Naeusu

In my eagerness to improve the quality of my tank I bought a Sand Sifting Sea Star today...

Now, let me explain why I did this...

When I started up my tank I was under the impression that I would only need 2 emerald crabs, the bristleworms that inhabited my tank, and the copepods that seemed to spring forth from the rock as my clean up crew.....after battling increasing phosphate, nitrate, and nasty nasty algae, I had come to the conclusion that perhaps my clean up crew wasn't doing as good a job as I had been previously told...(i watched my two little crabs gorge themselves on algae and then the next day see algae cover what they had eaten)

I picked up one nassarius snail (it was the only one to be bought within 50 miles of my home...I'm not willing to travel any farther and don't trust mailing them) as well as 2 turbo snails to start out with.

I wanted to get something to turn over the sand but was apprehensive about the goby I wanted to get because I was told my system may not be able to feed him well enough to survive and was recommended I buy the sea star...now he's my problem....

Before I bought him I was a good girl and did some research and everything I read seemed to put the little guy in a good light...Now that I'm home and doing more research I'm finding out all sorts of new information that could be catastrophic to my tank!

I've heard that they only eat detritus and I've also heard that they will eat any and all copepods in the tank. I've heard they're good for a sand bed and bad for a sand bed. I've heard they'll be fine in a reef tank and be deadly to corals... Each site and source of information I find seems to contradict another!!

All I'm really worried about is if the one I bought (he's about 5 inches across) will devour my copepod population (i've been working so hard to recover what i lost and they're my only hope of keeping a mandarin fish) or if it will interfere with the corals i plan to keep....

I looked on the sea star forum but it didn't have any help....any advice?

EDIT--> the sea start I bought seems to match the star posted here http://www.peteducation.com/article....+2224&aid=2183

sgould

I've had a sand sifter in my tank for a little over a year now. It has never caused any problems with corals. I will say that I do not see much pod activity in this tank, however, so there may be something to that one.

Naeusu

Do you check your tank late in the evening? I get off work at 3 am so when i come home the tank has been in the dark for several hours.... i turn on the light and get a nice view of all the scattering. do you have mandarin fish or any other fish that's primary source of food is copepods?

sgould

No...tried my hand at a mandarin awhile back, but couldn't keep him alive.

Naeusu

So far the star has stayed in one spot of my tank...barely moved more then 5 inches or so.... i'm worried it may not survive since i don't fully understand it...

MizRamzi

Your star fish will eat any small inverts, shrimp, urchins, mollusks, bivalves, or other small sea stars. They need at least a 3" sand bed and are nocturnal. Your tank not being very old may not be the happiest place for him/her. If you want to keep him/her try supplementing it's food with frozen, mysis shrimp, brine shrimp. They have a very hardy appetites and have been known to starve to death after having cleaned a tank of all detritus. You can also have your LFS order you copepods or get them on Aquabid.com.
The star doesn't eat corals, rather it irritates them in search of food. They are rough and can tear soft corals apart.

Naeusu

I was told that it couldn't really eat something as big as an urchin...that because it's a sand sifter it's only able to eat micro food. Are you sure it's going to be able to harm the others?

My sand bed runs between 2 and 3 inches in certain spots.