sand-sifting sea stars

[Cyclura]

I havent found much info on these guys but how hard are they to care for? Most of the info that i have found on the net describes them as a normal addition to any cleanup crew. How established does your tank need to be, and are they reef-safe? any caresheets would also be nice.

thanks,

-adam

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

[Rob]

yes, they are reef safe, i never had great luck with them, had 2 lost them moth in a month or two. then found they were actually not great for your sand bed, as they eat from it. you need to have a large open sand bed area for them to feed in, and needs to be large enough so they dont eat them selves out of food.

i personally dont recommend them, but thats based on the poor experience i had with them, maybe other people will have better advice

[Seahorsedreams]

Yup, they eat your fauna. Are you talking about the larger variety or the tiny little brittle star looking things. There are so many vague labels on things now-a-days one can never be sure.

[ryano]

Dont buy sand sifting stars. They will eat everything in your sandbed then slowly starve to death.

[wwest]

I had a sand star and i didn't mind it. Of course i never seen since but maybe once a week. I had to get rid of mine because it was a predator to something else in my tank. So i gave it to a friend. I have heard a lot of people saying they will starve themselves and i believe it. My sand bed was pretty clean considering. I don't think i would buy another one.

[fat walrus]

I have no problems with them.

[dreams]

i haven't had any issues w/ mine.....i enjoy watching him creep around the tank

[ryano]

How big is your tank and how big is your sand bed? From what I have read if you have a very large tank with a well established sand bed you could possibly keep one for long term. For the average aquarium though, and my experience, they will slowly starve to death. This takes about 8-10 months to happen. If you do have one I have heard of people that were able to spot feed theirs with a small amount of shirmp, mussel ect.

[Cyclura]

nevermind, lol i think its just too big of an unknown for me at the moment. Ill stick with my regular cleanup crew, they do a fine job as it is without the help of sea stars.

No i wasnt referring to the brittle stars, google "sand-sifting starfish" and youll see what i'm talking about. They look more like the traditional starfish, not the ugly brittles.

[Rob]

check out serpent stars, they are great for clean up, fun to watch, and dont pose much thread to anything, except maybe stealing bits of food from your other critters.. ;)

[BrianPlankis]

You can also consider the following for sandbed cleanup:

Cirratulid sp.(hair worms), bristleworms, mini-brittlestars, spaghetti worms (hard to find and only a couple, they eat a lot!), Nassarius vibex, spinoid worms, cerith snails and fighting conchs to name a few. All in this list are reef safe, eat little or none of your sandbed fauna, stir or clean the sand and don't slowly starve to death in your tank. Many of them will even reproduce readily, meaning they will establish a population needed to keep the sandbed clean (or cleaner anyway).

The reason you find a lot of places online saying that sand-sifting starfish (typically Astropecten polycanthus) are a normal part of a cleanup crew is:

1. They are trying to sell them to you (the most important reason).

2. It was a common practice for a long time and only recently has the knowledge of their poor suitability for aquariums become common knowledge.

3. They are fairly easy to collect.

4. They are trying to sell them to you.

There are many alternatives out there that are better choices for our tanks. Granted they aren't the easiest to find, but hopefully that improves over time.

Brian

[Rob]

great info Brian, i think another reason they are big sellers is that people "like" sea stars, they see them and thing cool, i want one.. (i know i did). they are much better looking stars than say, brittle or serpent stars.
Because of this its easier for them to sell these critters.

These are one of those critters that might do well in some systems, but i think by far is better left out of our tanks, thats JMO

[Astrivian]

Just to throw this out there, some LFSs have said that you should have one in a fuge with a DSB. Given this post, i agree with brian...they want money :p