Originally posted by perchpsk
the red serpent stars from this site are great additions.. They are reef safe, colorful and eat detritus or fish foods. The linkias are always tough to keep alive for more than a month or two.
Just one thing to mention. These red serpents are very delicate, they most delicate serpentstar in the hobby, and require very long acclimations. They are also quite rare in the wild. They should also be spot fed, IMO, unless you feed pretty heavily. Depends on the situation. Anyway, not a beginner star and not particularly easy...though once established, they do quite well. It is in the introduction where things tend to go wrong.
Linckia do relatively well in large mature reef systems over 100g and 6 months + in age. The key is pristine water parameters, proper salinity (1.025-1.026) and loads of LR. 100 lbs min for one. For best results, they should not be kept more than one to a typical tank (unless the tank is very large). Exceptions include Linkia multiflora, but still it is best to keep only one and allow it to reproduce on its own.
If the star dies in one month, it was improper acclimation. These stars all require 4+ hours acclimations.
Most stars take 9-12 months to die of starvation, a common problem because they can not be spot fed and probably eat more than simply algae on LR. In fact, they most certainly do, because people with loads of algae can still have starving seastars. So it may be the type of algae or something....
FWIW, no brittlestar or serpentstar can be guaranteed reef safe. All will eat if they are hungry. This is usually not a problem, but for any given individual in any given situation, it is a possibility.
But it is true of many "Linckia" stars as well. Most reef safe stars are happily consuming little critters you may not be aware of, including sponges. This is why the amount of LR is critical, and why most will not eat various prepared algaes. So most stars will eat a variety of things...it simply comes down to your definition of reef safe. The purple Linckia, which is typically Tamaria stria, has rarely (though it is hyped) been reported to eat certain soft corals. Few will bother crabs, shrimp, etc....
