Sand sifter starfish

medawgg · Oct 28, 2017

hey guys, I am new to having a saltwater tank and I have a fairly new cycled 80 gal aquarium. I bought a sand sifter starfish from Petco as they recommended it. However I’m not sure I made a good decision as I’ve seen quite a few post online that really frown on having these in your tank. I guess these things really eat up the fauna and will deplete everything that I have just started growing. I don’t mind cutting my loses but I’d really love some advice from advanced or expert reefers on this? My tank is only 2 mos cycled and I’m a bit worried that I bought this too soon .

Philt56 · Oct 28, 2017

It will probably starve to death in a new tank. You don’t have enough food in your sand for it to live on.

Most Petcos do not have any knowledgeable employees or healthy fish. Stick to more reliable fish stores.

Javy · Oct 28, 2017

How deap is your sand bed ?

medawgg · Oct 28, 2017

Philt56 said:
It will probably starve to death in a new tank. You don’t have enough food in your sand for it to live on.

Most Petcos do not have any knowledgeable employees or healthy fish. Stick to more reliable fish stores.[/QUOTE

Yeah I feel a suckered by the salesman there. I gotta do better research next time I buy something

medawgg · Oct 28, 2017

Javy said:
How deap is your sand bed ?

It’s about 4inches deep, 90lbs in total

Javy · Oct 28, 2017

medawgg said:
It’s about 4inches deep, 90lbs in total

I'm not entirely sure why everyone is so complelty against the Sand Shifter. Maybe it's just my prefence but I like a clean sand bed. Just looks really nice to me. And he does a great job with it staying clean. Now I also feed mine shrimp every other day. Kinda cool to watch also.

medawgg · Oct 28, 2017

Javy said:
I'm not entirely sure why everyone is so complelty against the Sand Shifter. Maybe it's just my prefence but I like a clean sand bed. Just looks really nice to me. And he does a great job with it staying clean. Now I also feed mine shrimp every other day. Kinda cool to watch also.

Yeah that’s kinda what they sold me on. They said that I needed a clean up crew and this sifter was like a must have. I have 4 peppermint shrimp, 1 nessarious and 1 turbo snail. Reading about this starfish was pretty negative for the most part but the you tube videos put them in a positive light? I got him this past Wednesday so I don’t think he’s done any real harm. Hes been in that corner buried until about an hr ago and now he’s just kinda hanging out above the sand now.

Javy · Oct 28, 2017

I don't believe A sand shifter is considered a must have. They do a great job mixing the sand. But not a must have. I believe them to be more of a challenge. As long as you feel he's benefiting from the tank, and you can maintain him. I would keep him. But if you feel like he would be to much work get rid of him. It's your tank !

medawgg · Oct 28, 2017

Thanks for the input

tdileo · Oct 28, 2017

Javy said:
I'm not entirely sure why everyone is so complelty against the Sand Shifter. Maybe it's just my prefence but I like a clean sand bed. Just looks really nice to me. And he does a great job with it staying clean. Now I also feed mine shrimp every other day. Kinda cool to watch also.

Wait, your sand sifter eats shrimp? I’ve never heard of that. Knowing that could make them much easier to keep in captivity for lots of people such as myself. I always was told they will only eat microfauna and will starve to death.

splix · Oct 28, 2017

I've had mine for about 2 years in my old 125g with a 1" sand bed. He is always growing and doing well.
I just setup a new tank a month ago with new sand and he's doing ok. You can tell when there isnt enough for him to eat, they'll start climbing the glass, and constantly up and moving around. Mine now just started to settle in and you can tell he's now finding food because he's burying deeper, it's been about 3 weeks.
I wouldnt worry about them if you feed heavy. If you feed only pellets and light feeding, then that might be a different story. I feed heavy frozen foods like LRS that break up and I'm sure some gets into the sand.

DSC reef · Oct 28, 2017

Javy said:
I'm not entirely sure why everyone is so complelty against the Sand Shifter. Maybe it's just my prefence but I like a clean sand bed. Just looks really nice to me. And he does a great job with it staying clean. Now I also feed mine shrimp every other day. Kinda cool to watch also.

The fact that it's a new tank means a lot and this invert should not have been suggested at all but I'm not surprised since it's petco. They literally know nothing in the saltwater realm and there practices are horrible. My wife used to work there. There are many other options at keeping your sand bed clean with snails and a good maintenance routine. When that starfish dies under the sand bed then begins to rot the OP will have another issue to deal with. To the OP, rehome the starfish and find a new LFS. That starfish is also feeding on things that you want in the sand bed as well, kinda defeats the purpose.

DSC reef · Oct 28, 2017

tdileo said:
Wait, your sand sifter eats shrimp? I’ve never heard of that. Knowing that could make them much easier to keep in captivity for lots of people such as myself. I always was told they will only eat microfauna and will starve to death.

There omnivorous and can feed on other inverts. Mostly fauna and detritus. What people don't get is how much food it can consume, it will wipe out your sand bed very quickly. Supplemental feedings is what normally keeps them living longer than a year until they disappear one day. Kinda like a mandarin, just because it eats prepared food doesn't mean it will thrive without it's natural food sources.

Alfredo De La Fe · Oct 28, 2017

Starfish are slow, they don't eat pods. They will eat any food that falls in the sand.

Alfredo De La Fe · Oct 28, 2017

I have had mine for three years, he comes out when I feed the tank. Especially LRS or mysis.

DSC reef · Oct 28, 2017

Alfredo De La Fe said:
Starfish are slow, they don't eat pods. They will eat any food that falls in the sand.

I'd suggest looking up this specific species before blanket statements are made. Sand sifting starfish move pretty fast actually and fauna doesn't mean just pods.

DSC reef · Oct 28, 2017

Alfredo De La Fe said:
I have had mine for three years, he comes out when I feed the tank. Especially LRS or mysis.

How old is your tank?

Scott.h · Oct 28, 2017

The tank and sand isn't mature enough for it. I never could get mine to supplemental feed. When I seen it above the sand I'd try sticking a piece of krill or whatever directly under it. It would just move away. It's best that you give it to someone else until you have a good base of bacteria growing in the system.

Alfredo De La Fe · Oct 28, 2017

DSC reef said:
I'd suggest looking up this specific species before blanket statements are made. Sand sifting starfish move pretty fast actually and fauna doesn't mean just pods.

Someone above said it would wipe out the pods.

My current tank is new, I upgraded my 40 to an 80. But transferred the star. Had my 40 running for 10 years with a sand sifting star, first one died when one of my kids poisoned the tank by accident and I had to start over.

Alfredo De La Fe · Oct 28, 2017

Also, he was missing half of two of his arms and they have started growing back since I moved him to the 80. The 80 has all new sand and 80% of the rock was "new" (cured dry rock)

They are scavengers and will eat any uneaten food. (To be honest I have only ever seen them respond to fleshy foods like mysis or LRS)