Sand sifting starfish lifespan.

[Sycoticrealm]

That looks like a serpent sea star.

 

[Sycoticrealm]

I have a green brittle sea star it fun to feed.

 

[stevo01]

That looks like a serpent sea star.

Serpent star is a brittle. Your green one is a hunter of living tank mates btw.

 

[stevo01]

The banded ones are reef safe.

 

[Empress]

The Green brittle star will eat your fish when they are sleeping.

 

[Sycoticrealm]

The banded ones are reef safe.

It can be aggressive if not kept full it never leaves it cave. Ophiocomidae family that serpent sea star from the Ophiuridae not exactly the same thing reason why ones reef safe other not so much.
I had a brown one with 18" tentacles from tip to body and it never bother anything but I fed it nightly raw shell on table shrimp and other frozen food.
But a Sand Sifter will live on average in captivity around 5-10 years.

 

[Sycoticrealm]

Knobby Brittle I had. It weird how some are reef safe and get huge but other are not so much.

 

[stevo01]

Knobby Brittle I had. It weird how some are reef safe and get huge but other are not so much.

What fish do you keep in the tank with this star?

 

[Chiefmaster30]

I've had a sand sifting starfish for my 1 1/2 in this hobby and he's done very well so far. I've actually changed tanks and upgraded twice.

 

[Chiefmaster30]

And he made it through it all.

 

[stevo01]

And he made it through it all.

That's cool!

I haven't seen the 2" sand sifting star in almost a year. No idea if it's dead or alive. This is in my 20g.

I have two banded serpent stars in my reefer525. They are doing an awesome job of cleaning the sand on surface.

 

[Sycoticrealm]

What fish do you keep in the tank with this star?

The knobby I had a powder brown tang, two black and white clowns, red mandarin, porcupine puffer, lawnmower blenny.

The green brittle there 2 orange misbarred clowns, 3 bangaii cardinal fish, lawnmower blenny.

Trust me I've been in and out of this hobby for years sea stars rarely eat fish unless you're lazy and refuse to target feed them.
Brittle don't like to move around much they stick there tentacles out and wait for very small pods, shrimp, maybe fry or debris from something floating around that was eaten by something else.

 

[stevo01]

The knobby I had a powder brown tang, two black and white clowns, red mandarin, porcupine puffer, lawnmower blenny.

The green brittle there 2 orange misbarred clowns, 3 bangaii cardinal fish, lawnmower blenny.

Trust me I've been in and out of this hobby for years sea stars rarely eat fish unless you're lazy and refuse to target feed them.
Brittle don't like to move around much they stick there tentacles out and wait for very small pods, shrimp, maybe fry or debris from something floating around that was eaten by something else.

Yeah they are slow moving poor hunters.

 

[Catchemall]

Thanks so much for all the comments today. Always good to hear from people that have been there done that.

 

[Scubabum]

Spiny Brittle stars can live a long time. Mine is 23+ years old. Size of a silver dollar when I got it. Legs are at least 14 inches long.

 

[c.poindexter]

Generally the sand sifters will only survive about a year in captivity due to the lack of food available. They will clean the sand bed up so well that they eventually starve. You will hear so say that they deposit food in the sand to try to feed them, but then you have to worry about nutrients more.

 

[Betty1964]

I had a sand star for about three years until a total tank crash during El Derecho.

I have had really good luck with serpent stars (smooth legs) but don't care for brittle stars (hairy legs)...they are too much like spiders. Don't even get me started on arrow crabs.

 

[foxfacelo]

How are they at toppling rocks? Ever have an avalanche because of them?

I have never had them topple the rockwork. The biggest excavator in my tank is my maroon clown fish! Fortunately I put my rockwork directly on the tank bottom and not on the sand bed.