Observational Study of Fromia Starfish Species Fromia indica, Fromia milliporella, Fromia pacifica

livinlifeinBKK

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Ok guys, I finally decided it was time to pull the trigger and get my feet wet after all the seemingly endless feeling research I've been scouring many resources for. For an observational study I got 3 individual species of Fromia (F. indica, F. milliporella, F. pacifica). Their acclimation process has been completed and are now being held in a very temporary tank while the main observation tank continues to be put together over the next few days at which point they'll be transferred to it which I will attempt to design as naturally as possible so my observations may be more useful in future experiments/studies. At least daily, close observations based on certain criteria will be recorded along with any other noteworthy data. They are of course still adjusting to the new tank which was of different salinity that I had to try to acclimate them to and I'm sure many other parameters differed as well so I wouldn't be surprised if they needed a day or two to show what will be considered natural activity for captive starfish. However, it appears Fromia indica adapts much easier as he immediately began to try to feed when placed in the temporary tank right after acclimation. However, it's far too early to make come to a conclusion such as this. Their colors are much more vivid than you can tell in the pictures so I'll try to take better pics under different light. Time to grab my notebook and record a few first day observations....

IMG_20220812_215932.jpg IMG_20220812_181423.jpg IMG_20220812_214341.jpg
 
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livinlifeinBKK

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And let me just say, I hate the acclimation process necessary here because each shop keeps their salinity at levels which could be considered pretty far off from natural. That's something I definitely plan to record. I don't believe they're quite as sensitive to changes in salinity as commonly believed as long as the change is relatively slow. (I'm actually just assuming the change must be relatively slow...)

@A Young reefer
 
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livinlifeinBKK

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Do you guys really not think I need to add any nutrients at all before adding the live rock?? There's not gonna be a LOT of die off of the biofilm?

Tank is almost ready...
16603325010418445519040653787915.jpg
 

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Do you guys really not think I need to add any nutrients at all before adding the live rock?? There's not gonna be a LOT of die off of the biofilm?

Tank is almost ready...
16603325010418445519040653787915.jpg
i saw your other thread regarding this, but I really don’t know. I am afraid that you might get a mini cycle (even though that’s not supposed to happen since you are using live rock) and you adding more nutrients won’t help. And I am also afraid that if you don’t add a C N P source (such as phytoplankton) your microfauna and bacterial biofilm might die.
So what I suggest is maybe leave it running without adding the stars for two days and based on the readings proceed with adding your nutrient source.
 
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i saw your other thread regarding this, but I really don’t know. I am afraid that you might get a mini cycle (even though that’s not supposed to happen since you are using live rock) and you adding more nutrients won’t help. And I am also afraid that if you don’t add a C N P source (such as phytoplankton) your microfauna and bacterial biofilm might die.
So what I suggest is maybe leave it running without adding the stars for two days and based on the readings proceed with adding your nutrient source.
Yeah, I added the stars to a different established system but it's far too small. The other tank I still need to put the rock into and although I doubt I'll get a mini cycle due to using both live rock and live sand, I worry about the death of the biofilm. I'm really unsure if this concern is valid or not because I'm sure the rocks have at least some nutrients absorbed which would leach out, but Idk how slowly or if it would be adequate. I think I'm going to add a little Phyto for 2 or 3 days while ghost feeding just a little for a few days to give me a little more peace of mind
 
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I wanna figure out why they like to go to the upper corner like that.... IMG_20220813_013654.jpg
Interesting that F. pacifica and F. milliporella have remained side by side even today although they have moved a little. Very interesting that they would want to be near each other. However, this may be due to lack of abundant live rock in the holding tank and/ or be related to the fact that they're likely still acclimating.
 
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The results of plenty more predetermined observational questions will be recorded as soon as they are placed into their primary tank which should only be a couple days away.
 
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