Anyone Have Success With a Blue Linckia?

[livinlifeinBKK]

Your starfish does not look like a linckia to me... more like a Fromia Indica. I have had a couple of Fromia Indica and gave them away as I caught them climbing on top of my tuxedo urchins and deploying their stomachs inside the urchins and killing them. In Thailand they usually sell red Linckias with 5 arms and the cheaper weird ones with six.

Possibly...I'm really not exactly sure what he is...I just bought him as an orange starfish and I love the guy no matter what species he is

 

[JMacedo]

Possibly...I'm really not exactly sure what he is...I just bought him as an orange starfish and I love the guy no matter what species he is

That´s the most important thing, caring for them. Please see the Orange Linckia below just to compare.

 

[Saltyanimals]

It took me 3+ times before I was able to be semi-successful. I lost the 1st 3 almost instantly over the first several days after introduction. I was careful to drip acclimate, handle when adding, etc. All the proper procedure after researching and they simply didn't survive. I attribute this to unhealthy ones to begin with. I basically gave up and said no more. On a whim I added one from petco.com to an order as a filler and ironically it survived for 1 yr 5 months. I just lost it so went back to my log to see when it was first introduced. I can't say 17 months is "successful" as it should be years and years, but I'm reporting here to share. Mine looked great the entire time, but I started noticing flesh marks over the past several weeks then one day I gone. Found pieces of it in different places. Summary is it will go down hill fast even though it looks great for that entire time.

What killed it? Pure speculation of course, but I look back to changes to the tank. My 180g tank is mature, but I think I keep it too clean. I also did a huge rock structure change over the past 6 months which probably wiped out a good part of its food source. I also added a long spiny urchin over the last couple months which further reduced the food source if it's on the rocks.

I love them, but not sure if I will try again. If I do, it'll be 1+ year from now giving my now 6 month old rocks time to age. Next one I get will have to be smaller so it doesn't require as much food. Take away here is to consider your own tank is mature enough for one. Otherwise you're just going to doom it to starvation.