red fromia

[jbob]

i picked one up this weekend and was just wondering if theres anything i should look out for?

[petoonia]

If you have it in a 10 gallon tank I would seriously consider taking it back. Know one knows what exactly these starfish eat, so it is hard to keep them alive even in a large system.

I would really consider taking it back. If you really want a starfish I would try a serpent, or brittle star. Although im not to certain if a 10 gallon would be an appropiate size for them either.

[jbob]

its only about 1 1/2 in. across. i'm only going to have my tank for another 4-5 months. then i'll hafta sell everything cause i'm moving. it should be ok, shouldn't it?

[finsurgeon]

Sorry to say, but it's gonna die.

[jbob]

hmm...why is that? i dont want to be one of the people that dont take the advise that others offer, but i dont understand. why would it be on the market if its "impossible" to keep? why would the lfs order it?, which is a custom tank place pretty much. the store is only open saturdays. if its that hard to keep they wouldn't take the chance of it dying in there tanks, on the thought that they might be able to sell it one of the 52 days there open a year? i dont know though. thats why i'm asking. is there any signs that it isn't healthy?

[DMBillies]

Many starfish not getting enough of what they need tend to visibly dwindle over an extended period of time as opposed to just showing up dead one day. So, you probably could "get away" with keeping it for a while and thinking that you're doing just fine keeping it. These particular stars may not be impossible to keep, and may actually be one of the hardier stars, but definitely need a tank bigger than 10 gallons.

The reason fish stores carry things that may not survive/thrive in home aquariums or that are environmentally irresponsible is because people will buy them (usually without doing their research first). For instance, a local reefer I know found a crown of thorns starfish for sale in a florida shop. First of all, those things eat coral, so unless you can supply it a steady diet of coral it's going to die (which, for the reefs, may not be a bad thing but is certainly not humane). Second, as a potential invasive species threat, they shouldn't even be exported to begin with.

[jbob]

i havn't decided what i'm going to do yet. i might just hafta take it back. i really dont want to be an irresponsible reefkeeper. i have noticed that i had some green hair algea before its introduction, and those patches are gone now. i'm real happy about that. i will admit that i didn't do any research before buying it, i went there to check out there yuma's and i had one picked out, but then the starfish caught my eye. darn impulse buys.