Blue Linckia Stars....feed or no feed?

[maroonclownfan]

Does anyone feed their blue linckia stars?
Does it benefit them?
Mine just kind of hangs out on the LR. Tried to offer him a little food yesterday, didn't seem too interested.
.....MCF

 

[maroonclownfan]

Based on the other post dealing with blue stars.....the answer to my question is....."doesn't matter because he is going to croak anyway." Hope not, but we will see. Its been a week so far, only time will tell.
Touching things huh?
MCF

 

[simm]

Croak? True lets hope not. However Stars like these require lots of care and almost perfect water conditions.

 

[mikegronholz]

Not "near perfect" but PERFECT. My was doing AWESOME. He moved everywhere !!! Then Sunday I did a small water change (10g in a 75g tank). He went into shock the next day and is in the process of moving to the reef in the sky. Basically the info I have been told is that just about ANYTHING can/will stress a BLUE linkia out and their way of coping is to expel their stomachs. Which they in turn cannot completely get back in, so they die. So with that being said, I am going to get another and go with the "No water change" mentality. My levels had been PERFECT for the last month or so without a water change. Then I got smart, did the change and my star is dying. That's my $0.02.

 

[ophiura]

BigMac is right, there is no food that you can buy for them. You must have a large, mature system with a lot of live rock (eg at least 55 lbs in a 55g, and that is minimum, IMO). You also can not have any similar starfish in the tank (eg no Fromia stars...or generally any of the 'reef safe' seastars), unless you have tanks in the 125g and above with 125+lbs of LR! Best success would be with one, keeping in mind that healthy happy Linckia will readily reproduce in large systems by dropping arms.
These guys feed on algal and bacterial films, sponges, etc encrusting the LR. While it seems there would be an unlimited supply, imagine how much bacteria and microscopic algae you would have to eat each day to meet your nutritional requirements. LOTS. The same is true for these starfish. So, if you do not have a lot of LR, it probably will not survive. They typically starve to death in a few months to a year.

 

[mikegronholz]

I agree (even from my LIMITED experience). Get your tank and water stable, and let them run free. Mine passed to the reef in the sky last night. The ONLY thing I can attribute it to is stress from the water change. He was doing great until then. I have a 75g with 250#+ of LR so I know he was eating !!! Going to get another and I'm going to leave the water alone !!!