Sand Sifting Starfish

[strava]

Is this normal behavior of a Sand Sifting Starfish? Thought it was dead but it’s still moving but just chilling on my rock

 

[Fish Fan]

I don't think that's typical behavior. From what I've seen, these stars really need a very large and mature sand bed or they tend to not do well in most tanks. Hopefully I'm wrong and he know's what he's doing

Good luck!

 

[albano]

I don’t think that I’ve ever heard of a sand sifting star surviving very
long!…

 

[strava]

I don't think that's typical behavior. From what I've seen, these stars really need a very large and mature sand bed or they tend to not do well in most tanks. Hopefully I'm wrong and he know's what he's doing

Good luck!

My tank is almost 2 Months in. It’s tried placing it on top of raw shrimp/mysis shrimp and it moves away. I have a 90 gallon tank with 80 lbs live sand and about 60 lbs of dry rocks

 

[Fish Fan]

My tank is almost 2 Months in. It’s tried placing it on top of raw shrimp/mysis shrimp and it moves away. I have a 90 gallon tank with 80 lbs live sand and about 60 lbs of dry rocks

They don't eat things like mysis or shrimp, they are specialized feeders that live on the biofilm of very mature sand grains. Unfortunately, without a large, mature (years old) sand bed, most of these stars slowly starve in most aquaria, I'm sorry to say

 

[James M]

It’s looking for food. Definitely starving to death