basket starfish

[laddystar]

I have a basket starfish one of my favorites of the tank. But I don't know much about them. I havent seen one in any pictures of any tanks or heard of them. Can anyone tell me anything about them? Thank You

 

[1journeyman]

Welcome ot the boards.
Basket stars have abyssmal survival rates. Do a search on this forum for "basket stars" and pay special attention to any post by "ophiura". She's our resident Star expert. Some can be kept, occasionally, but they get huge and needs a lot of planktonic foods. Thy also feed nocturnally I believe.

 

[ophiura]

Be prepared...you must stay up after dark, and basically hand feed it things like mysis, brine shrimp, etc. This is NOT an easy animal to keep, and should only be kept in large systems by experienced hobbyists. Water quality is CRITICAL for success....but really you must make a concerted effort to stay up after lights out and feed this animal. Otherwise, it is likely to starve. These are very large animals, they are filter feeders...and they need a lot of food. If you can not provide this, I strongly encourage you to return it. They are not common in the hobby as most do not survive.l
If, however, you actually have a feather star (aka crinoid) then the survival rate is dismal as generally they can not be spot fed.