# Feeding a starfish?



## freddymp (Jan 15, 2010)

Does anyone here have any luck in feeding their starfish? Any tips are appreciated! Thanks.

Freddy


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## carmenh (Dec 20, 2009)

I feed my brittle stars whatever I'm feeding other things...hunks of mussel, shrimp, mysis, etc. It's cool to watch them grab and stuff


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## freddymp (Jan 15, 2010)

carmenh said:


> I feed my brittle stars whatever I'm feeding other things...hunks of mussel, shrimp, mysis, etc. It's cool to watch them grab and stuff


Yes my brittle star comes out the moment the food hits the water (i fed them with Omega One super veggie)  The one I am trying to feed is this orange one. I am not able to properly identify it, and it does not appear to be eating properly. There is algae in the system, which feeds the hermits and the snails well. Tried to give it lettuce or potato. My hermit loves the potato


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## 50seven (Feb 14, 2010)

I have a serpent sea star that goes nuts whenever I feed whatever I happen to be feeding to the fish, and gobbles up pieces of it. I have 2 orange sea stars that just slooooooooowly move around the whole tank and nibble on whatever it is they nibble on and they don't give a care for anything I toss in food-wise. They are fine- I've had them for about 4-5 months and they seem as normal as the day I got them. If your tank is mature and there is detrius in the tank, they should be fine.


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## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

Your starfish may have a very specific diet, much like nudibranch's. Many of the neato starfish essentially starve to death in our tanks, as their food requirements aren't met/known.

I'm not really any good at ID'ing starfish, so beyond that I can't help you much, sorry.


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## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

Well, a quick search and I came up with:

Echinaster echinophorus

If you think that matches your starfish, you may begin your google search to find out what it eats!


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## marblerye (Jul 25, 2010)

freddymp said:


> Yes my brittle star comes out the moment the food hits the water (i fed them with Omega One super veggie)  The one I am trying to feed is this orange one. I am not able to properly identify it, and it does not appear to be eating properly. There is algae in the system, which feeds the hermits and the snails well. Tried to give it lettuce or potato. My hermit loves the potato


woww your starfish looks awesome! it looks like a homeless drunken cactus man laying by the live rock after a long night out, recovering from a major hangover begging for loose change! 

btw, not to hijack your thread but all this talk about starfish i was wondering if anyone has or knows where to get a really bright red serpant starfish? and also, i've read it should never be exposed to air otherwise it could die soon afterwards; any experiences with said conditions?

i had a serpant starfish once and it disappeared a few days after i got it. i'm pretty sure my rbta ate it.... but i think it was messed up b/c the LFS exposed it to air when i got it.


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## freddymp (Jan 15, 2010)

Chris S said:


> Well, a quick search and I came up with:
> 
> Echinaster echinophorus
> 
> If you think that matches your starfish, you may begin your google search to find out what it eats!


Thanks! What search terms did you use to find it? I have used "orange", "bumpy", "spiky", etc without much luck, but never "thorny".

In some pics of E. echinophorus is pretty close to mine, except that on mine the thorns are more stubby and shorter, and they are more sparse. But there are other pics including a paper that shows a very different specimen (Ferguson, "Feeding Activity in Echinaster and its Induction with Dissolved Nutrients", 1969).

Looks like its main diet is sponges but some have reported it feeding on snails or clams. I may try to get some new LR. I have not seen it bother the snails or clams in the tank. It has been in my tank for about 2.5 months, and have been generally hardy.


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## freddymp (Jan 15, 2010)

marblerye said:


> woww your starfish looks awesome! it looks like a homeless drunken cactus man laying by the live rock after a long night out, recovering from a major hangover begging for loose change!






marblerye said:


> i had a serpant starfish once and it disappeared a few days after i got it. i'm pretty sure my rbta ate it.... but i think it was messed up b/c the LFS exposed it to air when i got it.


These things tends to sneak into the most remote crevices in the LR, and only sticks its legs out when it senses is food in the water. It can go into your sump as well and hide there.


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## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

I'm sure there are lots of different types of Echinaster, so the pictures might not all look the same. That was the closest I could find. I just used some reference books and then wetwebmedia.com to narrow down the search a bit.

If he is a sponge eater, he may be doomed to starvation, as sponge eaters often are adapted to a very specific sponge, not just sponges in general.



freddymp said:


> Thanks! What search terms did you use to find it? I have used "orange", "bumpy", "spiky", etc without much luck, but never "thorny".
> 
> In some pics of E. echinophorus is pretty close to mine, except that on mine the thorns are more stubby and shorter, and they are more sparse. But there are other pics including a paper that shows a very different specimen (Ferguson, "Feeding Activity in Echinaster and its Induction with Dissolved Nutrients", 1969).
> 
> Looks like its main diet is sponges but some have reported it feeding on snails or clams. I may try to get some new LR. I have not seen it bother the snails or clams in the tank. It has been in my tank for about 2.5 months, and have been generally hardy.


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## wtac (Mar 17, 2006)

Most "knobby" types of starfish, ie Choc Chips, Red Knobs, will also eat small clams (molluscs) that are hiding in the nooks and crannies of the LR. When all that has been exhausted, they will feed off surface bacterieal films like _Linkia sp_ starfish. There's only so much "nutritional energy" in that.

There's so many cool critters out there that come as a welcome surprise but generally have a dim future in captive systems.


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## thingy (Dec 28, 2010)

You could try pooking A piece of shrimp underneath it or lifting it up and setting it on the shrimp. This has worked for me in the past when I could'nt get A cc star to eat..be sure to keep an eye on it and remove the shrimp if it is not eaten in about an hour..I just use raw table shrimp..


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## szuwar (Nov 26, 2009)

I just got rid of my serpentine starfish , it grew to 12 inch and started to eat all fish less than 2 inch in size , ate 4 sixline wrasses,2 dottybacks , 1 lunar wrasse , 3 fire gobeys and 2 royal dammas . Until now I realized it was him , it took 6 months and a lot of fish . At first I thought I have a another mantis in my tank but after I sold the starfish and introduced 5 smal fish I know it was him because all my wrasses and dottybacks are alive and well .


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## marblerye (Jul 25, 2010)

szuwar said:


> I just got rid of my serpentine starfish , it grew to 12 inch and started to eat all fish less than 2 inch in size , ate 4 sixline wrasses,2 dottybacks , 1 lunar wrasse , 3 fire gobeys and 2 royal dammas . Until now I realized it was him , it took 6 months and a lot of fish . At first I thought I have a another mantis in my tank but after I sold the starfish and introduced 5 smal fish I know it was him because all my wrasses and dottybacks are alive and well .


was it the green variety of serpent/brittle starfish? the green serpent/brittle has been used interchangeably to describe the same type of starfish that has been known to eat fish. what they'd do is extend on their arms to form a type of cave and when fish pass through it they quickly close up and catch the fish. either that or spot out where fish typically sleep at night and go to where the action is. they are typically harmless when they are small, but grow an appetite for fish once they are large enough to consume them.

no experiences with this myself, but i've read many threads of other reefers saying they've had terrible experiences with that type of starfish so i've been avoiding them the best i can.


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