Thoughts on Starfish Feeding

[livinlifeinBKK]

I've had this starfish for about 4 months or maybe a little longer and I know he probably isn't able to find enough food in the tank as very few starfish are usually able to. That's why I came up with the idea to feed him one on one once a week. What I've been doing is putting him in a bowl of water with frozen mysis for an hour or two in an attempt to make sure he's at least getting some food. I really love this star and am trying to do whatever I can to ensure his wellbeing. Any ideas how I can improve upon this regimen?

 

[Andresnyc93]

Unfortunately there’s no much scientific research to know what starfishes want to eat or when they want to eat.
I’ve had 2 starfishes and after the second one not lasting longer than a year I realized they are meant to be in the ocean.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Unfortunately there’s no much scientific research to know what starfishes want to eat or when they want to eat.
I’ve had 2 starfishes and after the second one not lasting longer than a year I realized they are meant to be in the ocean.

I know it's kinda a shot in the dark but since I have him I'm gonna do all I can to try to keep him alive...I know my star scavenges after finding it wrapped around a dead fish (I would've let him eat it if I wasn't worried about the ammonia spike)...I think I can tell if he's eating since he deploys his stomach to digest

 

[DaneGer21]

I would stop messing with it first off.

I’ve had my brittle starfish for 5+years and have never actually fed it. He hangs his arms out of his rock and grabs particles

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

I would stop messing with it first off.

I’ve had my brittle starfish for 5+years and have never actually fed it. He hangs his arms out of his rock and grabs particles

Pretty certain he's not getting enough food though so gotta do something...I think it's an orange Fromia indica

 

[i cant think]

I would stop messing with it first off.

I’ve had my brittle starfish for 5+years and have never actually fed it. He hangs his arms out of his rock and grabs particles

Brittle stars are different to other stars like Fromia and Linkia.

 

[Timfish]

IMO no one should be getting Fromia spp. starfish. I've never seen one make it to a year. May starfish appear to feed off biofilms and might have very specific diets. I'd also follow the above advice about messing with it, pulling it out of your tank is just adding to it's stress. If you want to try to feed it use a turkey baster and feed it small amounts in the tank.

 

[i cant think]

IMO no one should be getting Fromia spp. starfish. I've never seen one make it to a year. May starfish appear to feed off biofilms and might have very specific diets. I'd also follow the above advice about messing with it, pulling it out of your tank is just adding to it's stress. If you want to try to feed it use a turkey baster and feed it small amounts in the tank.

+1 to this, I have seen a fromia make it a year but it didn’t last much longer than that. I’m unsure on how they managed to get it past a year however I’m pretty sure it was in a seahorse tank which already have very specific diets.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Most starfish are meat eaters. I'd suggest buying a dozen clams from your local fish monger and freezing them. When you want to feed, open up a clam and cut off a chunk and with forceps put it close to your starfish. It should "smell" the meat and go to grab it from you.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

I know it's kinda a shot in the dark but since I have him I'm gonna do all I can to try to keep him alive...I know my star scavenges after finding it wrapped around a dead fish (I would've let him eat it if I wasn't worried about the ammonia spike)...I think I can tell if he's eating since he deploys his stomach to digest

With regards to the dead fish, depending on the species of starfish, it might be eating the fish itself, or it might be eating something on the fish (such as the fish’s slime coat or something similar). Regardless, with Fromia (and similar diet genuses) stars, dietary supplementation with standard aquarium foods has been found to be ineffective. They might crawl over it, or in some cases even eat it, but it doesn’t seem to provide the proper nutrition for them.

If you’re star is a Fromia indica star, then you could try offering it a variety of foods (some people say theirs goes for mussels or similar foods, some people say reef roids and similar foods, you might even be able to offer it something like Aquilonastra - Asterina - stars [some people swear by these for their Linckia stars] or dead bristleworms). None of this would be guaranteed to work, though, and there’s a good chance that your star still might starve in a few months.

As a sidenote, the longest I’ve heard for a Fromia star is 18 months.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Most starfish are meat eaters. I'd suggest buying a dozen clams from your local fish monger and freezing them. When you want to feed, open up a clam and cut off a chunk and with forceps put it close to your starfish. It should "smell" the meat and go to grab it from you.

Good idea! I'm not a fan of having to take it out of the tank to try to feed it so I like your idea...and yeah, the outlook may be bleak for a Fromia star but I have it now so it is what it is...I'm just doing whatever I can to give it the best shot at living longer

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

With regards to the dead fish, depending on the species of starfish, it might be eating the fish itself, or it might be eating something on the fish (such as the fish’s slime coat or something similar). Regardless, with Fromia (and similar diet genuses) stars, dietary supplementation with standard aquarium foods has been found to be ineffective. They might crawl over it, or in some cases even eat it, but it doesn’t seem to provide the proper nutrition for them.

If you’re star is a Fromia indica star, then you could try offering it a variety of foods (some people say theirs goes for mussels or similar foods, some people say reef roids and similar foods, you might even be able to offer it something like Aquilonastra - Asterina - stars [some people swear by these for their Linckia stars] or dead bristleworms). None of this would be guaranteed to work, though, and there’s a good chance that your star still might starve in a few months.

As a sidenote, the longest I’ve heard for a Fromia star is 18 months.

Well whatever I can do to try to extend it's life I'll give a shot...I gotta at least make an honest effort to try to keep him alive in my book

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

If you’re confident that it’s a biofilm eating star (Fromia, Linckia, etc.) and you decide to try supplementing it with clams, mussels, etc., you might want to try buying a few really “dirty-looking” live clams (i.e. if you can find some that look like they have something - slime, algae, etc. - on their shell) and placing them dirty-side up in the tank with the starfish. As I said, traditional food doesn’t seem to help much, but they do seem attracted to it nonetheless, so I’m thinking they may associate the scent of clams and such with biofilms they can get proper nutrition from. If that’s the case, I’d guess the biofilm is growing on their shells or on the surrounding substrate.

No idea if I’m correct or if it would help, but it might be worth a shot.

If you’ve got a microscope, I’d look at the clam’s shell before adding it to the tank, then check it again after if you’ve seen the starfish climbing on it. Seeing any kind of microfauna- including diatoms or dinoflagellates- would be a good thing in this case. Theoretically you could figure out if it was eating microfauna on the shell if you do.

 

[monicalooze]

Unfortunately there’s no much scientific research to know what starfishes want to eat or when they want to eat.
I’ve had 2 starfishes and after the second one not lasting longer than a year I realized they are meant to be in the ocean.

I'm just curious: what did you try feeding it? There's definitely an opportunity to try to figure this out more systematically...unless I'm missing a thread that already did this. I'm curious because of the advent of products like PNS Probio, which seem to be great for feeding difficult filter feeders like sponges and oysters and scallops. Could this (or some other bacteria) be the key to starfish? I have no idea, just musing this morning. Everyone loves sea stars...so I wish we could figure it out.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

I'm just curious: what did you try feeding it? There's definitely an opportunity to try to figure this out more systematically...unless I'm missing a thread that already did this. I'm curious because of the advent of products like PNS Probio, which seem to be great for feeding difficult filter feeders like sponges and oysters and scallops. Could this (or some other bacteria) be the key to starfish? I have no idea, just musing this morning. Everyone loves sea stars...so I wish we could figure it out.

I tried feeding it mysis but doubt that it's natural food is that simple...I do have real live rock from the ocean which may be building biofilm that's sustained it so far

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Thanks for the ideas guys...I'm not giving up on him