has anyone successfully kept sand dollars?

[Drew Reed]

I read the thread about the guy who found 2 sand dollars in his tank, but is there anyone that has put a sand dollar in a tank and it has lived? I would really like to try keep one but every one has said it will not survive in a tank

[JHemdal]

Jim,

Sand dollars are routinely kept by public aquariums that utilize open seawater systems. I've not had a lot of success with them in closed systems. Once, a wholesaler had some on special for 15 cents apiece, so I bought 75 and distributed them between two large reefs (1300 and 400 gal.) Most of them died within a month. However, a few lived for 6 months or more - the problem is that this species spent all of its time buried, so aside from digging up the tank's substrates, there was no way to tell if any survived long term.

Jay Hemdal

[Drew Reed]

ok thanks Jay, anyone else?

[Herbert T. Kornfeld]

they tend to 'overeat' like a sand sifting starfish...they will eat a sandbed dry of everything and then die unless given a very large tank. They are on my 'list' of things that shouldnt even be imported.

[Drew Reed]

does anyone know what the food is made of that sand dollars eats?

[RandyStacyE]

Are you sure thay are "sand dollars"?

“Sea Biscuits� are very common in the Florida Keys. They are typically found in turtle grass/sand areas. They are a beautiful shade of brown and are not thin. They look like a dome/biscuit.

These are live sea biscuits. In the top picture:
http://www.tropicaltimes.com/TropicalTimes/Gallery/Regular%20Lobster%20Season%20in%20Islamorada%202005.htm

These are dead sea biscuits:
http://www.tropicaltimes.com/TropicalTimes/Gallery/Pictures/Reg%20Lobster%20Season%202005/LobsSeasonShells2.jpg


I have had success keeping a couple for over a year with no problem. They are excellent sand sifters as long as you have plenty of room for them. I successfully kept one for over a year in a 55 gal tank (all the rock is propped up on egg crate) and another in a smaller tank.

My wife gave the sea biscuits some sea weed (typically fed to tangs) occasionally when they surface the base. I don’t know if they really enjoy it, I don’t usually sit and watch that long. They are slow eaters so you have to put the sea weed under them or tangs, etc… will gobble it up before the biscuits do.

I eventually felt bad keeping them in a 55 gal tank so I just gave them to a guy who had MUCH more room. They are perfect sand sifters (in my opinion) and I have never had a problem with them. I do remember having some problems with some crazy hermits that liked to pick at them occasionally but they were quickly put in detention/sump.

[Drew Reed]

the kind I would like to keep is about 1/2 in thick in the middle, so they are sand dollars, what i'm thinking is to put some in a seahorse tank when i get one set up. So if sea biscuits are not that hard to keep I might get 1 or 2 and put them in my 150. But I would still like to try to keep some sand dollars

thank for the info

[RandyStacyE]

Sounds cool. I've never seen a live "sand dollar" only the biscuits.

I imagine the dollars would be similar - couldn't say for sure. I tried researching the biscuits but nobody knows much about them.

[Fredfish]

Sand dollars and seabiscuits are both urchins. I believe Dr. Ron had some posts about sand dollars a year or two ago so you might try his forum.

Fred

[delafe]

Small sand dollars have been sold out of Florida on occassion. (Someone is selling them on eBay, but with all of his negative feedback...)

I would imagine that they go through quite a bit of fauna in the sand bed. So either you find a way to keep the sandbed well fed or they will die.

-Alfred

[Putawaywet]

FWIW, I have some public aquarium experience with a tank the housed 200-300 locally collected (temperate) sand dollars.

The tank was several hundred gallons in size. Water temps were somewhere in the mid 60's. The substrate was fine/med-fine sand with a mesh screen over eggcrate slightly below the upper most layer of sand (this kept them from digging in and caused them to orient themselves in a slightly vertical position). We experimented with various foods but the majority of the time it was large doses of clyclopseeze 2x or 3x /day. Large NSW water changes were performed on a weekly basis. Losses varied week to week, with more in the beginning, to less as the months passed. But even with the means we had at our disposal attrition was contsantly looking over our shoulder.

Brett

[romunov]

Most tanks' footprint is too small, have too coarse substrate with insufficient food. This usually leads to malnutrition and subsequent death.

A lot of papers have been published on bioturbating effect of various sand urchins, and most of them need quite big areas with deep substrate... Not a regular aquarium animal, I'll say.

[Drew Reed]

ok, thanks Brett and romunov

[JohnM99]

Sand dollars are found by the thousands on beaches near where I live - but water temp is 40 deg F - I saw Bob Fenner once say it is possible to keep them sometimes, but another post on WetWebMedia disagreed - see below

Sand Dollars (3/28/04)
Hi, <Hi. Steve Allen tonight>
I live in Jacksonville, Fl. and picked up (2) live sand dollars at the ocean. <Bad idea. Can you put them back?> I was wondering if these would be okay in a 55 gal. aquarium. <No. Even with a deep, live sand bed, it is virtually impossible to keep sand dollars alive in an aquarium. The odds that they will die in your system are over 99.9%.> Thanks, Dwight <Please put them back if you're close to the ocean.>

[Hobster]

The beaches where I live are loaded with sand dollars. This question was raised several times in what was once Rons forum. They will not survive in a home tank. They require massive amounts of sand, tidal flow and everything else that goes with their natural habitat.

[JohnM99]

Sorry - the reply from Wet Web got cut off - doesn't work with pasting - some html thing? Hope this shows up.

Sand Dollars (3/28/04)
Hi,
Hi. Steve Allen tonight

I live in Jacksonville, Fl. and picked up (2) live sand dollars at the ocean.

Bad idea. Can you put them back?

I was wondering if these would be okay in a 55 gal. aquarium.
No. Even with a deep, live sand bed, it is virtually impossible to keep sand dollars alive in an aquarium. The odds that they will die in your system are over 99.9%.

Please put them back if you're close to the ocean.