mushrommy
Active Member
I heard linckia multifora are an easier starfish to keep. Will they eat asterinas like their cousins, the blue linckia? Has anyone ever had experience with them? My tank is a 52 gallon corner and is 20 years old.
Linckia multifora
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bluemon
Active Member
Starfish in general tend to starve to death in a lot of reef systems.
Some have success in them, but they tend to be in larger and older systems.
Your system is 20 years old so it should be established enough, but I am just scared it will get through all the microfauna too quickly
Some have success in them, but they tend to be in larger and older systems.
Your system is 20 years old so it should be established enough, but I am just scared it will get through all the microfauna too quickly
Stomatopods17
Well-Known Member
You'll always hear of that 1 legendary reef keeper that had 'impossible starfish X' in their system for years but the consistency of reproducing their efforts shows... its a lot of effort or something they do differently works for them but not for others.
Linckias have all sorts of problems, from parasites to their diet as they're not fully understood what they will and won't eat, but general consensus is they primarily feed on sponges or microfilm species we had no way to impact the population of besides 'let tank run a few years and hope there's enough'. Linckia at least seems to be a step above fromia in that aspect where some have tried feeding them various things and got positive results but ultimately might not be 100% fail safe or sustainable.
There's 1 singular report of them eating an asterina, I can't recall if it was forcefully fed that asterina or happened to crawl over it and 'taste' with their expanded stomache, its also possible that asterina had micro film on it too and the star just licked it like an overseasoned potato chip. It would not surprise me if protoeaster species eat asterinas cause they can cannibilize sometimes and its a pain for me using them as feeders for that reason, issue is using they'll kill anything and everything in their path.
Linckias have all sorts of problems, from parasites to their diet as they're not fully understood what they will and won't eat, but general consensus is they primarily feed on sponges or microfilm species we had no way to impact the population of besides 'let tank run a few years and hope there's enough'. Linckia at least seems to be a step above fromia in that aspect where some have tried feeding them various things and got positive results but ultimately might not be 100% fail safe or sustainable.
There's 1 singular report of them eating an asterina, I can't recall if it was forcefully fed that asterina or happened to crawl over it and 'taste' with their expanded stomache, its also possible that asterina had micro film on it too and the star just licked it like an overseasoned potato chip. It would not surprise me if protoeaster species eat asterinas cause they can cannibilize sometimes and its a pain for me using them as feeders for that reason, issue is using they'll kill anything and everything in their path.
