STAR FISH compatibility question

[ophiura]

So long as you can keep water quality stable - especially specific gravity and pH - and the tank is suitably mature, there is no reason not to keep a serpent/brittlestar in a smaller tank. I had 3 or 4 in a 15g and a few in an 8g. In the wild, they often hang out in pretty large numbers under rocks and such. So it is stability that is the crucial and potentialy variable issue in a nano tank and not something about the animals themselves.
Having said that I would avoid the green brittlestar simply because of its known potential as a predator. I would also avoid the large bright red (and typically $$) serpentstar called Ophioderma squamossisimum. While hardy once established, its acclimation needs are similar to that of a Linckia and an unfortunate number die before ever getting into a hobbyist tank

 

[yupi1982]

What Do You Know About A 6 Inches Green Bahama Star...it's Beatiful (no reff safe) or

about the australian biuscuit ( reef safe)..., If You Know Some About them Let Me Know!! :happyfish

 

[mimzy]

Wow Ophi-Tofi!! 3 or four in a 15?? AWESOME!! That musta been one creepy crawly tank!!
...u don't happen to have any pics, do you?

Thing is... my tank finished cycling last week, I'm doing the 20% water change this week, and next week I hope to add my cleanup crew - a lot of cleanup packages come with serpent stars... is it safe to assume that it's too early for me to get one of these guys?
my pH has never moved from 8.4, and my salinity/SG has been steady at 34/1.025 pretty much from the 3rd day the tank went up. Too high/low for serpent stars?
Thank you!!! :jumping: :jumping:

 

[ophiura]

It is hard to know what you mean by "Australian" biscuit star - perhaps Pentagonaster duebeni or Tosia australis. Anyway both are called "biscuit stars" in some circles. I don't think either have particularly good records in captivity. Tosia is generally a south Australian species I think - cooler water. Pentagonaster I think would need very very significant amounts of LR to keep. I don't recommend either in general.
The Bahama star Oreaster reticulatus is by comparison easy to keep in the right system. Not reef safe, it can generally be easily fed.

 

[ophiura]

Mimzy -
The 15g is no more. It and the smaller tank were combined into a 45g. Your tank is young, and that does concern me somewhat. But your specific gravity and pH are pretty good. I wouldn't go lower on your specific gravity. I would personally wait a bit longer on the serpenstar, but I think others have added them early with not terribly ill effects.

 

[mimzy]

awesome - I'm glad just to find out I could have one at all! I'll definitly wait on that 'till the tank is a little older..plenty to do in the meantime :happy:
thanx again!!
and WHAT is THIS????

[hr]
>

 

[ophiura]

Um....its a dancing banana.
They've taken every emoticon I know and love and use and replaced them with odd things like that
along with h* this

and

 

[dragonet12]

My tank is a 39 gallon salt is between1.020 and1.023 the ph is about 8.0 safe zone in the chart it came with i thas been running for a year and a half ammonia is 0.0 to 0.1 safe i have about 20 or so pound sof live rock

 

[ophiura]

Your specific gravity is, IMO, immediately fatal to most seastars and brittlestars. It should be in the 1.025-1.026 area. So it is definitely not a good plan. I am afraid you also have far too little LR and too small of a tank to house a Linckia sp star. It would most likely starve to death. IMO a good 75 lbs is a minimum for an orange Linckia. It might get by with less, but how much less is the question. Definitely not 20lbs IMO.

 

[dragonet12]

Alright thanks for teh help i will work on all that inorder to get one and thanks again fo rthe help. :happyfish

 

[ci11337]

Linkia multiflora - I wish I knew of a or "the" common name. Maybe "mottled" Linckia or something. It does have a mottled coloration ranging from pink, red, orange, buff, green and blue or combinations thereof. Nice critter, just don't know what they would be called.
I bought mine as "dalmation linkia"