How to take care of starfish

[Shrimpster]

I'm brand neww to saltwater and have a 60 gallon reef tank. What I would like to know is if it's safe to put a starfish in a reef tank and if so are they hard to take care of. Thanks!

[FOSELONE]

they pretty much take care of themselves

[Shrimpster]

Does that mean they eat the bacteria in the tank? I've heard they die easily is it true?

[rssjsb]

There are many different kinds of starfish. Some brittle stars and some serpent stars are reef safe, some (like the green brittle) are not. A lot of people think serpents are fish-eaters, too. I've never kept one, so I don't have any experience with them. Brittles and serpents are scavengers and are easy to keep.

If you look around RC and Wetwebmedia, the news is not encouraging for other kinds of sea stars that you see for sale in the trade (linckia, fromia). Little is known about what they eat, and many (if not most) will eventually starve to death in a home aquarium. Definitely not a good choice for a new tank.

[RobynT]

I have had an orange linkia for over a year and a half. I have lots of live rock and waited until my tank was very mature until I thought about adding my star. Waiting for a mature tank and LR is the standard advice out there for starfish such as linkia or sandsifting star and I'm glad I waited. I have no idea what exactly this star eats and I am often surprised as to how fast she can move around the tank. I just figure she's happy since I've had her for so long and she looks plump and healthy.

I also have a brown striped serpent starfish and they are mostly scavengers. I can feed mine small krill from my tongs and he takes it. They have more of a snake like appearance and don't appeal to everyone. I have heard that the green are not good creatures in a reef tank and can get very large.

I would suggest waiting AT MINIMUM 6 months after you have an establised tank with plenty of live rock to even consider most reef safe starfish. I would never want to watch something starve to death.

One of these days I'm going to try a blue linkia but I've heard they are very tough to keep for a long period and I haven't seen a healthy one for sale in person.

Good luck!