I love starfish and think they're some of the most fascinating and beautiful creatures in the sea! However, I think most of you reading this are probably already aware they usually don't live long. This is something I'm working to try to change but it's certainly not going to be easy. I'm not about to shy away from a challenge though! Most people would say the reason you can't keep them is because we don't know the natural diet of some star species or how to provide it which is half true but I don't think it's just starvation alone. Plus, in my experience they'll try to eat many things. Granted, we don't know how well they are digesting or absorbing the nutrients but they do have digestive enzymes and I've seen what an oyster looks like after my starfish has been eating at it for a couple hours. Unfortunately its been my experience that people have the impression that starfish will just somehow find leftover food from what the fish didn't eat but not only does the starfish have to compete with much faster scavengers like crabs for the tiny bit of leftover food, but nutrient levels are generally kept pretty low in reef tanks so there would be very little uneaten food anyway. They're also slow moving and don't have vision to help them locate the food. Even if they could get enough leftover scraps though this probably wouldn't suffice. The microbiome of starfish is likely extremely important though. Starfish lack any type of specialized excretory organ for waste removal and the waste is primarily ammonia which must be passed into the coelomic fluid and diffused through the body wall. A theory that I agree with is that bacteria aid in nitrogen transformations. This would make sense since many of the microorganisms consumed have this capability. Sponges also contain nitrogen transforming prokaryotes.
Some species are also very sensitive to parameter changes and can literally melt away if certain changes happen too rapidly. I think it's very important to do some research into their biology to understand how sensitive the species may be and learn about their natural diets which is of an unknown level of importance. Likely one of these stressors weakens its immune system and plays a part in the mortality to some degree.
I plan to try to find a way to keep them healthy and of course live much longer through finding a way to supply a natural diet. For now though, I think supplementing his diet by directly feeding him oysters and the occasional encrusting sponge is the best I can do. He also can feed off of the live ocean rock I started the tank with. The starfish is a Fromia indica star and I feel I can learn a lot from closely observing his behavior and activity level as well as through typical research.
Some species are also very sensitive to parameter changes and can literally melt away if certain changes happen too rapidly. I think it's very important to do some research into their biology to understand how sensitive the species may be and learn about their natural diets which is of an unknown level of importance. Likely one of these stressors weakens its immune system and plays a part in the mortality to some degree.
I plan to try to find a way to keep them healthy and of course live much longer through finding a way to supply a natural diet. For now though, I think supplementing his diet by directly feeding him oysters and the occasional encrusting sponge is the best I can do. He also can feed off of the live ocean rock I started the tank with. The starfish is a Fromia indica star and I feel I can learn a lot from closely observing his behavior and activity level as well as through typical research.