detris (sp eaters

ebeckels

ebeckels

Active Member
I'm looking for something to eat the food that falls to the sand and turns to nitrates. I am looking into a starfish (different species) maybe a sally light foot crab instead? Maybe even a fish that is a detris (sp) eater? What is the best critter to clean the bottom of a tank?
 
broomer5

broomer5

Active Member
Eric -
My sally spent most of it's time picking at stuff on the live rock. I never saw it down on the sandbed during daylight hours - not sure what it was up to at night - the few times I saw it at night it was hanging out in rock crevices.
After about 4-5 months I noticed it growing fond of my coralline algae. Such an appetite - it went to town on the stuff - and I removed it from the tank.
I ordered brittle stars from this site and they spend most of their time under a ledge of rock at the sandbed. At feeding times - they reach out and grab bits of food that get past the fish.
Occassionally when I am feeding corals/fish silversides or mysis , they act very bold and come flying out and move quite fast across the sandbed, almost like they smell the food. I'm sure they sense it somehow.
Fun to watch - and IMO - great excess food scavengers.
 
ocellaris_keeper

ocellaris_keeper

Active Member
the Sand sifting starfish is recommended for what your looking for in a star fish. I use about 35 hermits and they do OK.
I recommend against the scooter - they are carnivores and are particular about what they eat. I lost mine becuase it woulnd't eat.
 
ebeckels

ebeckels

Active Member
i actually have or should I say had a blue linkia star. I can not confirm that it is dead, but I got it from SWF.com and I haven't seen it in about 3 months. I saw it once when I put it in. ( i acclimated it for about 3 hours )then i saw it again a week later when I turned over a rock that it was crawling on. Ever since I saw him on the rock, I have not seen him since. That was about 3 months ago...therefore I am going to assume he is dead! All my amonia and nitrate readings are good...I'd have assumed he would have trashed my tank if he died but all the readings are perfectly within reason. are green brittle stars less death prone. Should they get another 3 or 4 hour acclimation procedure is 1/2 hour to 1 hour good enough for them?
 
ren

ren

Member
well i got 2 blue stars 3 serpent stars 1 big red serpent star and 2 brittle stars. about 4-5 hours acclimating and all are doing great. the blue stars are nocturnal i think cause they run from the light but at night they are crusing around. i catch glimpses of the serpents and brittles all the time and the big red guy well he can't hide too much so i see him all the time.
 
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