New Basket Starfish
- Thread starter chipmunk
- Start date
celacanthr
Active Member
You do understand how hard they are to take care of , right?
celacanthr
Active Member
but, that doesn't necessarily mean it ate the cyclopleeze.
jes723ika
Member
Okay, so while its good to confident, there is such a thing as being over confident.. I thought just like you thought until last night when my "very hard to take care of" blue linkia ejected its stomach out and tore it off on the rocks. Good luck though.. maybe if you're lucky, you will be the 1 in 20.
rubberduck
Active Member
u realize 1 in 20 is probley not Accurate due to the different definituions of the word SUCESS. it is one of those speiceis that should be left alone in the ocean OR/UNLESS you build a tank around it or keep it in mind, regular market products will not fufil its needs, it needs planktin that is produced in most tanks, also when he (the lfs guy) says sucess, what does it mean, he could have a costumer says its still thriving a mouth later when it takes like 6 months to starve, im not flaming anyone just saying keep in mind that these are living creatures that are not there to buy 20 of and hope one survives, research before u buy if sucess is the goal, my 2 cents
chipmunk
Member
First of all I did my home work on this basket startfish before I bought it and I understand what they need to eat. Like I said I will be one of the 1 in 20 that have a basket starfish in their reef tank. Like I said I did my home wrk on this and plan on a good feeding if Phytoplankton and Oyster eggs.
When I checked this morning the starfish was wide open feeding on top of one of my corals.
When I checked this morning the starfish was wide open feeding on top of one of my corals.
ophiura
Active Member
What a pity.
I suggest that you look up posts by Sterling, who was up, after dark, feeding the basketstar...EVERY night. Sterling actually DID have success with one so instead of listening to an LFS that wanted to make some MONEY, please check with people who learned, the hard way, about keeping them.
This animal should be BANNED from this hobby because keeping is SUCCESSFULLY means it will OUTGROW nearly any tank. THey get to be about a meter wide (3 feet) when fully opened, and should be left in the ocean where they can be appreciated fully.
They are a large, long lived animal that generally perish in this hobby because of the difficulty of care long term, the nutrient load on the tank from CONSTANT feeding, and their large size.
They are also generally nocturnal, and look like little more than a pile of string during the day.
2 days is nothing! Talk to me in a few years, and then you've done something. Another animal that will take a good year or more to starve to death. Go back to your LFS and ask how many have kept them for YEARS and he'll probably make something up.
Still, Basketstars (not usually featherstars) CAN be kept but require enormous effort and dedication on the part of the keeper...lots of research before purchase to understand and accept the responsibility. They are not a "just add some food" animal. Imagine just how much food needs to go into a tank to sustain an animal that is 3 feet across and only eats very small particles???? If kept, they belong only in a species tank.
Watch your water quality. If you are actually feeding it enough, you will probably have issues. And start saving up some $$ just to provide for it. Of course, I am sure your LFS can sell you a lot of food. LOL. But bottled "pour in a capful" stuff won't be suitable.
Another impulse purchase from the initial post but if you've done your research, what species is it? How do you know it eats phytoplankton?
If it helps,and if you have the common basketstar you have Astrophyton muricatum and a couple of people have been keeping them. Please look up how diverse the diets are that they feed (in addition to looking up posts by Sterling). Note very little phytoplankton is fed as they tend to eat larger plankton.
I suggest that you look up posts by Sterling, who was up, after dark, feeding the basketstar...EVERY night. Sterling actually DID have success with one so instead of listening to an LFS that wanted to make some MONEY, please check with people who learned, the hard way, about keeping them.
This animal should be BANNED from this hobby because keeping is SUCCESSFULLY means it will OUTGROW nearly any tank. THey get to be about a meter wide (3 feet) when fully opened, and should be left in the ocean where they can be appreciated fully.
They are a large, long lived animal that generally perish in this hobby because of the difficulty of care long term, the nutrient load on the tank from CONSTANT feeding, and their large size.
They are also generally nocturnal, and look like little more than a pile of string during the day.
2 days is nothing! Talk to me in a few years, and then you've done something. Another animal that will take a good year or more to starve to death. Go back to your LFS and ask how many have kept them for YEARS and he'll probably make something up.
Still, Basketstars (not usually featherstars) CAN be kept but require enormous effort and dedication on the part of the keeper...lots of research before purchase to understand and accept the responsibility. They are not a "just add some food" animal. Imagine just how much food needs to go into a tank to sustain an animal that is 3 feet across and only eats very small particles???? If kept, they belong only in a species tank.
Watch your water quality. If you are actually feeding it enough, you will probably have issues. And start saving up some $$ just to provide for it. Of course, I am sure your LFS can sell you a lot of food. LOL. But bottled "pour in a capful" stuff won't be suitable.
Another impulse purchase from the initial post but if you've done your research, what species is it? How do you know it eats phytoplankton?
If it helps,and if you have the common basketstar you have Astrophyton muricatum and a couple of people have been keeping them. Please look up how diverse the diets are that they feed (in addition to looking up posts by Sterling). Note very little phytoplankton is fed as they tend to eat larger plankton.
ophiura
Active Member
I am glad you will do whatever it takes. It takes a lot. And it starts by doing a lot of research into what are its known needs. It is not a matter of people being SCARED to try, it is not really having the dedication, means or tank to try.
"So far so good?" Again, a few days is nothing in the life of these animals, so I hope you are not taking it too easy at this point. Not only are they long lived, but they are known to be in the same spot on a reef, year after year after year.....I wish you the same luck, but the truth is that it is extremely rare to have this "luck" in captivity. In captivity, they are short lived animals, never truly reaching how magnificent they are in the wild.
I hope you will accept that they take a long time to die, with no clear signs they are...so don't be quick to claim success. People are more willing to help when you sound like you want it, otherwise, when you buy difficult to keep animals and present it like this, people will jump on your back.
And all I can emphasize is that if you are feeding properly, most likely your water quality WILL suffer from it.
"So far so good?" Again, a few days is nothing in the life of these animals, so I hope you are not taking it too easy at this point. Not only are they long lived, but they are known to be in the same spot on a reef, year after year after year.....I wish you the same luck, but the truth is that it is extremely rare to have this "luck" in captivity. In captivity, they are short lived animals, never truly reaching how magnificent they are in the wild.
I hope you will accept that they take a long time to die, with no clear signs they are...so don't be quick to claim success. People are more willing to help when you sound like you want it, otherwise, when you buy difficult to keep animals and present it like this, people will jump on your back.
And all I can emphasize is that if you are feeding properly, most likely your water quality WILL suffer from it.