What do starfish eat???

juvarni

New Member
I've been trying to figure out what they eat but I can't seem to find an answer. Could someone please help me??
 

olemiss

Member
I've had a blue linckia for about a year which I feed Kents chromaplex. Other types of stars like the brittles will eat the fauna in your live sand which is fine if you have a large tank with a deep a deep sand bed. They require perfect water and a large tank with plenty of liverock. I'd do a lot of research on the type you would like before you get one.
 
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mopardwh

Guest
I have 2 green brittle stars and they are the hardiest inverts I've ever seen. In fact the first one I got a year ago, I didn't even acclimate! The bag busted and I picked him up off the floor and dropped him in. :scared: I feed them shrimp pellets.
 

mrdc

Active Member
Originally Posted by MOPARDWH
I have 2 green brittle stars and they are the hardiest inverts I've ever seen. In fact the first one I got a year ago, I didn't even acclimate! The bag busted and I picked him up off the floor and dropped him in. :scared: I feed them shrimp pellets.

Green Brittles are hardy but very aggressive and not reef safe. They will eat sleeping fish and coral
 
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mopardwh

Guest
Originally Posted by mrdc
Green Brittles are hardy but very aggressive and not reef safe. They will eat sleeping fish and coral
Not yet. I keep hearing that, but I have small fish in my reef tank and they are just fine with them. In fact, my first green brittle is about a foot or more in length now and could easily take on my small fish, but hasn't. It moves fairly slow, and I haven't seen it make the first move on a healthy fish (even at night, I've watched it). And I've never heard of it eating corals, that doesn't sound right to me. :notsure:
 

alyssia

Active Member
Originally Posted by MOPARDWH
Not yet. I keep hearing that, but I have small fish in my reef tank and they are just fine with them. In fact, my first green brittle is about a foot or more in length now and could easily take on my small fish, but hasn't. It moves fairly slow, and I haven't seen it make the first move on a healthy fish (even at night, I've watched it). And I've never heard of it eating corals, that doesn't sound right to me. :notsure:

Yeah, I don't think all greens are aggressive.
 

alyssia

Active Member
Originally Posted by OleMiss
I've had a blue linckia for about a year which I feed Kents chromaplex. Other types of stars like the brittles will eat the fauna in your live sand which is fine if you have a large tank with a deep a deep sand bed. They require perfect water and a large tank with plenty of liverock. I'd do a lot of research on the type you would like before you get one.

I have never heard of a linckia eating any supplemental food.
 

alyssia

Active Member
Originally Posted by Juvarni
I've been trying to figure out what they eat but I can't seem to find an answer. Could someone please help me??

We really need to know what kind of star is.
 

ophiura

Active Member
Originally Posted by OleMiss
I've had a blue linckia for about a year which I feed Kents chromaplex. Other types of stars like the brittles will eat the fauna in your live sand which is fine if you have a large tank with a deep a deep sand bed..

How much LR do you have? It seems unlikely that it eats the chromaplex. :notsure: It is not a filter feeder. But it will eat things on LR.
Brittlestars do not necessarily eat infauna in the sand bed. Few do, in fact. Some are predatory, some are filter feeder, most are highly adaptable and will scavenge for just about anything.
Sand sifter stars DO eat the infauna in a sand bed.
Certain seastars are predatory.
In the end, there is no way to generalize. As said above, we need to know what kind of star it is.
 

ophiura

Active Member
I have never heard of a green brittlestar - or any other for that matter - being a threat to healthy coral. They can eat small fish and shrimp, but are not a risk to corals except in stealing food.
 

poniegirl

Active Member
Originally Posted by MOPARDWH
I have 2 green brittle stars and they are the hardiest inverts I've ever seen. In fact the first one I got a year ago, I didn't even acclimate! The bag busted and I picked him up off the floor and dropped him in. :scared: I feed them shrimp pellets.
And I have a feeling that being fed shrimp pellets (sounds good dipped in butter
) they wouldn't put forth the effort to feed on live fish.
I think these animals are driven by base elements such as hunger and procreation, environmental requirements. If their needs are satisfied, water quality is supportive, there is sufficient room, it may be no surprise that they do not kill off livestock as those who are not specifically fed and accomodated.
 

solarscar

Member
I have a serpent star that i feed chunks of raw and even cooked shrimp...
I also have a chocolate chip starfish and i found that he loves the seaweed that i place on the clip for my yellow tang... So every week or so, i will put some seaweed on the clip and place it next to him while he is surfing the glass, in about 10 minutes his stomach is covering the whole thing and its gone in no time! He also ate all my HH corals too though :-(
 

alyssia

Active Member
Originally Posted by solarscar
I have a serpent star that i feed chunks of raw and even cooked shrimp...
I also have a chocolate chip starfish and i found that he loves the seaweed that i place on the clip for my yellow tang... So every week or so, i will put some seaweed on the clip and place it next to him while he is surfing the glass, in about 10 minutes his stomach is covering the whole thing and its gone in no time! He also ate all my HH corals too though :-(

CC stars aren't reef safe.
 

ophiura

Active Member
Originally Posted by SK8R_DAVE
I've read that smooth skin stars are herbavorus and ones that have knobs are omnivorus and will eat inverts.

Nope, this is not a suitable distinction at all I'm afraid.. Smooth skin stars like Linckia do NOT eat algae, and with over 800 species of various "textures" well, it just doesn't work.
 

mrdc

Active Member
Originally Posted by ophiura
I have never heard of a green brittlestar - or any other for that matter - being a threat to healthy coral. They can eat small fish and shrimp, but are not a risk to corals except in stealing food.

Ok, thanks. I was told by the LFS store that they could be a threat to corals. I guess I will change my advice to a brittle star can be a threat to fish and shrimp
 
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