Basket Starfish Care

[ArowanaLover1902]

My LFS had an awesome basket star, I'm not sure its right for me but I was still curious as to whether or not I could even have one. I have a 35 gallon shallow long aquarium, so lots of room for it to roam around from side to side. I read online that it likes both phytoplankton as well as coarser foods such as mysis. I have a healthy feather duster (over a year and a half) who, as I understand, is also a crinoid. So could I have kept it?

P.S. I plan on visiting LFS today and if it is there and I can get it...I may just have to have it. It's only $50 (larger than most I've ever seen) and, to me, those type of creatures are what the hobby is all about.

 

[tdileo]

These are one of those animals that are considered impossible to keep at the moment, other than by a very select few people. They need so much food of a small micron that you’d have to target feed it multiple times throughout the day to the point that your tank would be too dirty for most corals unless you do a lot of water changes. Basically, think of caring for them like the non-photosynthetic gorgonians but times twenty.

 

[ca1ore]

I do I do not believe feather dusters are Crinoids. Regardless, Crinoids have a dismal survival rate in aquariums. There was an article in Advanced Aquarist a while back. Keeping them requires heroic feeding efforts. Are you up to that? If not, pass.

 

[sdbdrz]

I had a basket starfish that I got as a hitch hiker about 10 years ago. I was able to keep it alive for about 4 or 5 months but that was it. It was in a very well established 180g that had been running for years with a DSB in the main display and a 100g refugium with a DSB. They feed on suspended particles in the water column.

Probably best left in the ocean.

 

[DSC reef]

It's a starfish I believe better left in the ocean I'm afraid. There survival rates are very poor in aquariums.

 

[AcroNem]

You can keep it, but only if you are prepared to feed it properly. They are suspension feeders and require food to be available in the water column at all times. I know we say they need a lot of food and we think 3 times a day is a lot of food. But I mean that I kept my 2 in a system with a doser feeding every single hour. I had them for a little over a year before I broke the system down. If you are prepared to do what it takes to keep it I will share everything I did to keep mine. If not, then pass on it.

As for the duster, feather dusters are a kind of tube worm, and are Polychaetes. Crinoids are sea stars, and remain to this day one of the most difficult things I've kept bedsides Dendronephthya. Feather dusters do filter feed but don't require as specific foods as crinoids.

Anyway, I'm here to help if you're up to keeping it properly.

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

Alright did a bit more research, basket stars are echinoderms outside of the crinoid group, however, crinoids are only a class of echinoderms themselves. To clarify, a feather starfish (Comatulida), is a crinoid (which makes it not a starfish at all) whereas a basket starfish (Euryalina) (a true type of starfish) is not.



Here is a feather "starfish"

Whereas here is a basket starfish

As you can see, the basket starfish looks far more like the common starfish when spread out (they are often clumped up). Feather starfish are filter feeders, catching phytoplankton as well as zooplankton from the current, basket stars are predators, lacking the finer tentacles of their distant cousins Comatulida catch small fish, invertebrate larvae, and anything else they can. I believe that a basket starfish may indeed be reef suitable however a feather duster is certainly better left entirely alone.

EDIT: According to a college edition book on invertebrate zoology my initial information that basket starfish disregard phytoplankton was incorrect. While they have been seen eating small fish and invertebrates, their primary food is indeed phytoplankton which they catch by use of microscopic hooks on their arms.

 

[AcroNem]

Both can be kept in reefs as long as they are properly fed. They are incredibly difficult to keep. Read my above comment.

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

Fun fact, basket stars are actually a type of brittle starfish

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

I have an enormous pod population, feed bottled phyto once every other day (at the moment, I can do it more often if needed), and I'd imagine that it would also appreciate reef-roids. You're help would be immensely appreciated acronem, I believe I will likely purchase it, providing the LFS still has it.

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

I looked it up in a (college edition) book on invertebrate zoology. It also agrees with basket starfish eating phytoplankton with microscopic hooks on their arms. I'll edit my initial post, I don't want anyone new seeing this to get confused.

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

Strangely like plants of the drosera genus (aka: sundew, a carnivorous plant)

 

[User1]

If you do go this route I would consider some live reef plankton from Indo Pacific Sea Farms or at least their Coral Heaven food. While the former is probably more suitable for the basket starfish coral heaven is a pretty solid and reliable coral food. It may be a more viable and affordable option compared to the plankton source. Unless your LFS has bottles of something similar. I'm probably biased towards IPSF since I've used their food with great success on a previous tank.

 

[reef lover]

I would pass....will break your heart watching it drop limbs and wither away...

 

[AcroNem]

I have an enormous pod population, feed bottled phyto once every other day (at the moment, I can do it more often if needed), and I'd imagine that it would also appreciate reef-roids. You're help would be immensely appreciated acronem, I believe I will likely purchase it, providing the LFS still has it.

No. I mean you need an auto doser to feed it consistently so there is food available at all times. All the time. Imagine you need to eat 2,000 calories a day, but can only digest 100 at a time. If someone offers you food every 6 hours will you survive?

That's how selective filter feeders work. It will starve if not fed all the time. They will feed on some microplankton but usually diatoms not green phytoplankton. Basket stars will eat some "larger" particles but still things like copepod nauplii and rotifers. They feed heavily on detritus, so small particle powdered foods are something that should be utilized as well.

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

I went to the LFS and saw it, I figured I should probably hold back, I don't think I have the experience to handle it. Thanks for all the help

 

[d2mini]

I've had mine for over a year. Hitchhiker. Hasn't moved off this gorgonian since I got it.
Has grown a bit, too.

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

The one I saw was a bit bigger than my opened hand

 

[Coral Keeper]

I've had mine for over a year. Hitchhiker. Hasn't moved off this gorgonian since I got it.
Has grown a bit, too.

How is your basket starfish doing?
@d2mini

 

[foxt]

For what it is worth, I had a limited experience with a basket starfish. It came in as a hitch hiker on live rock. It found a place where it was comfortable perching, and would open at night to catch food in it's tentacles. I did my best to feed it every night, oyster feast, reef roids, even baby brine. It would catch the food in it's tentacles, then curl up to bring the food to it's mouth.

I did my best to stay on top of feeding it, but it eventually disappeared and I could not find it after that. I am not sure if something else ate it, or if it moved and was unable to catch enough food to sustain itself, or if it just weakened over time - but it lasted about 5 months and then was gone.

Fascinating animal, and I miss it, but I won't try to replace it. Can't help but feel like I just couldn't meet it's needs. I know that Dennis (d2mini) has had one for quite a while, and he doesn't seem to need to do anything overly meticulous with it to keep it alive, so there's a success story to counter my failure. But it does seem like he's the exception ...