Selecting a starfish

[Guest Amber Nussbaum]

Hey guys,

 

I'd like to put a starfish in my tank. My local stores always have the blue linkia ones, and a few times I've seen orange and burgundy varieties. But I never can tell if they're healthy or not. They all just kind of "sit there."

 

Is there a way to judge how good they're doing or if it's safe to take them home?

 

Thanks,

Amber

[Guest clownfish4]

Make sure they have all of their legs and no bad spots.  Stay away from the linkias, as they are near impossible to keep alive.

[xeon]

No chocolate chip or green serpent either.  The chocolate chip has a taste for some corals and snails.  The green serpent is a predator.  If you have a sand bed, you don't want a sand stirrer star, since they dine on things you want in your sand bed.  That is the extent of my star fish knowledge.

[ReefMon]

The Linkas are fine in a reef, IF they were acclimated properly at the LFS (rarely) and you do the same.  They are extremely sensitive to salinity swings, and require several hours worth of drip acclimation.

 

I second Xeon's comments on Green's, Chip's and Sand Stars.

[michaelg]

I take glenn's comment to heart about acclimation.  I take longer with snails and starfish in acclimating than anything else.  Acroporas/montiporas I seldomly acclimate, as they seem to do better getting them into circulating clean water asap.  Some softies I take my time with, though.

[HowardofNOVA]

Michael,

Good topic to start a new post on: How to acclimate different species of Salt Water inhabitants!

Fish, Corals, Invertebrates, etc.

Howard

[Guest Amber Nussbaum]

Thanks for the advice. I'll let everyone know how it goes

[Lee Stearns]

Amber there is a great article in this month's online magazine at Reef Central on Starfish

Breaks down the needs of the various types and gives which ones to avoid entirely.

[Guest Amber Nussbaum]

True. I didn't even think of that.

Duh.

 

Thanks, Lee.