sand dollars

[EvilE]

Anyone have or ever seen sand dollars in home aquaria?? I read in a magazine that they can be kept successfully and easily, but I have never seen one in someones tank, nor have I seen one at any LFS for sale.....just curious

[Hormigaquatica]

Ive seen the for sale a few times, but unless you have a large tank with a very deep mature sand bed, youre unlikely to keep it alive for more than a few months. Unusual, interesting critters if you can provide the right environment though.

[AndyB4784]

Even in a big tank it's probably going to just eat all of the fauna in your SB and then starve. Ethical LFS don't carry them for the same reason that they don't carry sand sifting starfish.

[mm949]

i sell them.....and im ethical.....have MANY for YEARS with minimal sand bed...have plenty of fauna....another creature misunderstood....

[hooterhead]

I've got a customer with 2 in a 240 with a ssb. He's had them in there since the tank was roughly 6 months old and they've grown from quarter size to over 5" across.

[virginiadiver69]

I understand that they need a large open sand surface as well as a deep bed.

[EvilE]

Originally posted by mm949
i sell them.....and im ethical.....have MANY for YEARS with minimal sand bed...have plenty of fauna....another creature misunderstood....

That's pretty much what I read about them

[greenbean36191]

Keep in mind, sand dollars are a pretty big group with differing feeding habits, so this question is deceptively broad. Various species have been documented to feed on everything from the organic film on sand grains all the way up to small crustaceans and worms. Most have a fairly varied diet, but they're quite selective when it comes to particle size. How well they do in your tank and how detrimental they are will largely depend on which species you get, which unless you're an expert on them, will be nearly impossible to know.

I certainly wouldn't put them in the same category as sand sifting stars when it comes to being destructive or being essentially doomed, but I'm not sure I would recommend them either, especially given the size of some of them.