sly65sally200
Member
The sandsifting star is not a peaceful freindly detritus eater. Well, mine isn't anyways. I recently bought a new clean up crew about a couple months ago. I had snails disappearing right after another, left and right. I started to blame water conditions and my crabs...Well, I was dead wrong. Who was to blame? my SAND SIFTING STAR.
Now, the star usually comes out at night time only to feed. But when I clean, and stir up the tank a little he will come out...this is when I seen the unbelievable. I had two conches left from all the snails I purchased. Conches are sand dwellers as well. One of my conches were out at one end of the tank. All of the sudden, my star came out. Then, it moved fast along the front glass of the tank. I watched him let go, slide down the glass, and crawl right on top of my conch. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. At first, I thought he was just crawling over the top of him, which I've seen him do with crab shells. Next thing I know, he had all five limbs wrapped around him. He was releasing some kind of liquid while doing this. You could see the cloudy toxin arise from him. Now he did all of this in a matter of minutes. I went to grab my camera, and the next time I looked. He was burrowed under the sand with my conch...what was I supposed to do. The conch was probably already dead...so I let nature take its course. The next morning, an empty shell was left.
I preceded to watch him the next couple of nights. He didn't do anything that was unusual, but crawl on the glass. Then about a week later my husband and I were watching a movie. He freaked out. The star was on the "tip of his toes", with part of his stomach out, releasing that toxin cloudy stuff again. Now, he was sitting on the glass doing this. What was strange was that the fish were attracted to this cloudy substance he was releasing, my only hypotheis naturally was to assume that he attracts the fish for a kill. I've had fish disappear overnight without bodies, along with shrimp. So, I know now the killer in my tank. I want to take him to the lfs, but my husband thinks it's entertaining to watch. Anyways, don't believe that these stars are peaceful bottom dwellers that clean up poop and leftovers. I feed shrimp everynight along with pellets and cytopleeze. You would think I feed him enough. Well, he's been in the tank for a year and a half, and he's about 8 inches and only growing because he's a carnivore, not a poop eater. I was wrong to assume so. But they shouldn't advertise them has part of a clean up crew. They clean up alright...they clean up your cleanup crew and small fish.
Now, the star usually comes out at night time only to feed. But when I clean, and stir up the tank a little he will come out...this is when I seen the unbelievable. I had two conches left from all the snails I purchased. Conches are sand dwellers as well. One of my conches were out at one end of the tank. All of the sudden, my star came out. Then, it moved fast along the front glass of the tank. I watched him let go, slide down the glass, and crawl right on top of my conch. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. At first, I thought he was just crawling over the top of him, which I've seen him do with crab shells. Next thing I know, he had all five limbs wrapped around him. He was releasing some kind of liquid while doing this. You could see the cloudy toxin arise from him. Now he did all of this in a matter of minutes. I went to grab my camera, and the next time I looked. He was burrowed under the sand with my conch...what was I supposed to do. The conch was probably already dead...so I let nature take its course. The next morning, an empty shell was left.
I preceded to watch him the next couple of nights. He didn't do anything that was unusual, but crawl on the glass. Then about a week later my husband and I were watching a movie. He freaked out. The star was on the "tip of his toes", with part of his stomach out, releasing that toxin cloudy stuff again. Now, he was sitting on the glass doing this. What was strange was that the fish were attracted to this cloudy substance he was releasing, my only hypotheis naturally was to assume that he attracts the fish for a kill. I've had fish disappear overnight without bodies, along with shrimp. So, I know now the killer in my tank. I want to take him to the lfs, but my husband thinks it's entertaining to watch. Anyways, don't believe that these stars are peaceful bottom dwellers that clean up poop and leftovers. I feed shrimp everynight along with pellets and cytopleeze. You would think I feed him enough. Well, he's been in the tank for a year and a half, and he's about 8 inches and only growing because he's a carnivore, not a poop eater. I was wrong to assume so. But they shouldn't advertise them has part of a clean up crew. They clean up alright...they clean up your cleanup crew and small fish.
