Blue Linckia Starfish

Saltyanimals · Oct 11, 2019

There are countless post here on Linckia and how difficult they are.. didn't want to high-jack others and their threads, so starting a new one.

Here's the scoop. I recognize they are expert animals and I have what I believe is a good environment for it. Mature 4' tank 3+ years.. full of pods, rocks, etc. Water parameters are SPS level with going and mature colonies. However I can't seem to keep these animals. The picture below is my THIRD attempt. First 2 were from LiveAquaria and third from a LFS. Wanted opinions:

Attempt 1 - From L.A. - Huge monster star prob 6-7 inchs. Slow acclimated 3-4 hrs.. put in tank. It quickly ran away and saw it hide behind a rock for a couple days. No big deal.. Day 3 - dropped off rock into the sand bed. Didn't look good. Assumed dead and removed it.

Attempt 2 - From L.A. - Another huge monster about same size. (Does LA ever have normal 2-3 inch ones? =). Same acclimation. Took off and hid all good. Day 4 - seem to be in sand bed with couple legs turned upwards. Looked concerning. I picked it up and turned over.. looked a mess with guts out. **This could have a premature mistake** Yes it looked ugly, but it was also very early in the morning so could have been...just eating. i.e turning it's stomach into the sandbed and feeding. I might have assumed it was dead and removed it afraid it would rot in tank and pollute since I was leaving town for a week. =(

Attempt 3 - From LFS - Trusty one. LFS says it's been in their tanks for 1-2 weeks. It was smaller at 3-4 inches. I was all in! Same acclimation ... put in tank. however has NOT moved after putting into tank. Been sitting in the sand bed and location all night. It did straighten it's legs out and looked fine. This morning saw that it turned it's legs up.. see picture. The tentacles in the legs are out.and prob moving from the water movement. Otherwise has not moved minus leg movements. Now is turning it's second leg over. See picture. Taking lessons learned from Attempt 2.. I'm not going to touch it. Question is has anyone experience something similar.. where their stars are turning some legs out and ended up losing it?

Jon Fishman · Oct 11, 2019

My local store had a great looking one. I was all in..... the guy who I deal with all the time and built my tank etc, said “you don’t want that....... it will die if you just look at it funny”

Probably one of those species best left in the ocean

Saltyanimals · Oct 11, 2019

I'm starting to feel that as well. I consider myself a responsible reefer and thought I could fight that saying..but will fold my starfish cards if this one dies. CUC's haven't descended on it so thinking that's a good sign that it may be just turning legs up to maybe catch something.

Any other experiences like mine?

rkpetersen · Oct 11, 2019

The longest a Linkia has ever lived for me has been about 9 months.
They eventually start to disintegrate, from starvation I assume.
I would assume that the larger the star, the faster it will starve in an aquarium.
Fromias do a bit better but they also don't tend to live for more than a year or two.

kriswell · Nov 25, 2025

Saltyanimals said:
There are countless post here on Linckia and how difficult they are.. didn't want to high-jack others and their threads, so starting a new one.

Here's the scoop. I recognize they are expert animals and I have what I believe is a good environment for it. Mature 4' tank 3+ years.. full of pods, rocks, etc. Water parameters are SPS level with going and mature colonies. However I can't seem to keep these animals. The picture below is my THIRD attempt. First 2 were from LiveAquaria and third from a LFS. Wanted opinions:

Attempt 1 - From L.A. - Huge monster star prob 6-7 inchs. Slow acclimated 3-4 hrs.. put in tank. It quickly ran away and saw it hide behind a rock for a couple days. No big deal.. Day 3 - dropped off rock into the sand bed. Didn't look good. Assumed dead and removed it.

Attempt 2 - From L.A. - Another huge monster about same size. (Does LA ever have normal 2-3 inch ones? =). Same acclimation. Took off and hid all good. Day 4 - seem to be in sand bed with couple legs turned upwards. Looked concerning. I picked it up and turned over.. looked a mess with guts out. **This could have a premature mistake** Yes it looked ugly, but it was also very early in the morning so could have been...just eating. i.e turning it's stomach into the sandbed and feeding. I might have assumed it was dead and removed it afraid it would rot in tank and pollute since I was leaving town for a week. =(

Attempt 3 - From LFS - Trusty one. LFS says it's been in their tanks for 1-2 weeks. It was smaller at 3-4 inches. I was all in! Same acclimation ... put in tank. however has NOT moved after putting into tank. Been sitting in the sand bed and location all night. It did straighten it's legs out and looked fine. This morning saw that it turned it's legs up.. see picture. The tentacles in the legs are out.and prob moving from the water movement. Otherwise has not moved minus leg movements. Now is turning it's second leg over. See picture. Taking lessons learned from Attempt 2.. I'm not going to touch it. Question is has anyone experience something similar.. where their stars are turning some legs out and ended up losing it?

Mine is currently doing this. What was your outcome from the leg turning?