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Ryker 
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Joined: January 27 2005
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 Topic: are stars good or bad?
Posted: February 28 2005 at 3:31pm |
Hey ive had my eye on a blue star fish that live aquaria sales I noticed that they arnt ever 4 sale in the local pet stores Y is that are they not as cool as they look on the internet does anyone know much about them or if i can get them local? any info would help
thanx
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OGDEN
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Jake Pehrson
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Posted: February 28 2005 at 3:58pm |
Depends on the star fish. Many are not reef safe and most are very sensitive to water changes.
What kind of star fish is it?
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Ryker
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Posted: February 28 2005 at 4:14pm |
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This is the one i was wondering about i would hate it if it ate my chorals and if it were never sceen i think that would be pretty disapiontin as well does it look at all familiar to you?
 Linckia Sea Star, Blue (Linckia laevigata)
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OGDEN
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Ghetto Man
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Posted: February 28 2005 at 4:19pm |
I just saw several of those at Bird World Saturday. They had them in their coral tanks. I've always heard that they are reef safe.
Make sure that you have a mature stable system before introducing a starfish in my opinion
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Simple
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Posted: February 28 2005 at 4:31pm |
Hello everyone,
 any info would help |
About half way down this page is some info about that starfish.
FWIW, I see them in LFS all the time. Sadly they're almost always a week or two away from death.
IMO there are a variety of other equally attractive starfish that are considerably easier to keep.
Hope that helps,
Chris
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Ascultã tot, dar nu crede tot.
Believe nothing of what you hear, and only half of what you see.
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RATTISSIA
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Joined: January 23 2005
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Posted: February 28 2005 at 4:54pm |
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aquatic dreams has one like that last few times i've went up there. wasnt as blue though. 2nd to last time i went it was dead..its since been replaced with another one. (unless someone's bought that one now)
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: February 28 2005 at 5:10pm |
Do you know what a Sea Star (it's not a fish) eats and can you provide that food? If not, how can you keep it alive and why would you buy it?
It is very, very commendable that Ryker and others actually ask questions before buying the organisms. 
There are so many other invertebrates that can live in reef aquariums, feed on available food and even reproduce. Amoung these are organisms like shrimp, crabs, worms, snails, cucumbers, not to mention the myriad of coral now able to survive and propagate in captivity.
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Ryker
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Posted: February 28 2005 at 6:14pm |
Thanx Simple for the article,
After reading it I kinda fell that even buying a star, cucumber,ect... is inhuman and they will die a slow painful death in a reef aquarium!!!!! is that acurate? or are there speacies that thrive in those conditions? I wouldn't mind a black spinny urchant if they will do any better but I would preffer a star(Im just not fond of the brittle stars) any thoughts????
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Adam Blundell
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Posted: February 28 2005 at 7:05pm |
Urchins do much better. I think sea stars do great in thriving aquariums, but most people don't have thriving aquariums.
Adam
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Simple
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Posted: February 28 2005 at 10:57pm |
Hello everyone,
Ryker wrote:
Thanx Simple for the article |
My pleasure. They've done a number of great articles over the years.
Ryker wrote:
is that acurate? |
Pretty much. There are many animals avaliable to us that will suffer or outright die because of the conditions in typical home aquaria.
Ryker wrote:
or are there speacies that thrive in those conditions? |
Yes, there are some stars that do much better in a typical tank. Brittles, serpents, linckia multiflora and asterinids all have much better reputations.
A variety of cukes can also do well in our tanks. The article suggests that most failures are likely do to starvation. IME, you can easily keep one alive in a large stable tank. Provided of course there is low or no competition for food.
Ryker wrote:
I wouldn't mind a black spinny urchant if they will do any better |
Here is another article from the same magazine concerning urchins.
Hope that helps,
Chris
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Ascultã tot, dar nu crede tot.
Believe nothing of what you hear, and only half of what you see.
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Suzy
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Posted: March 01 2005 at 7:24am |
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Rob has 2 brittle stars in his FO! He has had them forever...
And, Adam gave us a cuke that we have since moved to the
seahorse tank. It has doubled in size!
I think these little things need to be in a very mature system
with live food.........(Having said that, the stars will eat anything
they can catch!)
(I also have a really funky nudibranch that I shouldn't have
bought....But, he is the coolest thing! I can't get a pic of him,
though. He's always on the glass. I keep trying to figure out
where it's mouth is. I don't think it has one!)
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