reef safe starfish recommendations

[fungia]

can anybody recommend some reef safe starfish for my tank? i know about brittle stars, is there any others i can try?

 

[iseeweed]

sandsifter

 

[bleedingthought]

AFAIK, brittle stars and serpent stars are the hardiest. I hear some bad reports of sandsifting, green brittles, linkias, and fromias - which are all "reef safe".

 

[shavo]

I just bought a tile star that is the color of a hunters cap and X just bought a fromia tile star that looks like spiderman, also I have a red bali star. the other stars mentioned are reef safe but not as colorful.
i think you have to just slowly acclimate to temperature and salinity to have success with stars, also i think linkias are very fragile and are super hard to acclimate and have success with but that is just me. some people probabbly have alot of success with them. the tile stars seem to be kinda hardy and the red bali star was just put right in and never had a problem.

 

[bleedingthought]

I just bought a tile star that is the color of a hunters cap and X just bought a fromia tile star that looks like spiderman, also I have a red bali star. the other stars mentioned are reef safe but not as colorful.
i think you have to just slowly acclimate to temperature and salinity to have success with stars, also i think linkias are very fragile and are super hard to acclimate and have success with but that is just me. some people probabbly have alot of success with them. the tile stars seem to be kinda hardy and the red bali star was just put right in and never had a problem.

Post pictures of both when you can!

 

[Fishie Nut]

I've had a Echinaster (Othilia) - ophorus, a Spiny Sea Star for about six months. It's red and bumpy and you can see it all over the tank. Reef Safe.

Here's a pic on the glass (acrylic):

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[mr_X]

here are a couple pics. these don't do it justice. one of the pics i took from another persons reef thread (it's the clearest of the three). THAT one is closest to it's actual appearance.

 

[bleedingthought]

That was Chip's fromia. Chip... :?

 

[shavo]

here;s my bali star

they are mini stars

 

[mr_X]

chip? i dunno where i got that one pic (fromia3). i think it was someone here who was selling off their stuff and getting out of the hobby, but the actual starfish in my tank(fromia 1 and 2) is from a store in jersey.
i believe i was asking about that one that was for sale here..i think the guy wanted 40 bucks..plus overnight shipping 8O
i got mine for 24.95

 

[Anonymous]

sandsifter

No...you don't want any animal sifting your bed of beneficial invertebrates.

 

[mr_X]

btw...i have a sand sifter you can have for free if you want one.

 

[fungia]

do you guys feed your stars?

 

[mr_X]

no

 

[Anonymous]

From what I've read, no starfish are truly reef safe in the sense that they will all eat something in the tank, and it's hard to predict what. They're opportunistic omnivores on the whole, with varying degrees of voracity.

The linkia are probably one of the safer bets, but as others have said, even they aren't guaranteed "safe".

 

[shavo]

i would garuntee my red bali star to be 100% reef safe. I have no reason to believe otherwise had him for 6 or 7 months now with not 1 problem at all

 

[mr_X]

i would garuntee my red bali star to be 100% reef safe. I have no reason to believe otherwise had him for 6 or 7 months now with not 1 problem at all

hey shavs.....hooked on phonics buddy!

 

[Anonymous]

The small Asterina stars that commonly fine their way into our tanks are truly, completely, 100% reef safe. They are hardy, multiply like crazy, and are free to boot.
I'm sure some reefer on this board would send you a few. I started with a handful, and over time ended up with many hundreds. They're not colorful, but still cool little animals.

Jim