invert acclimation question

Starfish are very hard to acclimate. When it started expelling stuff from its mouth that was probably the tell tale sign it was on its way out. They are very sensitive to all parameters. I am not a star fish expert so maybe they will chime in

My gf loves starfish but we have never been able to keep one long term so we just don't buy them anymore

The last 3 starfish I've owned I only acclimated for an hour by floating the bag and dumping water into it every few minutes. All of them did quite well for me.

Honestly, I just dump them in after about 15 minutes acclimation...but they are also just going to have their legs chopped off as shrimp food...so I do not really care. Only two starfish had problems with me doing this...the others all lived long lives having their limbs chopped off week after week. Note...I have only used chocolate chip and sand sifting stars. Linckias and fromias are much more swnsitive.

Do I recommend what I practice? No. I am just saying that every case is different.

It was a linckia and I bought local. I used a reef gently and it puts in whatever drips out because its a siphon so the acclimation is really easy on the livestock.  I just ask because I am thinking about getting another starfish and I want to make sure it makes it in my tank alive.


Edited by suiso man - February 18 2014 at 6:16pm

Aloha Robert,

Sounds like it hasn't survived, right? I'm sorry for your loss.

I believe a lot depends on the way the Linkia Star was handled on its trip from the ocean and yet there may be some impossible hurdles here.

I believe that bringing a Linkia up from its habitat may be a problem. The relatively swift pressure and elevation change from ~40 feet under the water to 4500 feet above sea level probably creates air bubbles which are not easily expelled or maybe impossible for the Star to expel.. Microscopic bubbles of air more than double in size, which may or may not be why Linkia Stars don't make it long, though we give them all the TLC we know how to give.

Also, we are still not certain how to feed them what they need to survive. We know that Asterina Stars do well because they eat algae and bacterial slime. They even reproduce in our tanks, but still, on average their numbers in our tanks are moderate. When considering food requirements, compare the body mass of a Linkia to the body mass of an Asterina. Possibly ~1000:1

Here is the thread I mentioned in texting. It's a pretty good discussion with comment from Connie, who successfully kept Linkia.
http://utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=8363

Aloha,
Mark

This small Linkia(Fromia?) survived about a year in my tank. Of course the Hermit had about the same survival, but I don't give that a second thought. And what about the 2 dead bivalves in this pic that left their shells as decoration.  How much of killing animals can we tolerate before we change our behavior


This Star ate Macroalgae and meaty fish foods but also coral.



Edited by Mark Peterson - February 19 2014 at 11:11am

If it's a Linkia it could have been on the way out already. They do not do well in our tanks. The longest one I've seen in a tank was two years. Most only live around 6 months. No one knows what they eat so it makes it a bit hard to keep them alive. They are also super sensitive to just about everything. Personally I'd not keep a linkia as I think it's a waste of money and cruel as there is no long term life possibility. Other stars on the other hand can be perfectly fine just research them before you go. I know lots of people have had better luck with Fromia starsfish as it's a much hardier invert.

That's friken' awesome. Has it grown? What does it eat? Where does it spend most of it's time? Maybe you have come upon the answer to their success.

Mark Peterson wrote: That's friken' awesome. Has it grown? What does it eat? Where does it spend most of it's time? Maybe you have come upon the answer to their success.

I don't know what the secret is he's just always been happy cruising around spends most of his time on the rocks I've never had a algae problem or anything so it is not like it is eating excess algae. It has grown probably about an inch on each leg.

I kept an orange linkia for about a year and then one day it looked like the star just shattered in to a bunch of pieces. A small section of its leg roamed my tank for another good while before it too disappeared. It was like one of those zombie things lol

Does anybody have an idea of how long they live in the wild? Just curious