How/What to feed orange linkia starfish

[michaelstern]

One more new item feeding question. How/What/and When to feed an orange linkia starfish. My star is very active, crawling around the bottom and up the glass. When my cc starfish went to the top of the glass, I always feed it a shrimp pellet. The orange linkia does not seem interested. Any suggestions on diet? How do I feed it. The CC would grab the pellet and bring it to its mouth. Should the orange linkia do the same?

 

[bang guy]

Linckia require a lot of Live rock to graze off of. 150 - 200 pounds of live rock should do it. Ophiura might have ideas on other options.
You really should have asked that question before adding it to your tank.

 

[ophiura]

How old is your tank?
How did you acclimate this star?
How much LR do you have?
What are your water parameters?
These stars do not do very well in tanks under 6 months old, and water conditions must be pristine. They are very delicate and fluctuations in pH, salinity and temp can easily kill them. Many will die within the first month, from improper acclimation...and a huge number will die 9-12 months after introduction, from starvation. They can not be spot fed anything, in general, and require lots of mature live rock, as BangGuy mentioned.
Please do not add any other stars to the tank. Competition is fatal for these guys, especially in tanks without enough rock to begin with. Remember, also, that the chocolate chip star is not reef safe.

 

[michaelstern]

SWF.Com indicated that orange linkias eat algae off of glass, which mine seems to be doing. I do not have LR. Oh, the CC is in another tank, I need to fix my sig line

 

[ophiura]

May cost me this job, but in general, that is probably not a totally accurate reflection of their diet, which is poorly understood. And glass alone would not be enough...SWF says glass, rockwork and substrate. Meaning: lots of surface area to feed on, and that is true.
Lots of threads on this. People can have loads of algae on the glass, and a starving Linckia. The critical thing that we know is that a lot of live rock is required for the best chance of success and they can not be spot fed. And, seeing as you probably will not allow algae to cover the glass of your tank (though I do) adding live rock is a better option.

 

[michaelstern]

I do have algae encrusted crushed coral substrate, and lots of skeletal coral with algae growth. What are the linkia's chances?