look at this sand sifter

drewsta

Active Member
If they came out of the Gulf, the star is probably orange, and the black is probably oil :thinking: JK looks awesome
 

alyssia

Active Member
Those are pretty cool looking, but how long have you had them?
Will they survive in a tank?
 

peedydb

Member
thanks for the reply's I got this from our fish store and no I donot know what kind of species it is.I was hopeing somebody could tell me
I will take more pic's.
Drewsta, what do you mean oil?
I have had them for about 3 weeks now
 

drewsta

Active Member
I was just kidding because there are so many oil spills in the gulf from tankers.
the starfish looks awesome.
 

ophiura

Active Member
I would be somewhat careful though...that may be a bit more predatory than just a sand sifter star. I have to look at my references in the morning.
The coloration is not due to oil
This is Astropecten articulatus, quite a different beast from our common sand sifter Archaster typicus
.
Out of interest, have you ever tried spot feeding these? Do they take the food? Do you have other invertebrates in the tank?
 

peedydb

Member
No I have not tried spot feeding.When I feed my fish with flake food they come out and eat mainly then; as far as other invert's yes I have an emerald crab, blue hermit crab ,and turbo snails
 

nm reef

Active Member
Very interesting looking speciman....but personally I'd be extremely cautious about adding anything collected by myself from the Gulf or anywhere else for that matter...and I sure wouldn't add any self-captured speciman without some basic info about the species prior to adding it to my display.
Even when purchasing species from well established collectors it is a good idea to have prior knowledge of the addition prior to making the purchase.
But...like I said it is a very interesting looking star....best of luck with it/them.....
 

ophiura

Active Member
DEFINITELY not just a sand sifter...beware!!
Especially the behavior...sand sifter stars do not tend to eat any flake food, etc.
This star, according to the most excellent book "Sea Stars, Sea Urchins and Allies: Echinoderms of Florida and the Bahamas" by several echinoderm scientists eats:
Wells et al. (1961) characterized it as a voracious, nonselective predator. By examining the gut contents of 124 individuals....they identified 91 species of invertebrate prey. The predominant items were gastropod, scaphopod and bivalve mollusks, other prey included small crustaceans, juvenile sand dollars and juvenile A. articulatus...feeds on callico scallops
I left out some parts just to give an idea of diet.
Should be considered a predatory star, IMO. Not reef safe. Not a basic sand sifter.
 

phoenixfla

Member
Originally Posted by ophiura
DEFINITELY not just a sand sifter...beware!!
Especially the behavior...sand sifter stars do not tend to eat any flake food, etc.
This star, according to the most excellent book "Sea Stars, Sea Urchins and Allies: Echinoderms of Florida and the Bahamas" by several echinoderm scientists eats:
I left out some parts just to give an idea of diet.
Should be considered a predatory star, IMO. Not reef safe. Not a basic sand sifter.
WOW - Sounds like a real bad

[hr]
.
Make sure you have your camera ready - sounds like we may have some photo ops.
 

stonepilot

Member
{Link violation - out of respect for the owner and operator of the board, please do not post links to other stores, thanks
}
 
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