Sand sifting starfish

[villmets]

Hi--

I have had a beautiful sand sifting starfish (like the one in this stock photo) in my 190 ga reef for 4 years and he is healthy and fun to watch--I am always replenishing my clean up crew--I am sure the starfish is the culprit eating them--any suggestions or is he doomed to my sump?

 

[stanleo]

I have had mine for 6 months and never have a problem with disappearing cuc. Never read anything about them going after inverts but I could be wrong. What else do you have in the tank?

 

[Gareth elliott]

They eat microscopic fauna in your sandbed. In a closed reef this is often to the point of extinction of everything in the sand. You maybe losing cuc simply because there is nothing to eat. That said i a have to replenish snail population every now and then from the activities of my hermits. I also have terrible luck with turbo snails, somehow i always end up with the temprate kind that die in 6 months, i stopped ordering them.

 

[albano]

Shocked to hear that you’ve had him for 4 years.... in fact most reefers post that they rarely last a year, and should be avoided.

 

[AlexG]

I have had a bunch of sand sifting starfish for over 2 years now in my reef. They stick to consuming microfauna in the sand and are not looking for snails or crabs to eat. As it was stated though they can deplete their food supply so its best to ensure the sand bed can support them with plenty of micro fauna. I don't clean my sand bed as I let the starfish and the cucumbers do that work. Depending on the type of snails you get some do better than others. I recommend black foot trochus snails as they are hardy, breed in captivity, can right themselves easily, require less food compared to mexican turbos. Hermit crabs always slowly die out either because they can't get new shells or fight with each other over shells/food.