What is my Sandsifting Star Doing?

[Isla_Nut]

Is this normal?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

That looks like the pose sea stars use when spawning - I’ve heard on here that the stars may also do this to excrete waste (which may be true, I’m honestly not sure - it would seem to make some sense given that Astropecten spp. lack an anus, so they would need to spit any indigestible items out their mouths, but I don’t know how necessary it would be for them to pop up like that to get the waste out).

 

[TokenReefer]

Push-ups..duh

 

[Isla_Nut]

Lol, ok thx. For the last couple of weeks it stays arched like that most of the day & rarely buries under the sand anymore. Still moves around at night tho.

 

[Rick's Reviews]

Following. I've recently introduced one

 

[Rick's Reviews]

How long have you had it? How old/new is your aquarium, do you feed anything extra? I tried algae pellets and he just moved away.
I have loads of algae and I'm sure he will be happy in my sand but just testing to see

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

Is this normal?

Dancing w the Stars

 

[Rick's Reviews]

Dancing w the Stars

Do you own one? Or owned

 

[Rick's Reviews]

These guys are weirdly stiff, you may think ' pink Patrick' from SpongeBob cartoon's but honestly to see a starfish bend and act this way is unusual for me so I would like information to know more

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

It really is how they (and many other starfish species) spawn - for example, Astropecten polyacanthus spawning below:

Source for this image:

Edit: if you Google "Starfish spawning" and go to images, you'll find tons of pics like this one.

 

[albano]

Despite a few success stories. sand sifting stars rarely survive in an aquarium… best left in the ocean.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Despite a few success stories. sand sifting stars rarely survive in an aquarium… best left in the ocean.

From what I've seen, it seems most people don't realize they need to feed these guys (they don't just live on detritus in the sand bed - they actually prey on bivalves and gastropods in the wild), so I'd assume they would do fine as long as they're offered a decent diet in addition to the detritus in the sand.

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

Do you own one? Or owned

Long long time ago in a tank that drained away. I had other stars do well. But just have my brittle for cuc atm

 

[Isla_Nut]

From what I've seen, it seems most people don't realize they need to feed these guys (they don't just live on detritus in the sand bed - they actually prey on bivalves and gastropods in the wild), so I'd assume they would do fine as long as they're offered a decent diet in addition to the detritus in the sand.

Thx for the info. I've fed it live plankton & frozen copepods. Do u think it would eat reef roids?

 

[Rick's Reviews]

From what I've seen, it seems most people don't realize they need to feed these guys (they don't just live on detritus in the sand bed - they actually prey on bivalves and gastropods in the wild), so I'd assume they would do fine as long as they're offered a decent diet in addition to the detritus in the sand.

Same as all, offer a variety daily/weekly/ monthly, see what they eat/ don't eat and continue from there

 

[ying yang]

Not saying this is what your starfish is doing,but sure I read years ago that certain starfish hunt like this where arch up like this and a fish or some other thing goes in for safety thinking it's a cave etc then starfish then drops down and eats it lol.
As I say not saying yours is doing this and I know saying sand sifting starfish so more than likely isn't doing this ,but thought I'd throw this in the mix ^_^

 

[Rick's Reviews]

Thx for the info. I've fed it live plankton & frozen copepods. Do u think it would eats reef roids?

We both learning
Try algea flakes, just break them up into smaller pieces, or crab cuisine, I know over feeding is bad but if my starfish seems entertained by other foods then I will continue, at the moment mine is just enjoying algae in my aquriam

 

[Isla_Nut]

We both learning
Try algea flakes, just break them up into smaller pieces, or crab cuisine, I know over feeding is bad but if my starfish seems entertained by other foods then I will continue, at the moment mine is just enjoying algae in my aquriam

I didn't realize they ate algae, lol. Shows how much I know. Thanks!
Already have some algae for my new Foxface in quarenteen

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

My current advice to avoid the star staving - which may or may not help, I genuinely don't know at this point (it could take someone months to years of testing it to find out for certain, as sea stars can last months without food):
Target feed the star things like clam on half shell, oyster, mussel, scallop, etc. (bivalves); snail, whelk, conch, etc. (sea snail gastropods); and a good quality omnivore food (like LRS Reef Frenzy or Fertility Frenzy). These are - according to the best sources of information I can find - the sorts of foods sand sifting stars consume in the wild, and the star should swallow these foods whole if they aren't too big - you might need to experiment a bit with the size of the pieces offered to get it sized just right, but generally I'd say err on the smaller side.

 

[Rick's Reviews]

They don't eat algea!. offer a variety of foods to see if any they enjoy or may move towards once offered, I placed algea wafer next to star fish, I placed 'cyclops' or something wierd named dried food next to star fish, hikari flakes, pellets bloodworms.
I'll do the same next week
I assume it's just enjoying life in my sand