Starfish

[Lavey29]

Has anyone successfully kept a starfish other than a brittle, sand shifting, or asternia starfish in a 20 gallon nano tank long term? I know some can be supplementally fed and they need an established tank. And there’s some small breeds of starfish.

No

 

[LovinlifeinGuam]

This is my Fromia after I fed him this morning in the bottom picture...I definitely expect to have him for many years to come!

 

[LovinlifeinGuam]

How long have you been keeping starfish? Have you kept one alive long term (for 2+ years)?

Btw, not trying to sound cocky or anything like that but I really do think I can keep this Fromia alive and healthy

 

[JMacedo]

Has anyone successfully kept a starfish other than a brittle, sand shifting, or asternia starfish in a 20 gallon nano tank long term? I know some can be supplementally fed and they need an established tank. And there’s some small breeds of starfish.

I have a couple... my sand sifting starfish, a survivor from a tank crash is probably 7 or 8 years old as it came from my previous tank. Also I have two blue Linckias, one is close to 4 years old (the one in the xmas tree rock) and the other about a year old I think.
EDIT: My apologies... I was too quick to respond and skipped the part you mentioned the "20 gallon nano tank". Very sorry, IMO 20 gal is just too small for a long term starfish survival. Sorry, my bad,

 

[LovinlifeinGuam]

Just my experie

I have a couple... my sand sifting starfish, a survivor from a tank crash is probably 7 or 8 years old as it came from my previous tank. Also I have two blue Linckias, one is close to 4 years old (the one in the xmas tree rock) and the other about a year old I think.

Sweet...so many people just don't understand that starfish are actually pretty complex animals and some of them can be pretty fragile and need careful attention. I think most stars end up dying because their owners assume they're all generalist scavengers for some reason which some are but many of the thousands of species are not.

 

[Tcook]

Btw, not trying to sound cocky or anything like that but I really do think I can keep this Fromia alive and healthy

How long have you had this star?

 

[LovinlifeinGuam]

How long have you had this star?

I've had him about 5 months which I know isn't really that long. The reason I believe I'm going to be able to keep him long term has nothing to do with how he's been since I've had him though...it's because of the sheer amount of research and time I have put and am still putting into actually learning about the biology of starfish and their natural behaviors, diets, etc. in order to provide mine with the best chance of a long life. I will admit though that they are certainly complex creatures.

 

[Solga]

I have a serpent star, that hitchhiked in on some live rock. When I placed it in my 10 gallon tank, almost 3 months ago, it only had 3 & 1/2 legs. It is still doing pretty good in my 10g, and even knows when it's feeding time !
It has 4 & 3/4 legs now, and is kicking along pretty good. Hope it lasts a while .... "Lucky" has kinda grown on me...

 

[LovinlifeinGuam]

I have a serpent star, that hitchhiked in on some live rock. When I placed it in my 10 gallon tank, almost 3 months ago, it only had 3 & 1/2 legs. It is still doing pretty good in my 10g, and even knows when it's feeding time !
It has 4 & 3/4 legs now, and is kicking along pretty good. Hope it lasts a while .... "Lucky" has kinda grown on me...

Serpent stars are cool... I think they usually fare better in aquariums since they're more generalists unlike species like Linckias, Fromias, and some others

 

[LovinlifeinGuam]

I have a serpent star, that hitchhiked in on some live rock. When I placed it in my 10 gallon tank, almost 3 months ago, it only had 3 & 1/2 legs. It is still doing pretty good in my 10g, and even knows when it's feeding time !
It has 4 & 3/4 legs now, and is kicking along pretty good. Hope it lasts a while .... "Lucky" has kinda grown on me...

Instead of scavenging for leftover food and detritus, my Fromia has been munching on some kind of encrusting sponge all day that was growing on a rock in my other tank (I moved it just for him to eat)...he's slightly more particular about what he eats haha

 

[damsels are not mean]

I have seen a lot more success stories with fromia sp. than linckia. I would go that route if you must.

The main issue is that nobody really knows what these starfish eat. They are not really difficult IMO. They either do well or don't do well in a given system because presumably whatever microbes and algae they eat is available in different amounts depending on the microbiome of each tank. Old tanks have more stable and dense microbial populations meaning more consistent food.

You need to do a slow acclimation too, but anyone can do that. Once it's in the tank there is not really any care that goes into it except not nuking the tank. It's easier than a clownfish unless it isn't basically...

 

[LovinlifeinGuam]

I have seen a lot more success stories with fromia sp. than linckia. I would go that route if you must.

The main issue is that nobody really knows what these starfish eat. They are not really difficult IMO. They either do well or don't do well in a given system because presumably whatever microbes and algae they eat is available in different amounts depending on the microbiome of each tank. Old tanks have more stable and dense microbial populations meaning more consistent food.

You need to do a slow acclimation too, but anyone can do that. Once it's in the tank there is not really any care that goes into it except not nuking the tank. It's easier than a clownfish unless it isn't basically...

I've been doing some in depth research in to the Fromias and Linckias since I have a Fromia myself and there are a ton of factors that determine their fate, not to mention the fact that there are identical looking species with vastly different dietary requirements which is why they sadly don't make it too long a lot of times. I think you might be simplifying these amazingly complex creatures

 

[damsels are not mean]

I've been doing some in depth research in to the Fromias and Linckias since I have a Fromia myself and there are a ton of factors that determine their fate, not to mention the fact that there are identical looking species with vastly different dietary requirements which is why they sadly don't make it too long a lot of times. I think you might be simplifying these amazingly complex creatures

I'm simplifying the perspective of aquarists. We don't know what they eat. And even if we did we don't know how to control it. So there is no difficulty in it. Just rolling the dice.

 

[LovinlifeinGuam]

I'm simplifying the perspective of aquarists. We don't know what they eat. And even if we did we don't know how to control it. So there is no difficulty in it. Just rolling the dice.

Oh I see what you're getting at...I like a challenge though haha...I think researchers do have some reasonably good ideas relating to their diets nowadays though but of course it's not perfect...I just can't let my star waste away without trying whatever I can within reason though and I think I've got a few pretty novel idea I wanna try out. With that said though, I really don't think many people have any business buying animals like these stars unless they're really willing to bend over backwards, crack open the books, and do some experimenting for the wellbeing of the animal. I don't think many people are up to doing all that to save a star though...

 

[prattosphere]

I've been doing some in depth research in to the Fromias and Linckias since I have a Fromia myself and there are a ton of factors that determine their fate, not to mention the fact that there are identical looking species with vastly different dietary requirements which is why they sadly don't make it too long a lot of times. I think you might be simplifying these amazingly complex creatures

What size tank do you have the Fromia in? Can you link to your favorite Fromia research? I have a 16g BioCube.

 

[LovinlifeinGuam]

What size tank do you have the Fromia in? Can you link to your favorite Fromia research? I have a 16g BioCube.

Hey glad to hear from another Fromia guy! What species of Fromia is it?

 

[LovinlifeinGuam]

Not that I'm trying to do this in an attempt to make money but if I actually ended up being successful in developing a starfish food supplement or some way to feed them that could be prepackaged and sold to hobbyists it would probably be in pretty high demand to say the least...

I actually am currently working on finding a way to make food for them