Hello, I am a newbie, or should I say we are newbies, lol, but anyway's I am wondering about a few things, .....I heard that a chocolate starfish is not good to have? Tear up your tank? And also, does that also mean the chocolate chip starfish as well?
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- Thread starter Quicksilver1972
- Start date
This is from a faq post on wetweb, it seems Choclate chips eat algae but need to be fed small bits of fresh meats. (Oopps edit here, they seem to be reef freindly)
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have a 29 gal tank with only a choc chip sea star (my fish died from ich or velvet and can't put more in for 6 weeks),<sorry to hear> He is about 4 inches from foot to foot. My levels are ammonia 0, ph 8.2, nitrite 0, and nitrate 10. I have a heavy growth of green and red algae which the star snacks on and I feed him small amount of freeze dried brine shrimp every 2 days or so. Is this enough food to keep him healthy? <I'd say this is not an adequate diet for this creature.> I gave him a piece of shrimp from grocery store once and he swelled up for 2 days and scared me to death. <No worries, it merely ingested the chunk whole, just like a snake bulges when it swallow a whole animal. Just feed smaller chunks from now on.> However it was great hand feeding a starfish! <I agree.> (By the way, tank is about 8 weeks old.) <Rather immature yet. Go slow.> Please any help is appreciated as I have grown quite attached to "Cookie" and I didn't have a clue when I got him. (Local pet store has steered me astray last 8 weeks on what I was getting into) <Find a new one. As for the star, I have had great success with chunks of seafood (shrimps, mussels, squid, fish, etc) a few times per week. For your size star, 1/4-1/2 inch should be a good size. Here in UT, Albertson's sells a nice seafood mix that works great. I feed it to all of my predators, echinoderms and fish.> Thanks in advance, Beth <Hope this helps, Steve Allen. BTW, do study the ich articles and FAQs as well as those about quarantine, so you can avoid ich from now on. Buy a good starter book such as "The New Marine Aquarium," by Michael Paletta.>
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Quote :
have a 29 gal tank with only a choc chip sea star (my fish died from ich or velvet and can't put more in for 6 weeks),<sorry to hear> He is about 4 inches from foot to foot. My levels are ammonia 0, ph 8.2, nitrite 0, and nitrate 10. I have a heavy growth of green and red algae which the star snacks on and I feed him small amount of freeze dried brine shrimp every 2 days or so. Is this enough food to keep him healthy? <I'd say this is not an adequate diet for this creature.> I gave him a piece of shrimp from grocery store once and he swelled up for 2 days and scared me to death. <No worries, it merely ingested the chunk whole, just like a snake bulges when it swallow a whole animal. Just feed smaller chunks from now on.> However it was great hand feeding a starfish! <I agree.> (By the way, tank is about 8 weeks old.) <Rather immature yet. Go slow.> Please any help is appreciated as I have grown quite attached to "Cookie" and I didn't have a clue when I got him. (Local pet store has steered me astray last 8 weeks on what I was getting into) <Find a new one. As for the star, I have had great success with chunks of seafood (shrimps, mussels, squid, fish, etc) a few times per week. For your size star, 1/4-1/2 inch should be a good size. Here in UT, Albertson's sells a nice seafood mix that works great. I feed it to all of my predators, echinoderms and fish.> Thanks in advance, Beth <Hope this helps, Steve Allen. BTW, do study the ich articles and FAQs as well as those about quarantine, so you can avoid ich from now on. Buy a good starter book such as "The New Marine Aquarium," by Michael Paletta.>
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Ya thats why I said reef "freindly". If its well fed and happy it may...thats a MAY..leave corals alone.
Im skeptical about seastars eating alga too. Seems like they might graze the alga looking for "meatier" bits of good stuff in the alga more than for the alga itself.
Im skeptical about seastars eating alga too. Seems like they might graze the alga looking for "meatier" bits of good stuff in the alga more than for the alga itself.
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