Even though a picture is "borrowed" and brought to our site to use, it still uses the original sites bandwith. And it still belongs to someone. So, enjoying it here, screws with someone else unfortunately. We need pics to replace the below links. If you have one you would like yo use, send it to me via P. Thanks, Case Joined: May 17, Messages: Location: St. Pete FL. Thank you to everyone that is helping contribute to the thread!
Just got back from the LFS and I was not able to get any pictures of conchs. We are still accepting user submitted pictures. Last edited: Sep 4, UltimateWarrior , Sep 4, Thanks again to VegasFish! And TigerLilly, I will be patiently awaiting anything you can get to me.
Everyone else, feel free to submit, discuss, answer questions, and be generally helpful. Remember, not only do we want to identify fantastic sand sifters, but we also want input on their effects on a functioning sand bed.
UltimateWarrior , Sep 5, Alternatively, if your goal is to cut down on algae on the surface of the sand, could you opt for a more attractive option? Something like a tang. One from the bristle toothed Ctenochaetus genus. They have great appetites, offer additional movement, and fair well in established tanks. These sea stars are named for their work, which is sifting sand. In saltwater tanks with a deep sand substrate, Sand Sifters sift through the sand for food, and in the process turn the sand bed over to prevent anaerobic bacteria and pockets of toxic gases from forming in the sand bed.
The one drawback of these merry maids is that their appetite often exceeds the food supply. The enthusiastic aquarist will have to have an established tank of at least 75 gallons in order to support enough small organisms to keep Sand Sifting Sea Stars satisfied. Sand Sifting Starfish also need stability in their water parameters. They often live in rocky areas and sand beds. Because the starfish are constantly sifting, the sand cannot fulfill its purpose.
Sand Sifting Starfish are peaceful and easy habitants. When the detritus supply runs low, you will have to supplement their diet with small organisms like invertebrates and crustaceans.
The Sand Sifting Sea Star is quite lovely to look at, with tan and brown bands that alternate across its arms and body. FOWLR setups are popular in the aquarium.
Since some saltwater creatures are not reef safe, FOWLR tanks provide a safe alternative for reef unsafe inhabitants. Live Rock refers to the previous condition of the rock. Using a magnifying glass, we have seen tiny bugs smaller than a grain of sand that run about on our sand, also some that look like small clear shrimp, and some that look like little red and green Volkswagens.
If we add a sand-sifting star, would adding Copepods protect the integrity of the sand bed? Astropecten polycanthus I notice the second day that it had lost two of its arms. I have a 29 gallon tank with one Coral Beauty Angel, live rock and sand. Do you think the angel got it or is the nitrate level?
These animals need much more substrate than your tank can provide in order to find enough food, and even then, will quickly decimate the biota in the sand bed. I asked about the Bristleworms yesterday. Thanks, that was super helpful. Some, especially the Green ones, are active hunters. Most others, in my experience, are fine, notably the plain brown ones. Big ones are generally a bad idea, though. It was just disintegrating. It was fairly obvious that it was in the dying process, so I attached some pictures of it after I pulled it out of the tank.
Luckily this problem is common enough that it does not need any. Sand-sifting stars need a lot to function, and most sandbeds simply don't contain enough biodiversity to sustain them for an extended period of time. I confirmed from your website that stars don't get Ich, so I assume it was the fallen rock that killed my star? I guess the green tentacle-type things inside its body were what concerned me. The green things were wriggling around independently of the star, so I was afraid this could have been some sort of parasite or something.
So sad Unfortunately, odds are good that the star is already long gone once it begins to disintegrate. Also, seastars can be treated for bacterial issues, often effectively, if they are separated and treated early on.
Hit the "cached" link to find what you seek more quickly. Been nice to have a tank we can keep clean and enjoy. Sounds fishy, huh? About an hour later one of my sand stars has perched itself up on it's tippy toes, well star fish style that is. The body is straight up off the sand bed with the lower tips curled to lay on the sand floor with the very end of it's tips curled up in their usual radar style. None of the fish seem to care.
Do you have any idea what this little guy is doing? Debi Stanley-Viloria. I have a brittle starfish and a chocolate chip star fish. I also was concerned if it would harm a scooter blenny? This in itself is not good for your tank, but bodes even worse for the starfish. Unless your tank is large g or more with a mature DSB, this animal will likely starve to death within a year.
Regards, Eric R. Any major developments? I bought an LED flashlight a year or so ago and was amazed at how much light they can put out with relatively low power consumption and seemingly little heat. Seems ideal for our hobby. So far they are the ideal light source that isn't available. Last I heard, everyone was talking four to six inches. The other day a guy at my LFS said deep beds are out "they're fine for three or four years, then they crash.
What the heck are they? Nobody at the LFS seems to know exactly what they are, but everyone thinks they're a good thing and indicate a healthy tank. Don't worry just enjoy. The first one unfortunately didn't make it. Is something eating them? I don't recommend them in a reef tank and I think they are hurting your tank.
I wouldn't be surprised if this second specimen is suffering from the lack of food due to the first specimen. I'd either directly feed it, or remove it. I have some red-leg crabs, one emerald crab, Turbos and some Nassarius. Fish are Chromis, clown and a lawnmower blenny.
Nothing aggressive. Water quality, temp, etc. It's amazing how many "experts" there are at the LFSs This website is a fantastic service. Thank you guys so much for donating your time and your expertise to his hobby. Sand sifting sea star Hi. Just want to say your site is the Best!! I read your FAQ as a favorite pastime of mine. Wish I had found it before I purchased some of my equipment, though. Guess that's why we always upgrade, huh? Okay, now to work. I have a 92 gallon saltwater aquarium, Filstar Xp3 canister filter, protein skimmer, power sweep power head, 2 large bubble wands, watt heater, 30 lbs.
Tonga deep water live rock, 3 inch sand bed.. Water parameters are excellent.. Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrates are all 0. Salinity is 1. About a month ago, I added the stars to sift the sand, and now after reading your site, I have probably made a mistake. They have acted fine until yesterday, one of hem came to the top of the sand, and has yet to bury himself. He is staying pretty well in the same 5 inch area, and assuming some weird "hunching" position.
I have tried placing food under him, worrying he is starving to death, and he moves away from the food very slowly , but not far. Just 1 or 2 inches. What is wrong with him? One thing though, I would slowly raise your spg to 1.
The other star is still active, coming up every hour or so to find a new spot to clean. I may have made a mistake getting these guys, but I do like them, and I sure don't want them to die. Please help me. Thanks so much, in advance. I have attached a picture of the "hunching" position for you. Thanks for your reply to my starfish earlier this week. If you don't remember me, I have the 92 gallon saltwater tank, and a sandsifting sea star that won't go under the sand.
He still has not went back under the sand, but is moving a few inches here or there. Well today I noticed there are thousands of white bugs crawling all over the glass in my aquarium.
The live rock was quarantined and "cured" for 3 weeks in a 30 gallon trash can don't laugh, it was much cheaper that way, and very easy. It has since been in my tank for 2 to 3 months. Could this be why the star is staying on top of the sand? They are tiny, white bugs. They crawl very quickly, have antennas, and what appears to be a tail? It is hard to tell exactly what they look like, for they are very small.
Would my rock have already created these guys? If so, by the time I quarantine him won't these bugs really be out of control? Problem is that once the pods are gone the mandarin starves as they are difficult to acclimate to other foods. I also checked another site trying to figure this out, and it said they may be parasitic, but I see no evidence of them on any of my fish. Do I already have something in my tank that preys on these things?
To refresh your memory I have a 7" Regal Tang, 3" yellow tang, 2" and a 1" True Perculas, 2" yellowtail Damsel, 3" bicolor Pseudochromis, 2 Scarlet skunk cleaner shrimp, 2 sand sifting sea stars, 1 fancy red sea serpent star, lots of crabs and snails. Please help me, I was just sick at work today worrying my tank is going haywire!!
It just ruins my day if I think something is wrong in there. Thanks so much for your wonderful site. I think you guys are the best out there. Sorry to be such a bother, too. They are a very good food source and they will disappear shortly as some of the inhabitants will consume them. Sand sifting starfish!!! Hi guys. I've had my tank 29gal set up for about 3 months now. I have live sand about 2'' deep as well as LR about 8lb in my system. About a month ago I got one sand sifting starfish.
I needed something to clean my sand and those guys from PetCo told me to get a starfish. I've been reading this site and I find mixed opinions on those animals. I have few questions for you. Is my sand bed deep enough? Is it true that sand sifting starfish eats needed fauna and bacteria in the send, much needed for a marine system to exist? What can I use besides starfish that would not destroy my sand bed and would be effective in moving sand? A two inch deep sand bed is really not deep enough to provide enough food to keep this critter alive for any length of time.
A tank set up for just three months isn't going to be teeming with life in the sand bed. I'd take it back if you can and give your sand bed time to age so it will be teeming with organisms for the star.
Do a google search, keyword "sand sifting starfish", on the WWM. Amorous Starfish? It's pleasure to be a small part of it, Steve Allen. Both look to be doing really well, but the smaller is always and I mean always on top of the bigger one. I mean - 3 months! There's a Levitra commercial on my TV right now. Starfish have no brains, so their behaviors are strictly governed by primitive nervous systems. Maybe it has found a free ride agreeable. If it's been there for 3 months and is not wasting away, it must be eating something when you're not looking.
If they both seem healthy, I chalk it up to the individual behavioral oddities of nature and leave it be. Puffers and starfish I recently purchased a sand sifting starfish without realizing that they are not compatible with puffers. I have a saddleback and was curious why these would be problematic to each other. I do realize that they will nip at other fish and invertebrates but did not think the sand sifter was in its fooooood chain.
It's not worth taking the chance. I just recently set up a 37 gallon tank with about 2 inches of sand in the bottom and a nice lonely 4 piece of live rock that stuff is expensive!! But worth its weight in gold! Add more with caution I have had my tank like this for about 3 weeks and the sand started to get a little dirty looking.
So I went to my local aquarium store and they told me that I needed a clean up crew. So he goes off and gets me 3 snails and 3 crabs the ones that are in the shell. Usually, cleanup crews are way oversold. I asked him "isn't my tank to small" and he told me that he has been doing this for like 7 years and it will be fine. Sea cucumbers are much better choices for keeping the sand clean without destroying the beneficial critters. So I decided I would take his word for it and go with getting the sea star.
This is absolutely false. Sea stars with such physical damage on arrival very rarely survive. They can often endure it if they are well established and well fed, but not with the added stress of shipping. Put the bag in the water for like 15 minutes. Open the bag pour out a little water, Pour in a cup from my tank, wait 15 minutes a repeat 3 times and then put him in the aquarium.
My question for you is first of all should I have even gotten a sand sifting sea star? I personally do not recommend these to anyone. Let's give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he was just mistaken, but not intentionally lying. Will I ever see him since he is in the sand? And if I can't see him how will I know he is still alive? This is my first visit to your site and I am new to salt water. If you like this star it can be kept, however I believe you would benefit more by returning it to the LFS.
The hermits would be on a trip back as well if it were my system, but that's another thread. When you allow worms and pods fed upon by sifters and other omnivores, like hermits to proliferate in your system, it produces great amounts of phytoplankton naked to our eye, but a delicacy to many corals with smaller polyps mouths.
Worms and pods are also the kings of detritus breakdown; crawling within the tiniest of crevices and removing particles that would otherwise raise the nutrient levels of the system. There's a big difference between can they be kept and are they likely to do well. I think chastizing people for recommending against an animal that clearly has a poor survival rate in the hobby is a bit harsh.
Yes, some do fine, but it's a very small percentage. Also out of all of the sand sifters I've ever seen, maybe about 5 or so ever took to target feeding which really isn't much of a surprise. You should hardly expect all or even most of them to take to target feeding since "sand sifting stars" in the hobby aren't a single species.
They're a few dozen nearly identical species within two genera. Within those genera you have many species that are not only picky about the size of their food, but what type of animal it is. They'll feed almost exclusively on microscopic snails and crustaceans between the sand grains. There's very little hope of replicating their diet. On the opposite end of the spectrum are the species which are so general in their diets that they're used as a way to sample the diversity of infauna, and they'll even switch to feeding on detritus when "real" food is scarce.
Obviously they would be easy to keep fed. The trouble is that hobbyists have no way of knowing where in the spectrum their star will fall unless they're a taxonomist and the diet for that species has been studied.
Some say it rises in the West. The truth must be somewhere in the middle. Current Tank Info: tore them down to move and haven't had the time or money to set them back up. My astonishment is through all the comments that can be easily researched but are expressed through hear-say. Carnivore is a flesh eating predator, cucumbers are not carnivores, they fall into two categories of: Filter feeders - capturing passing phyto and zooplankton. Detritivores - taking in mouthfuls of sand and eating the slime coating of bacteria and algae from the grains.
Queen Conchs do not grow beyond a foot in length and their growth rate is slow being that not only does their length extend, but the shell thickens in proportion as well.
Sand sifters aren't going to destroy your bacterial bed and there are plenty of species suitable for confined care other than brittle stars. While I dispute the ability to keep one sand sifting star healthy, I repeat that I do not condone them. I believe in having a focal point and adding livestock to enhance that environment. For me a sand sifter would destroy the worms I rely upon for my system. All my tanks have gone to a DSB in the past 7yrs so that is something I can not afford to add.
If I ran a shallow bed and were fascinated with starfish, it is one I know I can keep. In any of my tanks a Fromia or Linckia is a better choice. I love it when greenbean comes on.
So knowledgeable.
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