Happy sand sifting sea star

[Basile]

Interested in putting one in my system after at least one year of maturation in a 150G tank, i'm wondering the success it would be if its in a 2" only sand bed. Anyone with that kind of sand bed and with good success?

 

[desertranger]

I have had one in my 90 gal. He seems happy even though I hardly see him. He is always in the sand and almost never on the glass.

 

[desertranger]

 

[saltfan]

Mines been in my 55 for about 7 mo.

 

[PSU4ME]

Sounds like it should be fine. I have one in my 120

 

[Surfnut]

The biggest killer of these is an under-developed sand bed. They can starve quite easily in a tank that's too clean.

 

[cheeks69]

SS starfish are voracious eaters and only eat infauna so a large mature SB is a must for long term success.

 

[Basile]

SS starfish are voracious eaters and only eat infauna so a large mature SB is a must for long term success.

If nutrients are defficient is feeding possible like pieces of shrimps, or fish?

 

[Steve L]

I had one "for a while" until my chocolate chip star decided to make a meal of it. The CC star was always chasing it around and it finally caught up to it.

 

[Basile]

Yes the more i read about it the more i think it may be a mistake it basically eats all the fauna, from bacterias, mini crustacians , as well as detritus and extrafood and snails shrimps, and destroys the fabric of the sand beds. Which some don't recover, it may be a mistake to have one in my 150g. I don't want my whole fauna to disapear, I wanted a starfish that churn my sand properly and get the extra bits but not a vacum cleaner lol. Thanks.