How To Feed My Orange Link Starfish

[jessicarabit]

The Starfish just stays up near the top of the aquarium & it doesn't move that that much. I have tried to but sheets of algae underneath the bottom & I don't think it is consuming any of the sheet. There is some hard green algae coating the glass, but I don't know if that is what is needed?

 

[rook]

You have asked two questions about how to care for two of the most difficult invertebrates (an anemone and a linika star), after you have purchased them. You should read the thread in SWF.com title "Are you responsible" before you continue.
IMO, you should not have either of these animals if you don't know how to care for them and if you are not experianced with them.
Sorry for the negative reply.

 

[attml]

Ophouria is the resident starfish expert but I will tell you what I have learned. Starfish usually can't be spot fed! In nature they consume, sponges, some algae and bacteria off of live rock. Unless you have a large, mature tank with a lot of live rock, sponges etc it will unfortunately probably starve within 6 months! Hopefully that is not the case!

 

[hkgar]

Rook
Although what you said my be truthfull, some of make purchasing mistakes from time to time.
As my good ol Papa always said " If you don't have anything good to say than don't say anything".
Maybe providing advice while pointing out the error would be a better approach. After all the creatures have been purchased and now NEED to be taken care of.

 

[jessicarabit]

Originally posted by Rook
You have asked two questions about how to care for two of the most difficult invertebrates (an anemone and a linika star), after you have purchased them. You should read the thread in SWF.com title "Are you responsible" before you continue.
IMO, you should not have either of these animals if you don't know how to care for them and if you are not experianced with them.
Sorry for the negative reply.
Actually , I did read on the care for both, I wanted others advice to make sure what I'm doing is correct...I even spent $40 on algae sheets to lay around the aquarium so that any of the Inverts that need extra algae & were not getting enough from my LR or off the glass/sand bed, would have more than they wanted. As I did my intense research on Starfish....especial this particular species, many ppl whom have had them or the instructions from sites that either sold or published info on them (as well as books I own), said I needed to lift the Starfish up & place a piece of algae under the middle part where the mouth is located.
I do have 100 lbs. of LR & my tank is well over a yr old & supports lots of varity of Inverts (as you can see from my signature) & the LR of course is from Figi with lots of Sea Fans & other wild & natural creature growing on it. So they mostly eat sponges?? Not that much algae?? The bacteria I cannot do anything about, right? Just hope there is enough of the right kind for it. I feel that I am doing from what I have research the best effort that can be done...being that I probably spend about an hour to two (2) hours a day on my tank.

 

[rook]

Originally posted by attml
Ophouria is the resident starfish expert but I will tell you what I have learned. Starfish usually can't be spot fed! In nature they consume, sponges, some algae and bacteria off of live rock. Unless you have a large, mature tank with a lot of live rock, sponges etc it will unfortunately probably starve within 6 months! Hopefully that is not the case!
Point taken and your are correct. I apologise for my crude remark. But, I don't think my remark warrented the response. Jessica purchase some very delicate animals that have very low survival rates and yet she did not know how to feed either. I thought the thread I pointed out may help. Not to be an ass but to point out the importance of researching and knowing before jumping in head first.
I too have made mistakes and purchased animals I should not and I wish someone would have told me to be more careful.
That being said, the algae sheets you have will unlikely have any effect on these starfish. Their food source is unclear but it appears that the sponges, film algae and bacteria on liverock is what they feed on. Typically 100lbs is the minimal amount of liverock that is needed, but even that could be not enough. The liverock also needs to be well established. Unfortunately these star sometimes just die and people are not really sure why.
Also, hopefully it has be acclimated good. Not just from you, which surely acclimated it well, but from the collector, distributer and retailer. Acclimation stress is a major killer of these stars. How long have you had it? How long did you acclimated it? Do you know how long the store had it before you bought it? Does it show any signs of stress?
Sorry for being grumpy but anemones and starfish are widely miscared for.

 

[jessicarabit]

I received the Orange Linka Starfish as well as most of my recent livestock from Saltwaterfish.com & having read/RESEARCHED posting from successful purchases from other users I tried shipped livestock & have had a better survival rate & variation than from my LFS. I assume from the quality of past orders that Saltwaterfish.com acclimated the Orange Linka very professional. I took well more then an half (1/2) an hour for temperature & the salinity (from knowledge of past purchases) was matching exactly when I SLOWLY added tank water to the bag. I of course made great effort not to let any air touch the Starfish...even though I think it climbed up the bag & MIGHT have exposed 1 arm...I didn't do this. Also I have had 'Marilyn' (Monroe) for only a week. It does actually seem to move around more...think it might be getting 'comfortable' with the surroundings, but it seems that IT must find the food...all the research pointed to 'hand-feeding'. Now comes the part that I don't care for...since I cannot care for it like providing flakes/algae sheets for the fish/inverts & light with proper settings for corals, than I have to only wish for the best & hope the environment I have CAREFULLY provided & painstakingly overlook over every day, supports this beautiful creature.

 

[bonzarelli]

I THOUGHT THIS MESSAGE BOARD WAS TO HELP PEOPLE NOT PUT THEM DOWN ABOUT WHAT THEY BOUGHT (I THOUGHT THIS WAS A COOL SITE UNTIL I READ THAT POST LAST WEEK I DONT KNOW ABOUT THAT ANYMORE!)SOWHAT IF SOMEBODY BUYS SOMETHING A DONT KNOW ANYTHING, I THOUGHT THIS IS WHAT THIS SITE IS ALL ABOUT,TO HELP YOUR FELLOW HOBBIEST!

 

[j21kickster]

Originally posted by bonzarelli
SOWHAT IF SOMEBODY BUYS SOMETHING A DONT KNOW ANYTHING, I THOUGHT THIS IS WHAT THIS SITE IS ALL ABOUT,TO HELP YOUR FELLOW HOBBIEST!
This is what will one day bring an end to the hobby Eitherway we are here to help and after rook said that he gave a long paragraph to help- so what do you mean there is no help-
Sorry i dont have the respect to help some one who asks for help and then calls them an @$$hole for point out a mistake- it is ok to point out mistakes , it is how you learn- he was very honest about it and there was no hint of behevior to take offense to.
Originally posted by jessicarabit
but I don't know if that is what is needed?

Originally posted by jessicarabit
Actually , I did read on the care for both
Well, what else can we do??

 

[spsfreak100]

I am no moderator for saltwaterfish.com, but I can tell you where the thread is going to go if the current remarks are being continued. The past is the past and we do not need to keep bringing past remarks up. BTW j21kickster, I completely agree with you.
I'll take a bite, and help out when information is needed.
FWIW,
you don't have a true linkia starfish. You actually have the Linkia guildingi, which is, as said above, not a 'True' Linkia starfish. These are commonly known as the 'Orange Linkia,' (dispite that it's not a true linkia), or the 'False Linkia Starfish.' These starfish are much more hardy to keep in the home aquarium, and prove to be much easier to care for, compared to the Blue or Purple Linkia Starfish (linkia laevigata).
took well more then an half (1/2) an hour for temperature & the salinity (from knowledge of past purchases) was matching exactly when I SLOWLY added tank water to the bag.
All starfish have extremely sensitive hydrovacular systems, which are extremely sensitive to even the slightest change of pH, temperature, and salinity. Therefor, acclamation should exceed 4 hours (most people do 6-14 hours) using the drip method for aclamation. Otherwise, it may cause damage resulting in Loss of limbs, shrinking, and slowely dying (sometimes discribed as "Melting") off. Other methods of aclamation are often too quick and very stressful to the starfish. You said you aclamated it for 30 minutes, which is honestly not enough. 30 minutes is way too quick, esspecially for extremely sensitive starfish. I have no doubt that it will most likely die from stress due to improper aclamation than from starvation.
Anyway,
I do have 100 lbs. of LR & my tank is well over a yr old & supports lots of varity of Inverts (as you can see from my signature)
The more inveribrates you have means the less amount of food for the starfish. I've never heard of "target feeding" a Linkia guildingi, so I couldn't accuratly say how that would turn out. For the most part, I would leave your Linkia guildingi alone. If it continues to stay in one area, it's there for a reason. That area may have a particulary high amount of food for the starfish, therefor, it's staying in that rea instead of moving around the tank to find other sources of food.
The exact food for the Linkia guildingi in unknown. We can only assume it eats films of algae, some species of sponges (Guessing Pineapple Sponges?), bacteria and possibly some species of pods. We can only guess that they do best in mature systems with high amounts of liverock; we can say that because the most success from these starfish comes from tanks which are mature with lots of liverock.
I would just let the Linkia guildingi be, and hope for the best. There's nothing much you can do.
Graham

 

[fshhub]

well said j21kickster, on all counts, including our comment about helping others
I do agree that we need to help each other, but we should try to learn b4 we learn hard lessons.
as for the question at hand
we have had ours for nearly a year and do NOTHING at all
it finds its food on the rock, and glass, mostly the glass, it spends hours circling the tank on the glass. With some time spent on the rock and sand, but mostly on the glass.

 

[rook]

Did you acclimate it for only half an hour total? Or was that how long you let the temp acclimate, and then you acclimated it for salinity longer after that?
If you only acclimated the star for a half hour total, then keep a very close eye on it. It will likely become stressed from the quick acclimation. As someone pointed out above, four hours is considered the minimal time for acclimation, and more is desired. I don't know if there is much you could do at this point if it does show signs of acclimation stress. Maybe Ophiura could help. The only thing I know of is to leave it in a good enviroment and hope for the best.
If you acclimated longer then ignor that paragraph.
Also, I am not sure about SWF.com's acclimation procedure for their starfish and other animals. Actually I would like to know. Any moderators out there that can answer that? I assume they acclimate properly.

 

[leboeuf]

hey jessicarabit, I bought 2 orange linkas two weeks ago and only acclimated 30 minutes also. They chilled in the same spot for a couple of days and disappeared. I see them every couple of days somewhere different.
They didn't melt apart and didn't lose any limbs.
Don't sweat the comments and just enjoy your tank experience. More than likely, they will be fine!

 

[rook]

Unfortunately most stores, online and LFS, do not have very detailed acclimation procedures, particularly when it come to more delicate animals. And, most recommend procedures that most hobbiest would consider inadequate. I have not seen SFW.coms to comment on, but from other sites I have purchased from I have seen terrible acclimation procedure suggestions.
Just another reason we need to research extremely well. Often even the store you buy from will give you bad advice. I am sure everyone here has gotten bad advice from their LFS. Luckily my lfs has very good acclimation procedures, of course that is reflected in the prices.
Again I don't know much about SWF's policy so I am not commenting toward them.

 

[rook]

I just checked out SWF.com's acclimation procedure and it is quite adequate for most animals. I would like to see something discussing more delicate animals though. And maybe, QTing your fish. Oh, and diping your sps. Hmmm. Maybe that's it.
We should start a thread on the best acclimation methods for different animals.

 

[spsfreak100]

Originally posted by LeBoeuf
hey jessicarabit, I bought 2 orange linkas two weeks ago and only acclimated 30 minutes also. They chilled in the same spot for a couple of days and disappeared. I see them every couple of days somewhere different.
They didn't melt apart and didn't lose any limbs.
Don't sweat the comments and just enjoy your tank experience. More than likely, they will be fine!
LeBoeuf,
I have to respectfully disagree with you.
You've only had them for two weeks. Two weeks is not considered the "Long Term." While they may appear fine right now, will they be fine 2 or 3 months from now? Probably not. It doesn't happen overnight. The stress can take as long as 3 months, or possibly more. 30 minutes is not a proper aclamation.
Regards,
Graham

 

[fshhub]

sps is completely correct.
with many corals and starfish BOTH, it is hard to tell how well they are doing, may seem ok, but will soon die. They can live for a few months and we may not see any thing wrong, but will die before they get to be 3 months old. AND this, is often due to acclimation believe it or not. Even though you would assume that they are doing fine, just bc they made it thru the first few days, this si NOT the case.
with starfish, IMEO, you should take a couple of hours acclimating. Drip is best, or aat least several hours doing very very small water additions to the bag. This is a MUST with many stars, esp the soft bodied stars!

 

[joerdie]

i may be incorrect in saying this but it was my impression that you could not touch a lenkia. so if you "pick it up" to place algie underneath that would hurt it. i think.

 

[fshhub]

do not touch wiht your hands, that is completely TRUE
but, if you were to use somethinggentle and free of oils and acids, maybe but i can only speculate.
It is not the touching, but the oils and acids on our skin.
However, I do not think it is worth it, since as I had mentioned, feeding them directly is kind of a waste of time.

 

[overanalyzer]

Originally posted by jessicarabit
Well now I feel a bit let down by this sight, because it didn't give specific acclimation procedures for the star or my Flame Scallop either. I was following the instructions for what they sent & my past knowledge of acclimation from my many years in Fresh Water & my 5 or so in Salt. I let the temp go for a half & hour, then added the water slowing, but only over an hour period.
jessicarabbit: copied this from the acclimation procedures right from this site:
You will now need to allow the water to drip from your tank into the bucket for approximately two hours (be sure you have enough water in your sump, or continue to add water into your sump)
That is from step 9 - prior to that there is about 45minutes worht of other acclimation procedures recommended.
https://www.saltwaterfish.com/acclimation1.html
I wish you luck with your purchases and hope they survive for a while at least!!