New starfish

[thomas_neil]

So I went to my LFS to get a couple new star fish over the weekend. I’ve waited 2 years to get a couple stars because that’s what all the threads I’ve read recommended. The banded serpent I got is doing what they do best, hides all day and comes out at night to eat the shrimp I put in the sand bed. The thorny red star was active the first day but now just hangs out at the top of the tank bent over. I waited 2 years because I knew they eat the bacteria on the rock, I even started deliberately putting reef chili on the rock to stimulate bacterial growth a couple weeks before I got him.
Is this a normal this for stars to do? He still moves around but maybe only a couple inches but stays in the same top corner of the tank.

 

[T-J]

Wait, what? They eat the bacteria? I've never heard this.

The thorny red most definitely eats meat. Juvenile ones will eat algae, and as they grow they will eat pretty much anything they come across in your tank.

 

[thomas_neil]

Wait, what? They eat the bacteria? I've never heard this.

The thorny red most definitely eats meat. Juvenile ones will eat algae, and as they grow they will eat pretty much anything they come across in your tank.

I thought that’s what they ate but maybe I have them mixed up with a different star fish.