Chocolate chip stars requirements

[stharper2923]

I am wanting a star fish but have read a lot about how difficult they are to keep. But then have also read that some have had success with chocolate chips and had for a year plus.. so is a chocolate chip the one to try for a Fish only tank? Will they kill my fish? I currently have 55 gallon with 2 clowns, Tomini tang and coral beauty-2 trochus snail and tiger conch.

 

[blaxsun]

They will eat any corals, sponges, tubeworms, clams and other starfish. If this is acceptable, then they generally feed on detritus.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Long story short, I would recommend against just about anyone getting a starfish at this point, as we just can't feed them like they need yet (there are people working on it and more hoping to work on it soon, but we've got a long ways to go at this point).

These stars wouldn't hurt your fish, but with starfish (specifically biofilm eating starfish), a year plus is basically a few months of them eating everything available for them in the tank followed by several months of them slowly starving to death (and they usually only last that long in large, mature tanks).

Chocolate Chip Stars (Protoreaster nodosus) eat algal films, biofilms (a rather specific mix of bacteria, cyanobacteria, diatoms, microalgae, fungi, etc. - this is something we can't really replicate in our aquariums for them, so most biofilm eating stars are thought to starve in our systems), and meiobenthos (benthic organisms like worms and pods and such that are small enough not to be considered macrofauna, but not small enough to be considered microfauna).

As I mention below, the biofilms - specifically those found on seagrasses and sediments in this case - are thought to be the main component of their diet though (and many sponges are quite rich in biofilm forming microbes, so it's not really a surprise that many biofilm eating starfish are known to eat sponges).

ISpeakForTheSeas said:
If it is Protoreaster nodosus or a Pentaceraster sp., than it's a biofilm eater and will be difficult to feed long term - though biofilm eating starfish can usually survive a decent length of time in large enough aquariums (the smallest recommended tank size I've seen to accommodate this is 75 gallons, but bigger is substantially more likely to be successful as I understand it). Additionally, these species are known to eat corals in aquaria, so that would be something to keep in mind (this is largely thought to be a result of limited preferred food sources - i.e. it's thought that they eat corals when they run out of biofilm). Protoreaster nodosus seems to prefer biofilms that form on sediments and seagrasses, and Pentaceraster spp. seem to prefer biofilms that form on macroalgae (and possibly seagrasses too). So, having some seagrass and macroalgae in the aquarium could potentially help feed these guys, but there's no guarantee.

I’ve never heard of these guys preying on other stars, but I wouldn’t put it past them if the other star was small enough (even Linckia stars will eat Aquilonastra stars, for example).

If you can keep them properly fed, then any instances of predation should (theoretically) be rare. However, they may still happen occasionally, and keeping these stars properly fed is substantially easier said than done, as they (to my understanding) primarily consume biofilms founds on sediment and seagrasses.

 

[MrGisonni]

I had one eat his way through 20 + ricordea anemones while at work once. They are not reef safe. I fed one I had in my classroom aquarium frozen clams, and krill. I would hold him up the the front glass and press him onto the food. He would quickly attach then feed right there. The kids loved to see his pyloric stomach extend around the food.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I find them destructive as they have many likes when it comes to something to eat and become determined to find a meal using little horns to get to food sources turning its stomach outside its mouth which contains digestive juices that dissolve the tissue of other starfish, snails, crabs, barnacles, shrimp and algae.