Feather Duster Starfish

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No… I don’t mean a Feather Duster as in the tube worm I mean a literal starfish.
My interest in these guys has always been around but recently it’s spiked and I want to know whether anyone has kept these alive long term in captivity or not. I would absolutely love to try one but would hate to lose it.
As for what I’ve found that some people feed in captivity is it’s often daily feedings of Phytoplankton and Zooplankton. My worry is, as I plan to try a clam in the 4’ tank, would this affect the Starfish.
 
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You mean a feather star?
Yep, over hear they’re called Feather Duster Stars just to confuse more people. I swear TMC just loves to name fish and inverts something too similar or swap their names.
 

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Crinoids would be as specific as possible...I'm not sure I've ever heard any reliable success stories with them even lasting months except for 1 or 2 in Coral Magazine because they're so particular about the particle size of their foods along with what the food is as well of course. With that said, I'm the guy launching a study/experiment on so called "impossible to keep without a huge tank" starfish so I'm definitely not saying it's impossible because I'm confident I'm going to achieve at least a reasonable level of success in my study that most people give me a 0 chance of success with.
 
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Crinoids would be as specific as possible...I'm not sure I've ever heard any reliable success stories with them even lasting months except for 1 or 2 in Coral Magazine because they're so particular about the particle size of their foods along with what the food is as well of course. With that said, I'm the guy launching a study/experiment on so called "impossible to keep without a huge tank" starfish so I'm definitely not saying it's impossible because I'm confident I'm going to achieve at least a reasonable level of success in my study that most people give me a 0 chance of success with.
That’s true, in reality nothings impossible if you just give it ago and have trial and error.

What are you currently feeding your Fromia and could it be used to try feed a Crinoid?
It’s not my first time dipping my feet into starfish and I have previously owned a sand sifting star but it died after I think 3 or 4 years.
 

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That’s true, in reality nothings impossible if you just give it ago and have trial and error.

What are you currently feeding your Fromia and could it be used to try feed a Crinoid?
It’s not my first time dipping my feet into starfish and I have previously owned a sand sifting star but it died after I think 3 or 4 years.
Feather stars eat particulate matter they catch in the current while Fromias and most stars feed off substrate and solid foods so it wouldn't translate
 

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Imo if you do want to try one (they're beautiful btw), I'd try adding a little mix of every particulate food and strain of Phyto I can get my hands on
 

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It may. They sift particles in the water and require pristine water conditions and the clam feeds in a similar fashion.
in addition, they have a high mortality rate and although beautiful May be short term
 
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Feather stars eat particulate matter they catch in the current while Fromias and most stars feed off substrate and solid foods so it wouldn't translate
Thanks, how did you prepare for your star?
I’m wondering if I went the same route but specified for a Crinoid maybe it could improve success. One of those thoughts was to absolutely bomb the tank with Phytoplankton and Zooplankton for a year or two before getting the star, as well as try grab hold of other small particulate formulas.
 

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Thanks, how did you prepare for your star?
I’m wondering if I went the same route but specified for a Crinoid maybe it could improve success. One of those thoughts was to absolutely bomb the tank with Phytoplankton and Zooplankton for a year or two before getting the star, as well as try grab hold of other small particulate formulas.
Well I was able to prepare by stocking as much of their natural food source as possible (live rock straight from the ocean) before trying to supplement his diet with other foods...if I were you, I'd focus on building as healthy of a bacterioplankton population as possible...keep in mind, just adding Phyto won't help if you can't support it to keep the Phyto you add alive and it'll just accumulate nutrients
 

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The longest I've heard anyone keep one alive in a home aquarium was around 18 months and that was with strict feeding regime of phyto and zooplankton. Beautiful to watch but best from behind a scuba mask in my opinion.
 

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The longest I've heard anyone keep one alive in a home aquarium was around 18 months and that was with strict feeding regime of phyto and zooplankton. Beautiful to watch but best from behind a scuba mask in my opinion.
I'm thinking about a road trip to the other side of the country to visit poisson d'or. They have red crinoids in stock. I'd be happy to watch one for a few months. A year would be great. Many things that dropped dead years ago do much better now with fresh foods available all of the time. Live phyto and zooplankton larvae come weekly to the local stores. Crinoids will probably outlast fromia stars with the daily diet for the corals.
 

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It's nothing to do with new foods or adding live phyto & zooplankton, an enclosed ecosystem such as a typical home aquarium physically cannot provide them with the conditions to survive as they continously filter food from the water at depths of around 200m as they swim great distances. To create that level of food in the water column your filtration wouldn't cope and your tank would most likely crash.

The fact you say you would be happy to watch an animal that has a lifespan of anything up to 200 years slowly starve over a few months to a year says a lot and shows that no matter what advice given to the contrary you will be one of the ones to buy one to "give it a go"
 

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I'd like to add, buying these when they're available in shops only fuels collection of them. If they didn't sell and just died in the shop, then shops would think twice about getting them in the future, therefore reducing demand.
As I said before, they are one of the animals that should be left in the ocean.
 
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So did you end up getting one or do you still plan to?
I haven’t gotten one yet, I may still eventually get one however I think I’ll pass on it again - I would however still like to hear from someone whose managed to keep this Crinoid in captivity just in case I do go for it.
 

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It's nothing to do with new foods or adding live phyto & zooplankton, an enclosed ecosystem such as a typical home aquarium physically cannot provide them with the conditions to survive as they continously filter food from the water at depths of around 200m as they swim great distances. To create that level of food in the water column your filtration wouldn't cope and your tank would most likely crash.

The fact you say you would be happy to watch an animal that has a lifespan of anything up to 200 years slowly starve over a few months to a year says a lot and shows that no matter what advice given to the contrary you will be one of the ones to buy one to "give it a go"
Yes.
 
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