Insights on biscuit starfish diet

[cdw79]

There is very little info out there about what these guys eat- when I was getting mine, I found the occasional anecdote, but not much else.

For clarity, I'm admittedly not positive on what species mine is. I see these labeled as both African and Australian biscuit stars, but in any case, see the pic below.

The other day, I saw it posted up on the underside of a chalice I've got. I don't know why it didn't occur to me to take a picture. From the angle I was at, it looked like it had released its stomach or otherwise its digestive organs up on the bottom of this chalice. I immediately thought it must be eating the coral, but it turns out a pink sponge of some kind has been growing beneath the coral. See the second pic for what I'm talking about.

In fairness, I can't be 100% sure that it actually digested the sponge given I didn't know any existed down there to begin with, but it certainly looked like that's what it was doing. I haven't seen it do this again, either in the same spot or on other corals, but figured I'd share what I found for people who may want to understand more about what these guys (seemingly) eat

 

[CoralB]

Very nice star

 

[saltyfish24]

@cdw79 , I think we have the same type of starfish. Mine looks like this. Have you had any luck feeding it? I'm trying to figure out how to tell if it actually eats something.

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[Oldreefer44]

They need to be kept at or under 75 degrees, in very good and stable water quality. They feed largely on algae and detritus. Considered quite difficult long term.