Fromia Starfish

[Greckel]

I have always found starfish to be pretty cool looking. However, it appears that the general consensus with most species is that they are more troublesome than they are worth. I understand that the brittle starfishes are generally the best species to keep, but they honestly do not appeal to me.

I saw on LiveAquaria that the Fromia Sp. (Red Sea Star, Tile Sea Star, and Indian Sea Star) are considered "Reef Safe" and a basic Google search suggests that might be true. However, I cannot find much information about their care. I am most interested in the Tile Sea Star, but open to any of the Fromia species.

I am wondering:
(1) Are Fromia starfish capable of living in a 43g system (34g DT)?
(2) How aggressive are they, and what problems (if any) am I likely to run into?

 

[WWIII]

I've tried to keep them a couple different times and they always dissenegrate and die on me. I purchased 2 for my 200 gallon display the last time I tried them. They were perfectly healthy, vibrant and active for around 6 months and then slowly lost limbs, dissenegrate and died.

Edit - they never bothered anything in the tank. They were awesome while they were alive and doing well.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

I had one for a while, but my experience was the same as @WWIII. I haven't tried one in several years.

 

[Salt1972]

We've a red fromia star in our 125g mixed reef. He's a model citizen- never bothers anything else and he's always out and active. We've had him for about 3 months.... hoping we don't run into the issues described wwIII and mdbannister. We'd miss Waldo.

 

[Emmanuel Zamora]

@Salt1972
Just wondering how the star is doing, just ordered one from live aquaria.

 

[Salt1972]

@Salt1972
Just wondering how the star is doing, just ordered one from live aquaria.

Unfortunately, our starfish met his demise, but it wasn't his fault. It was mine.

We're in the process of rebuilding our inhabitants and have full intention of getting back to the red fromia and a blue linckia. Right now, we've got an Ocellaris & Mocha Clown pair, ~10 Green Chromis, 2 Peppermint Shrimp, & a Tiger Pistol Shrimp. We have 5 Lyretail anthias in quarantine. As soon as those go to display, we're going to get a Purple Tang and maybe a pacific blue tang into Q.

 

[cristata.reef]

There are a few species of Fromia in the trade currently; Fromia monilis and Fromia nodosa (practically identical), Fromia indica, Fromia milleporella, and Fromia elegans, with the F. indica and F. elegans being the most uncommon. Fromia hemiopla and Fromia schultzeiis are sometimes sold as F. millerporella. Morale of the story is no one in that many retailers don't know how to ID their stock.

Now enough rambling. All species of Fromia eat bacterial films found on live rock, sand, glass, etc. They have specially designed stomachs that have the ability to suck this film off of hard surfaces. Thus they are not very good at eating large meaty foods (you can supplement them with this but cannot keep them alive by target feeding).

My best advice would be to have them in a very established tank, preferably a few years old. Dosing microfauna like copepods and rotifers may also help as well. If you get one, only get one for your tank, and be prepared for some intense husbandry. Best of luck!

 

[jcrhddgmxcom]

I was very happy with my starfish. He did feast on a small anenomie at one point but the anenomie lived and all was good. Then two days ago I noticed him on the sand. Then srill hadnt moved the next day. He had died. I saw no reason no issues. Anyone have any thoughts? I could use some advise or ideas? Thanks!

 

[Ben Pedersen]

Even though this is an old thread I wanted to provide my experience with Fromia species starfish. They can be successfully kept, however they are very sensitive to even slight changes in Alkalinity. As long as you have a mature system with good amount of live rock and stable Alkalinity, they are a great starfish option.

A word of caution, if they die, they must be removed from the system asap as they release a toxin that will kill eupholia coral. Eupholia, specifically torch and hammer coral will loose color and disintegrate. This process starts as soon as a starfish dies. The toxin doesn’t seem to affect SPS nor fish and as soon as the dead starfish is removed the affected corals recovered over the course of a couple weeks.