Basket Star questions

[iamwhatiam52]

My basket star seems OK after 9 month but has not grown.
No problem...... it's big enough, but I wonder if it is doing well or just declining slowly.

My Questions:

1) Has anyone had LONG term experience with these in a reef tank? Do they thrive, or just survive?

2) It is fed cyclopeeze, adult brine shrimp, mysids, and 1/4 inch pieces of squid, clam, fish etc. Sometimes I see it drop the larger pieces later, so I'm not sure if it eats some of them or drops them all. Does anyone know if they actually eat larger food?

[ophiuroid]

No, they in general will not eat the larger food. They really need to be directly spot fed, every night. The only person I know of who has had even marginal success fed baby guppies - so that size range. Every night. Without fail (eventually gave it away).

Not an animal I recommend, ever, I am afraid. They rarely live long and even less frequently thrive. Most will starve to death.

[iamwhatiam52]

Anyone else with a more optimistic prognosis?
If anyone has had sucess with them, let me know how.

I'de read that Feather Stars ( Crinoids ) were nearly impossible to keep, but did not know that Basket Stars ( Euryalida ) should not be attempted.

Sad to hear this beauty is probably doomed.
I am spot feeding nearly every night, and though it grabs the food and often folds the arms that catch it to it's central disk, I have no way of knowing if it actually takes the food in.

[kmk2307]

Is it pasing the cyclopeeze or brine shirmp towards the mouth? Do you have photos of it? I would love to see them. Does it move around a lot or does it stay in one place? Does it position itself in respect to the flow of your pumps or powerheads in a particular way?

Thanks,
Kevin

[iamwhatiam52]

No Pics, I'll try tonight.

The behavior is what leads me to say the food is passed to the mouth. Here's what I observe.

The basket star usually attaches to the top of an overflow. My overflows are the typical notched type, but I cover them with plastic mesh, the type sold at craft stores for needlepoint or something. When I put it elsewhere, it moves around for a few nights and eventyally winds up on an overflow. While the lights are on, it is bundled in a tight wad, arms folded in like a bundle of monofilment fishing line. When my halides go off (actinics still on) it opens, with arms cupped into the current as if to catch everything passing it. After actinics go off, and untill lights come on next day it stays open most of the time.

If food is put in the water, anything that touches the arms is caught, the tips of the arms fold up, and progressively the whole arm curls inward and is tucked under the central disk. From that point on, I cannot observe what happens. It is impossible to say which food is ingested or dropped. I do know that sometimes the large pieces are dropped. Arms stay tucked under for a few moments or for at least half an hour. I have not observed it carefully for longer than that.

I'll try to post pics tonight if I can remember how.

[iamwhatiam52]

This is what the basket star looks like in an open area of the tank.

Next post will show on the overflow where it usually is, and feeding, but the pics are awful.http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/125081Basketweb.jpg

[iamwhatiam52]

OOPS! Did it rong. See if this works.


http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/125081Basketweb.jpg

[iamwhatiam52]

First pic is terrible, but you can see what it looks like just as it is starting to open. Note it is on the overflow screen.

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/125081Basketclosedweb-med.jpg


Now it is open, arms into the current on the overflow screen.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/125081Basketopenweb-med.jpg



It has just been fed cyclopeeze. See how some of the arms are curling up to bring the food into the central disk. They actualy tuck under the disk, I assume to bring food to the mouth.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/125081Basketeatingweb-med.jpg

[Sk8r]

That's really a pretty healthy looking star. I'm amazed you're able to keep it this well.

My answer to tank feeding tends to be to start at the bottom of the chain with phyto, increasing pods and mysids and such all the way up, so there's things about at night, when it's my understanding these creatures like to be about. Dunno if that would help, but I don't think it could hurt.

[iamwhatiam52]

Yes, they feed at night.
Anyone who has ever seen them on a night dive is amazed at how many and how large they are, while it is difficult to find them by day, and they are curled up tight.

[dc]

I've only seen one person that seemed to have success with one, it even split. I'm trying to see if I can find the post as it was on a now defunct board.