New starfish (Pictures page 2)

My wife has long wanted a starfish for the DT and a lfs recently got a bunch in. I decided 10months is a pretty well seasoned tank and to give them a try even though many seem to be difficult to keep long term in captivity.
They were listed as Deep Red Linkia but I knew they were not and though it might be a fromia species. After searching online I think I find an exact match
Saltwater Aquarium Starfish for Marine Reef Aquariums: Red & Black Sea Star

Will post pictures when I get a chance, anybody keep this species before? ANy helpful hints?

 

Fromia sp. can be very touchy in terms of water swings and high nitrates, so be mindful of this, esp. while it's becoming established.

If your tank lacks sufficient algae growth, or the wrong kind of algae, you'll need to try an supplement the star's diet with Nori or the equivalent.

Also, stars can take a LONG time to starve...like a year or more sometimes, so it's very important to get the star eating. You might even try feeding them at the LFS and go for a good feeder.

HTH

 

Very pretty star. You'll have to let us know how it does....

 

Well I had to acclimate it a little quicker than I had hoped, either that or leave it in the bag floating for 4 hours. After about 45min I put it in luckily the SG from the lfs and my tank are pretty close because it came from the sps system. After 6 hours it has barely moved, kind of just tucked into a crevice on the live rock. I used a small tool to try and move it to make sure it wasnt dead and jsut fell into the hole and it wouldnt budge so Im thinking it is alive and holding onto the rock well.

My nitrates are 0 with the API and Red Sea kit so thats not an issue. I get a lot of film algae on my glass and some turf algae in spots on my live rock so my system is not sterile. I feed RODs so hopefully when I cloud the tank once a week it will find something in that food it likes. Is there any way to tell if it is starving? Should I see growth and as long as its getting larger I can rest assured it is eating whatever it needs?

 

Do not mess with them.

As long as they are right side up, leave them be.

I had several in a large established tank long term. Mine were attracted to and hung out in areas where I did not remove the film algae on the glass. I specifically left the film algae and let in grow in those areas.

 

How long did they last in your tank coralline? Did they grow slow or kind of fast, mine is about 1.5-2 inches

 

Two or three years until I took the tank down.

Not fast growers and sounds like yours are as big as they are going to get. They stay small, and the tricky thing about starfish is that you do not know you are meeting their nutritional needs until you see an issue and usually by then it's too late.

The starfish you purchased are really the only starfish I would recommend for a reef tank.

 

Yea I figured linkia and fromia are the only two that can be considered reef and fish safe that seem to have a half decent chance of survival

 

Well overnight it barely moved but it did move so it is still alive. We will see how it goes in the upcoming weeks, from what I understand acclimation stress can take weeks to kill them so Im assuming after a couple weeks if he is still moving around I should be pretty much in the clear

 

I've heard that in smaller tanks, when the algae is depleted, they can sometimes develop a taste for coral.