Am I ready for starfish?

michaelabellz · Dec 9, 2020

So my tank has been up for about 3 months now I’d say and has about 16 types of zoanthids, 2 frogspawn, 2 green star polyps, a pair of clownfish, 2 mollies, 4 turbos and I’d say probably about 13 dwarf hermit crabs. I have plenty of live rock and about an inch and a half sand bed. All my parameters are in check and I want to add a serpent starfish. I had one in the beginning for about a week but sadly lost him because of poor recalibration on my refractometer (salt was too low at 1.020). I don’t know what I would do if I were to kill another one that would be terrible, but I love them so much and I definitely want one in my tank. However I want to make sure he will be able to get enough food in my tank and be healthy. I did try spot feeding my last serpent with raw shrimp but he never took it.

brmreefer · Dec 9, 2020

I'd wait a few more months. Just my 2 cents.

michaelabellz · Dec 9, 2020

brmreefer said:
I'd wait a few more months. Just my 2 cents.

Okay thank you! I just want to take the safest route.

ReefHog · Dec 10, 2020

It's surprising that your last one wouldn't eat. Maybe he was already stressed. Many stars are definitely more sensitive to water parameters than other invertebrates. Obviously zero ammonia and nitrites. Keep salinity stable and nitrates low and you should be fine. A small chunk of shrimp or clam should be devoured. He should also find bits of food that make it to the sand bed.

michaelabellz · Dec 10, 2020

ReefHog said:
It's surprising that your last one wouldn't eat. Maybe he was already stressed. Many stars are definitely more sensitive to water parameters than other invertebrates. Obviously zero ammonia and nitrites. Keep salinity stable and nitrates low and you should be fine. A small chunk of shrimp or clam should be devoured. He should also find bits of food that make it to the sand bed.

Yea I thought that too. Thank you for the advice, I think I am gonna wait another month or so before I get him just to make sure.