of the tank and since ive heard how easy they die i gave up on it.. ( this was 1 month ago)

I knew that the scallop was on the back of my tank, but i never bothered to even touch it. 2 weeks ago when i was cleaning the tank i decided to bring it back upfront.. and 1 minute later it opened up and started flashing like nothing happened.
ive poured a bit of marine snow every now and then ( maybe 3-2 times at most) in the time ive had it.
maybe since my tank is right next to a window and it gets direct sunlight it produces extra food for it or something?

 

i have the electric flame scallop. I think they are the same when care is concerned.