Odd Activity - Sand Sifting Starfish

[mxw90]

Hi guys,

I have a 32 gal tank that has been up and running for about 4 months now (3 months cycled). I added a sand sifting starfish to the tank earlier this week and quickly noticed that he spends the majority of his time at the water surface (refer to pics). Occasionally he will drop off into the sand, but then quickly makes his way back up towards the surface.

Is this worrisome behavior? Is he being starved? I envisioned him spending most of his time in the sand as his name implies...

Additional details:
I just had my water tested by the LFS and all parameters are spot on (the store owner said my tank would be habitable for the starfish)
Live sand + dry rock (no live rock)
No corals yet
Introduced 12 hr lighting cycle starting today
Added a bottle of pod/brine shrimp/phytoplankton cocktail for my newly added mandarin gobi

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Hi guys,

I have a 32 gal tank that has been up and running for about 4 months now (3 months cycled). I added a sand sifting starfish to the tank earlier this week and quickly noticed that he spends the majority of his time at the water surface (refer to pics). Occasionally he will drop off into the sand, but then quickly makes his way back up towards the surface.

Is this worrisome behavior? Is he being starved? I envisioned him spending most of his time in the sand as his name implies...

Additional details:
I just had my water tested by the LFS and all parameters are spot on (the store owner said my tank would be habitable for the starfish)
Live sand + dry rock (no live rock)
No corals yet
Introduced 12 hr lighting cycle starting today
Added a bottle of pod/brine shrimp/phytoplankton cocktail for my newly added mandarin gobi

I’ve heard they climb the glass when they’re looking for food and can’t find any in the sand bed.

Generally, people recommend large tanks and waiting until your tank is established before trying these (or pretty much any) sea stars, and the star survives on detritus in the tank. Unfortunately, even in a lot of these tanks, after they finish clearing the detritus from the sand, they typically starve.

My current advice to avoid the star staving - which may or may not help, I genuinely don't know at this point (it could take someone months to years of testing it to find out for certain, as sea stars can last months without food):
Target feed the star things like clam on half shell, oyster, mussel, scallop, etc. (bivalves); snail, whelk, conch, etc. (sea snail gastropods); and a good quality omnivore food (like LRS Reef Frenzy or Fertility Frenzy). These are - according to the best sources of information I can find - the sorts of foods sand sifting stars consume in the wild, and the star should swallow these foods whole if they aren't too big - you might need to experiment a bit with the size of the pieces offered to get it sized just right, but generally I'd say err on the smaller side.

If you decide to give it a shot, let me know how it goes, and keep me updated on the long term survival of the star!

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Also, just a couple of pieces of advice:
1 - Some LFS give good advice, most do not. So, take what any LFS says with a grain of salt.
2 - I strongly recommend looking here on the forums for proper mandarin care advice, as one bottle of pods will not be able to support a mandarin for long, and the pods likely won't be able to reproduce fast enough to establish a proper food supply for the fish with the fish already in the tank eating them.

Best of luck, and welcome to Reef2Reef!