Sand Sifting Star

[nrage]

Do you need to feed a sand sifting star anything special, or do they thrive just feeding in the sand bed?

 

[ophiura]

A sand sifting star is one of the worst things you can add to a live sand bed, IMO, and will in general starve in about a year in smaller tanks.
Sand sifting snails, such as ceriths, conchs and nassarius may be good choices...and something like a sand sifting cucumber may be good as well depending on tank size.

 

[nrage]

Originally Posted by ophiura
A sand sifting star is one of the worst things you can add to a live sand bed, IMO, and will in general starve in about a year in smaller tanks.
Sand sifting snails, such as ceriths, conchs and nassarius may be good choices...and something like a sand sifting cucumber may be good as well depending on tank size.
Will it kill my live sand?

 

[cartman101]

The sand sifting star will eat the live things in your sand.

 

[dogstar]

I never feed mine directly but have them 4 years now. They do fine in a ' proper ' system.

 

[nrage]

Originally Posted by Cartman101
The sand sifting star will eat the live things in your sand.

So then, will my live sand not serve as much of a purpose as it did before I introduced the star?

 

[ophiura]

It depends on your definition of "live sand." It will still function fine as a surface area for bacteria to grow...but in terms of its functionality say as a deep sand bed - or in cultivating pods, worms, etc that assist in eating debris, that is another question.
One issue with sandsifter stars is that rarely, IME, will they take to spot feeding. THis is why they are often doomed in smaller tanks, or those tanks without a lot of surface area of sand.