Starfish question

[Steve Jones]

My wife has been asking me about getting a small starfish for our tank. We have a 30 gallon BioCube. It is halfway through a 76 day going fallow period due to a Brooks outbreak. So I am using the time that the fish are in the hospital tank to focus on the corals and inverts in the DT. This seems to be a good time to try a small starfish. I have been reading up and the acclimation process seems to be extremely critical for a star. As well as stable PH and salinity. I have also read that some that say it is critical that the star never be exposed to the air and others who have said a moment or two during transfer to the tank won't hurt. Thoughts? And if you CAN'T expose to air, then how do you transfer to the tank from the bag w/o transferring the shipping water?

Also, I assume one would want to QT the star for 2 weeks as well. Which makes the need to transfer TWO times (with possible air exposure)as well as dealing with the tricky acclimation process twice.

What would the star need in the QT? My QT has no live rock or sand. Just PVC for fish shelter.

I like the Red and the Tile stars for their bright colors. But that's just a starting point.


That said, do you have any recommendations / tips for getting a star? Or should I just avoid this animal all together?

 

[Baby Ray]

What type of starfish?

 

[Steve Jones]

As I mentioned, we like the bright colors of the Red star and Tile star. But that's just a starting point for us.

 

[Baby Ray]

What type of starfish?

Sorry, I saw where you are asking for recommendations.
If you are planning to keep corals then some of the stars like chocolate chip won't be good because they eat corals
All the other starfish (other than brittle and serpent) are extremely hard to keep IMO and a 30 gallon tank is not big enough to supply enough food for one.
I have heard of serpent stars eating fish and clams. I have also heard of some brittle stars eating fish and clams (usually the green ones)
I have a gray brittle star that I got but now I am trying to catch it because it has out grown the tank and has killed several of my corals thinking they were food. He didn't eat the corals, he just man handled them while I was gone.

 

[Steve Jones]

Yes. I know food supply might be an issue in a 30 gal. But I can certainly supplement food for it. From what I've read supplementing the diet is preferred. Had read about the CC star. I agree - I want whatever I get to be reef friendly.

 

[Bret Brinkmann]

Stars tend to be extremely varied in their preferred diet from what I have researched and experienced. You may have an easier time narrowing the search by looking for ones that eat algae only or some other type of acceptable food. If you can't find any dietary information on the species you are looking into, then assume no one knows yet and stay away.

Unless there is some specific species I don't know about, they can be taken out of the water.