I'm really confused - Starfish

[ashleigh]

I may have read too much about the starfish. I would really like to have one in my 90 Gallon FOWLR (120 pounds). I have read so much about linckia's being practically doomed...however I just read that they are hardy and a great beginner fish!! The site showed purlple, blue, red, and orange. They said they are filter feeders and great algae and detritus eaters. I would love to have a purple or red starfish but I am soooo confused I would like a starfish that would eat the extra food left in the tank or detritus. I'm afraid of the brittle stars because I have been told they eventually will kill your fish. This actually happened to my neighbor. Anyone out there have any ideas what would be good for me?

 

[ashleigh]

I forgot to mention the others in the tank:
flame angel
false lemonpeel angel(Heraldi?)
2 small ocellaris clowns
mandarin (eating frozen) :yes:
six line wrasse
few misc crabs and snails
Thanks!

 

[oyam1]

i you have been up and running for some time now, i would get the star i kile best.
you may ned to feed the star, to keep it from starvation.

 

[oyam1]

wow
no more fish......................

 

[microman2k]

well here's how mine went, i know the exact site you are talking about, DO NOT BUY FROM THEM!!! i made quite a large order from them $125 to which they charged me $150 but we did get that worked out, they sold me a blue linkia to me, i was being nieve believing the what i thought trusted site and bought one, i have had it for 3/12 weeks now with no problems, but as i have read it will most surely die

i also bought a heraldi angel from them that died in 24 hours and a purple nudibrach which they labeled easy! great for beginers! and it died, i bought a medium blood fire shrimp that they upgraded me to a large without telling me! (i didnt mind the upgrade, i minded when i added up my overcharged order and it came up with like a huge differnce and they acted as if i was stupid but in the contary THEY were the ones that upgraded me TWICE once to from a medium to a large shrimp and from a small blue linkia to a medium linkia and they didnt tell me until i asked them to tell me what exactly i had ordered and they were like o yea, we upgraded u twice! made me sooo mad that that they acted as if i was stupid and didnt even tell me that i had been upgraded when i asked them why i was "overcharged) i also ordered 2 bumble bee snails (i was suppose to get 8 but only got 2, this caused a lot of problems with the shipping charges) so in short i paid $125 for a dead nudibranch that is labeled expert on here and begginer on their site:notsure: , a dead heraldi angel that they said they would replace on my next order(i found that rather amusing that they thought i would actually order from them again!

) a blue linkia that is probably going to die, a shrimp that never comes out (stays in his hole all day, i ordered it b/c the blood shrimp were suppose to be a fish that isnt shy) and 2 bumble bee snails that they messed up the quanity....lesson learned

but you can make your own decision....

 

[ashleigh]

Microman, that is awful! Your story is exactly what I am worried about. I don't want to go out and pick what I want because I don't want to purchase something that would have been better off left alone. For example, I swore I would never purchase another mandarin because so many won't eat anything but the copepods. I watched this mandarin for a month at a LFS, each time asking them to feed so I could watch. When I feed now, he is in the middle of the other.> It's ccol watching him float after the food.
Oxy....do you think I am overstocked in my 90? I'm wondering because the tank has been up over 6 years and one time for a period of 2 years I had three dwarf angels (flame,coral beauty, and bicolor), a royal gramma, a flame hawk, a pearly jawfish, a maroon clown, a pyjama cardinal, and an engineer goby. Never had a problem. I don't want to overstock, but maybe I need to rethink things. I spent a lot of time arranging the LR so that none of the 120 pounds is stacked...each rock has openings all around, the fish have lots of swimming room.
Thanks for the replys.....I still want a starfish:yes:

 

[jrpage]

I disagree that you are overstocked for a 90g. :nope:

 

[lovethesea]

if you are sticking with a FOWLR, a chco. chip star is a fun addition. Very busy in the tank. We feed ours a small piece of shrimp about twice a week and he doesn't bother anyone.
You can never add any coral ,etc. though.

 

[goldenboy]

I had a regular star that was awesome. It had a purple back with a white starred pattern. Unfortunately after a year or so I decided to get a lot of snails. Then I had empty shells everywhere. I traded him in and got a marble star. Very nice and active, and a beautiful red color! Get a marble, well worth the money. I had a blue linkia that didn't last 2 weeks. I had an established tank with over 100 lbs. of LR. They die!! Best of luck.

 

[ashleigh]

Thanks everyone...I will start looking!

 

[microman2k]

i wonder why mine hasn't died yet (i will have it a month wednesday) i only have 50lbs of live rock, and it still looks fine and everything, i even acclimated it wrong and i have heard whats suppose to happen and i have seen this happen before and it is sorta sick but this star looks fine and is doing better now than when i put it in, its moving better, looks better and the whole package, and i hate this little waiting game of having something i like so much going to die, i am just trying to figure out why mine has lasted so long:notsure: there aren't any other starfish that resemble the blue linkia are there that they could have shipped me? and it is a pretty good size one too, its a "medium" about 3"-4" in size but o well.....:thinking:

 

[k8eydid]

I wish I had read these posts before yesterday. Purchased a red linkia from the LFS - the said to aclimate for at least 1 hour (I did for 1 & 1/2 hour). Within 4 hours the poor thing dropped a leg:scared: . I read on the web site previously mentioned that the dropped leg will regenerate into a new star and the original star will regenerate a new leg. Well, I do believe that the original star will regenerate a new leg but I find it hard to believe that the dropped leg will generate into an entire new star.

I am removing this dropped leg from the tank before my amonia level spikes and am carefully watching the progress of the new leg generation. Has anyone had this, or something similar happen and what did you do? Please let me know your story.