Trying a star

[j-cal]

I know that linkia stars are not usually recommended, but id like to try a non brittle/serpent star in my 125 reef. I like the looks of blue linkia, orange linkia and fromia type stars. Are any of these any less sensative than any others? I know that food is often a problem, but i have a lot of random hitchiker sponge and slime growths of various colors. In older books I've seen pics of stars that look like giant asternia (sp?) stars the size of linkias. They dont look like the non reef safe star types, but i was wondering if anyone has seen these offered before. Ive never seen str8 asternias offered either, but i found one the other day out of the blue, guess it hicked on some coral. thanks
Justin

 

[krishj39]

If you are looking beyond brittle stars, my suggestions from personal experience are Linckia Multiflora and Tamaria Sp. I have had a multiflora in my tank for about a year and I now have two because it dropped a leg and it also turned into a new starfish. I've had the Tamaria (burgundy star) for about 4 months and it is doing very well. Very active and the most visible of all my starfish. I've tried blue linckia but they have always died from poor aclimation(s) which happpened before I purchased them. Curiously, from a biological stand-point, the blue linckia and the multiflora seem to actually be the same species, but the mutliflora is much hardier and more likely to multiply. So much we still don't know about starfish...