Sand Star Question from a newb

I am a newb to this forum and salt also. I have had a sand star for a week and he is quite social. Hangs on the glass a good part of the day. Today he has climbed to the top and is almost partially out of the tank. Is this normal? Is this a bad sign?

Thanks
T2;D

 

Ive seen it happen, even when the climb involves an over hang - you can see legs almost over the front glass

it can mean that its not finding enough to eat in your sand bed and is actively looking to be somewhere else

there is not always enough food available to these types of sand sifters in typically clean and fed sparingly reef set ups

Inwall 75 suggests poking some thawed mysis or brine shrimp into the sand bed close to where you believe the star is, when its in the sand bed

if you can get enough food to it, then it will spend more time in on clambering over the sand bed

Steve

 

how old and what size in your tank? sand sifters generally need an established tank , a new tank wont have enough food for it to eat. also its not really recomende for them to be in a smaller sized tank either.

 

If he's crawling the glass he is likely looking for food. Sand sifting sea star can quickly decimate the micro-fauna in a sand bed and (unfortunately) slowly starve to death over about a year or a year and a half.

We had one "mysteriously" vanish earlier this year and after some researching found out why.

I don't think target feeding the sand is effective, but I could be wrong.

 

Ok its a 46 Bow, it is new, I have live rock and have seen little bugs and stuff at night. What would be needed in the sand to make him happy?

 

the main thing is for the tank to be established. the feed off everything in the sand bed , food,detritus and such that have built up over quite a period of time. with it being new , there isnt enough food for it yet.