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

[livinlifeinBKK]

First possible signs of feeding from all 3 stars! F. pacifica and F. milliporella were staying stuck to the glass until I just got home from work to find them like this (possibly feeding from this same piece of live rock! F. indica is also beside F. pacifica possibly eating as well!

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Added the rock to the tank today...haven't transferred the starfish yet because I'm not really satisfied with the scape... Should I get more rock? I want it to mirror a natural environment for them as closely as possible to encourage natural behavior for observations so I think maybe it should be more spread out and have a shaded area besides the simple arch I have now....any other ideas on how to make it more natural or starfish appropriate? I honestly wasn't feeling very inspired earlier when I was transferring the rock from one tank to the other...
And guys keep in mind that although I may add a fish or two im not designing it around the fish, it's being designed for the starfish study. If it were for fish I'd be more concerned about hiding places and things like that.

 

[Timfish]

I think you're anthropomorphising your aquascaping. My guess is you'll want lots of hiding holes big enough for the stars but also pretty stable, so more like a pile of rocks and not with arches. You could look for videos or pictures where the starfish are collected or contact the divers who collect them.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

I think you're anthropomorphising your aquascaping. My guess is you'll want lots of hiding holes big enough for the stars but also pretty stable, so more like a pile of rocks and not with arches. You could look for videos or pictures where the starfish are collected or contact the divers who collect them.

Yeah, you're probably right about that, the reason for having anything resembling an arch is because they might seem to be drawn upward towards the light source and instead of climbing the glass to get closer it seems better for them to be able to get closer to the light by climbing the rocks...it's tough to say with pictures that I found because when a diver takes a pic, they're looking for the perfect picture a lot of times which isnt necessarily in a natural spot...I'll keep looking though!

 

[Timfish]

Maybe search youtube for diving videos that include fromia?

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Maybe search youtube for diving videos that include fromia?

Good idea! And I do realize that I'm kinda stepping into uncharted waters trying to put together a setup designed for this (as far as I know)... probably best to just throw aesthetics out the window regardless since the pursuit of aesthetics would be an easy way to miss the purpose. Honestly, the tank they're in now is practically perfect for it but has coral in it so I can't replace rocks with fresh live rocks and I would really like more room than that tank provides.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Might actually be beneficial to add a couple fish and few inverts for the nutrient cycling and to make the tank more natural of an environment. Also wish it was easier to find bigger wild live rocks here. I might add some dry rock too to build shaded spots, etc. And don't see a downside to it...maybe an area with rubble substrate instead of sand would also be good

On a sidenote, since I'll be taking many, many pictures, it'll be interesting (to me at least) to see the progression of a tank started this way as far as "the uglies" are concerned after a month's time. I know there will be some algae growth due to the nutrients I'll be adding to feed the biofilm on the rocks but my guess is that there won't be much more of an ugly phase than some film algae. I could be wrong though which is why it'll be interesting to find out. As of now, I plan to add no bottled bacteria at all. I will make a note if I do end up adding any at any point.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Prestart Update:
F. pacifica seems to show a preference for shaded areas so far interestingly, while F. milliporella and F. Indica don't seem to show a definite preference for shaded areas. Even when I had to move him onto the sandbed into the light to fix a fallen rock he moved back to the same shaded area which to get to he passed right by F. milliporella who was possibly feeding on a rock. It'll be interesting to see if this trend continues when transferred to the other tank.
F. milliporella has moved very little btw from a piece of live rock recently placed in the tank. I doubt he's been feeding this whole time but it did appear he was feeding yesterday for a little while judging by the position of his body and arms on the rock.
F. indica has been very active, moving around the entire tank since the first day after acclimation.

Sorry for the delay in placing them in the official observation tank guys, my wave maker died that I've been using for that tank so I had to order a new one today that should be here in the next couple days.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Hey @Timfish I think I'm going to use live phyto primarily for nutrient input but as for how much to add daily or however often, I'm at a loss...any info you could point me to?

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Was considering dosing AF Life Source to the tank to help mature the system although it was started with live rock from the ocean and live sand. I was also thinking about adding a weekly dose of Nitribiotic (a mix of probiotic and nitrifying bacteria) since I think this product may have contributed to the health of the star I've had for 7 months already...what do you guys think? leave things how they are or dose one or both of these products since it's an observational study and I doubt these products would affect behavior

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Well, got a lot more movement from pacifica today which is definitely promising! I almost was ready to count him out but luckily today he seemed to be moving around a little more! I think I'll all some more livestock to the tank to make it more natural for the stars and besides, I don't plan on breaking down the tank right after the study or anything... interesting I actually observed some possible social behavior between two of the stars! Here are some updated and much better pics btw!

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

If any of you guys have any questions or comments about anything at all related, feel free to leave a comment and I'd be happy to answer...I was leaving some of the observations until the end purposefully but if you're curious about anything or just want to know something feel free to comment or message me!

 

[EricR]

You said "any questions" so here goes one...

What and how would you propose to a new Fromia star owner who hopes it doesn't starve over the next year or so?

*lets go with intermediate experience level

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

You said "any questions" so here goes one...

What and how would you propose to a new Fromia star owner who hopes it doesn't starve over the next year or so?

*lets go with intermediate experience level

Well before I say any at all let me just say I would never consider myself an expert at anything. I will give you information I believe to be true based on my research and experience.
With that said, they do need a food source and I haven't yet concluded whether they can be sustained on prepared diets long term or not yet so I would say that you would need plenty of live rock preferably from the ocean since it'll have the natural biofilm present. You didn't mention the size of your system. If it's a large system, the biofilm will probably have time to regenerate enough to replenish the food supply for the starfish. If the system is considered a smaller system then you may have to switch out a couple pieces of live rock every now and then and I would recommend spot feeding with oysters or maybe Masstick although as I mentioned before, its unsure how much nutrition they can derive from this. I would emphasize high oxygenation of the water as I think this is very important for starfish due to the way they diffuse gases through their bodies. The system should be stable as well and nitrates shouldn't be too high... SPS parameters are probably best. And of course each species of Fromia brings with it different levels of difficulty. So far F. indica seems to be the most hardy from what I've seen.
Once again, I'm no expert and you should DEFINITELY do your research before getting one if you really want one. I'm neither trying to encourage you or discourage you either way. Just sharing from my experiences and what I've learned so far.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

You said "any questions" so here goes one...

What and how would you propose to a new Fromia star owner who hopes it doesn't starve over the next year or so?

*lets go with intermediate experience level

Discus in messages...just sent you one.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Went ahead and dosed the AF Life Source and the Nitribiotic just to help the sand become more fully colonized with bacteria

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

It seems my professor and an expert I've been in contact with feel I need more replicates (additional stars of the same species) to make the study more statistically significant so I'll be getting a couple more as crazy as it sounds...also it looks like Pacifica may be eating now (although I had to set him on top of the rock, he didn't climb there himself) I though maybe he's a little malnourished and that's why he's so sessile.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

NOTE: WHEN PLANNING A STUDY LIKE THIS DONT FORGET ABOUT REPLICATES!! I'm going to have to get a total of 3 replicates of F. Indica and 3 replicates of F. milleporella each to make my study more statistically significant. I won't get replicates of F. pacifica for certain reasons. One thing is for sure... I'm certainty gonna have PLENTY of stars I'm caring for soon here!

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Fascinating fact: Did you know starfish actually do have vision?! Although low resolution, they can use it to navigate and orient themselves towards the reefs! If anyone is interested in this let me know and I'll link the scientific paper I just read on it! It's really pretty interesting!

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Got the replicates along with a fish and some shrimp for the new tank for biodiversity....just need the scale now. I've been making plenty of observations and all seem to be doing well except for 1 milleporella. Btw, the ugly stage seems to be nonexistent so far except for a few spots on the sand and lights have been on every day.