Starfish Question

livinlifeinBKK

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I think everyone does lol. They are the hardest starfish to keep in captivity and are expert-level.
Well I wouldn't go that far... primarily they just need the right food source which is near, if not impossible to artificially create without live rock from the ocean...like I said, mine is active and looks healthy in just my 10 gallon
 
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AydenLincoln

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Well I wouldn't go that far... primarily they just need the right food source which is near, if not impossible to artificially create without live rock from the ocean...like I said, mine is active and looks healthy in just my 10 gallon
Interesting. That’s awesome it works for you most it doesn’t and they do live a lot shorter lives in captivity.
 
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AydenLincoln

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I was looking into these guys.
Seems like they are harder than most when it comes to water and temp and such, but still would wind up with the same feeding issues.
I know they can be fed seaweed but it depends on where or not they’ll eat it.
 
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Well as for the shorter life span I suspect the vast majority of inverts and even fish live a lot shorter lives in captivity
True. Inverts yes but I know some fish can live a long time in both. Some animals are just not meant to be in captivity.
 

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For starfish as a whole, after they've run out of food (or at least out of nutritionally acceptable food), it generally takes them several months to starve to death (I'm talking like 6-8+ months, possibly upwards of a year for certain species), so many people think their starfish are doing fine, then, the next thing they know, their starfish are dropping legs and dying. - livinlifeinBKK, I suspect this will eventually happen to yours in the 10 gallon (if I'm wrong, in complete seriousness, please let me know after having it for around 18 months). The slow starvation is why people say they're hard to keep - they're hard to keep long term (i.e. for the duration of their natural life spans [some sand sifters have been reported to live up to 10 years old] or even for just a couple of years).

To the best of our knowledge, livinlifeinBKK is correct that Linckias, Fromias, etc. eat biofilms (some of them eat sponges and ascidians - i.e. tunicates, sea squirts, etc. - too), but that's why most people recommend a 75 gallon tank as a minimum for most of them - in the hopes that the tank will produce enough feed to keep them healthy. From everything I've read, it seems unlikely a ten gallon will produce enough long-term for the star (again, I hope I'm wrong, and please let me know if I am). Again, because they only starve after cleaning the tank out of food, some people even keep them for 2-3 years before they die of starvation. Not trying to be a downer here, it's just what I've found in my research so far.

With regards to Echinaster sentus specifically, from what I’ve been able to find, they eat bivalves (clams, mussels, scallops, etc.), sponges (they accept some species that have chemical defenses against fish, but it seems they prefer those with little to no chemical defenses period), possibly some anemones, and possibly other sessile (immobile) inverts too (so it may at some point go for corals, or it might not - there's not much information available on the diet of this species). You could probably supplement feed it using things like clams and sponges (carolina.com carries some relatively cheap sponge packages), but there's no guarantee it will survive long term. If you decide to try it, let us know how it works out after about 18 months - again, I'd be genuinely curious.
 

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True. Inverts yes but I know some fish can live a long time in both. Some animals are just not meant to be in captivity.
Well, no animals are really meant to live in captivity due to the intricacy of their live processes...true fish live longer but rarely to the age they would make it to in the wild...even the biggest private aquariums can't provide what the ocean can
 

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For starfish as a whole, after they've run out of food (or at least out of nutritionally acceptable food), it generally takes them several months to starve to death (I'm talking like 6-8+ months, possibly upwards of a year for certain species), so many people think their starfish are doing fine, then, the next thing they know, their starfish are dropping legs and dying. - livinlifeinBKK, I suspect this will eventually happen to yours in the 10 gallon (if I'm wrong, in complete seriousness, please let me know after having it for around 18 months). The slow starvation is why people say they're hard to keep - they're hard to keep long term (i.e. for the duration of their natural life spans [some sand sifters have been reported to live up to 10 years old] or even for just a couple of years).

To the best of our knowledge, livinlifeinBKK is correct that Linckias, Fromias, etc. eat biofilms (some of them eat sponges and ascidians - i.e. tunicates, sea squirts, etc. - too), but that's why most people recommend a 75 gallon tank as a minimum for most of them - in the hopes that the tank will produce enough feed to keep them healthy. From everything I've read, it seems unlikely a ten gallon will produce enough long-term for the star (again, I hope I'm wrong, and please let me know if I am). Again, because they only starve after cleaning the tank out of food, some people even keep them for 2-3 years before they die of starvation. Not trying to be a downer here, it's just what I've found in my research so far.

With regards to Echinaster sentus specifically, from what I’ve been able to find, they eat bivalves (clams, mussels, scallops, etc.), sponges (they accept some species that have chemical defenses against fish, but it seems they prefer those with little to no chemical defenses period), possibly some anemones, and possibly other sessile (immobile) inverts too (so it may at some point go for corals, or it might not - there's not much information available on the diet of this species). You could probably supplement feed it using things like clams and sponges (carolina.com carries some relatively cheap sponge packages), but there's no guarantee it will survive long term. If you decide to try it, let us know how it works out after about 18 months - again, I'd be genuinely curious.
Ill keep you posted
 
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AydenLincoln

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Well, no animals are really meant to live in captivity due to the intricacy of their live processes...true fish live longer but rarely to the age they would make it to in the wild...even the biggest private aquariums can't provide what the ocean can
True.
 

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Well, no animals are really meant to live in captivity due to the intricacy of their live processes...true fish live longer but rarely to the age they would make it to in the wild...even the biggest private aquariums can't provide what the ocean can
Any well cared for animal being kept in captivity usually far exceeds the wild lifespan.
You don’t see clowns hitting 50 years in the wild.
Surf the oldest fish threads and you will see many doing much better than in the wild.
Same would go for inverts.
 

livinlifeinBKK

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For starfish as a whole, after they've run out of food (or at least out of nutritionally acceptable food), it generally takes them several months to starve to death (I'm talking like 6-8+ months, possibly upwards of a year for certain species), so many people think their starfish are doing fine, then, the next thing they know, their starfish are dropping legs and dying. - livinlifeinBKK, I suspect this will eventually happen to yours in the 10 gallon (if I'm wrong, in complete seriousness, please let me know after having it for around 18 months). The slow starvation is why people say they're hard to keep - they're hard to keep long term (i.e. for the duration of their natural life spans [some sand sifters have been reported to live up to 10 years old] or even for just a couple of years).

To the best of our knowledge, livinlifeinBKK is correct that Linckias, Fromias, etc. eat biofilms (some of them eat sponges and ascidians - i.e. tunicates, sea squirts, etc. - too), but that's why most people recommend a 75 gallon tank as a minimum for most of them - in the hopes that the tank will produce enough feed to keep them healthy. From everything I've read, it seems unlikely a ten gallon will produce enough long-term for the star (again, I hope I'm wrong, and please let me know if I am). Again, because they only starve after cleaning the tank out of food, some people even keep them for 2-3 years before they die of starvation. Not trying to be a downer here, it's just what I've found in my research so far.

With regards to Echinaster sentus specifically, from what I’ve been able to find, they eat bivalves (clams, mussels, scallops, etc.), sponges (they accept some species that have chemical defenses against fish, but it seems they prefer those with little to no chemical defenses period), possibly some anemones, and possibly other sessile (immobile) inverts too (so it may at some point go for corals, or it might not - there's not much information available on the diet of this species). You could probably supplement feed it using things like clams and sponges (carolina.com carries some relatively cheap sponge packages), but there's no guarantee it will survive long term. If you decide to try it, let us know how it works out after about 18 months - again, I'd be genuinely curious.

For starfish as a whole, after they've run out of food (or at least out of nutritionally acceptable food), it generally takes them several months to starve to death (I'm talking like 6-8+ months, possibly upwards of a year for certain species), so many people think their starfish are doing fine, then, the next thing they know, their starfish are dropping legs and dying. - livinlifeinBKK, I suspect this will eventually happen to yours in the 10 gallon (if I'm wrong, in complete seriousness, please let me know after having it for around 18 months). The slow starvation is why people say they're hard to keep - they're hard to keep long term (i.e. for the duration of their natural life spans [some sand sifters have been reported to live up to 10 years old] or even for just a couple of years).

To the best of our knowledge, livinlifeinBKK is correct that Linckias, Fromias, etc. eat biofilms (some of them eat sponges and ascidians - i.e. tunicates, sea squirts, etc. - too), but that's why most people recommend a 75 gallon tank as a minimum for most of them - in the hopes that the tank will produce enough feed to keep them healthy. From everything I've read, it seems unlikely a ten gallon will produce enough long-term for the star (again, I hope I'm wrong, and please let me know if I am). Again, because they only starve after cleaning the tank out of food, some people even keep them for 2-3 years before they die of starvation. Not trying to be a downer here, it's just what I've found in my research so far.

With regards to Echinaster sentus specifically, from what I’ve been able to find, they eat bivalves (clams, mussels, scallops, etc.), sponges (they accept some species that have chemical defenses against fish, but it seems they prefer those with little to no chemical defenses period), possibly some anemones, and possibly other sessile (immobile) inverts too (so it may at some point go for corals, or it might not - there's not much information available on the diet of this species). You could probably supplement feed it using things like clams and sponges (carolina.com carries some relatively cheap sponge packages), but there's no guarantee it will survive long term. If you decide to try it, let us know how it works out after about 18 months - again, I'd be genuinely curious.
Btw, I have noticed that he does scavenge as well for excess food, detritus, I had a fish die once and actually found him on it eating it...I do think it's possible to keep them much longer than 6-8 months as long as you supplement their natural biofilm diet with foods such as dead mysis...but again, only time will tell
 

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Any well cared for animal being kept in captivity usually far exceeds the wild lifespan.
You don’t see clowns hitting 50 years in the wild.
Surf the oldest fish threads and you will see many doing much better than in the wild.
Same would go for inverts.
I would say those are certainly outliers
 

livinlifeinBKK

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Any well cared for animal being kept in captivity usually far exceeds the wild lifespan.
You don’t see clowns hitting 50 years in the wild.
Surf the oldest fish threads and you will see many doing much better than in the wild.
Same would go for inverts.
the reason I say they are outliers is because every living organism has a lifespan and while there are those that exceed it, it's very rare and certainly a private aquarium isn't as perfect of am ecosystem as the one they evolved in. In fact, @Paul B wrote an excellent post on Humbles site on precisely this topic. It's lengthy but if you want to know why and have the patience to read through it I can paste it here.
 

livinlifeinBKK

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Did your starfish end up making it?
It's been over a year and still healthy. I actually conducted a research study with 3 F. indica starfish which was published recently in a magazine due to their consistent weight gain and signs of good health.
 

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