Are Sand Sifter Starfish Any Good?

[fasturtle30]

someone can tell me if this type of starfish are good cleaning my sandbed?

[loves saltwater]

I have asked this question here before and got a split decision. Part of the folks here believe that it will destroy the good bacteria in the sand and the other believe they keep the sand bed in good shape so I am guessing you will get the same outcome.

[kau_cinta_ku]

which it does. it does a great job keeping the sand clen but will also eat all the living things in the sand to keep it from being LS. which is why i don't keep them. also they will not live long in home tanks. a good way to keep your sand clean are with a taiger tail cuke, nass snails, and a queen conch snail

[virginiadiver69]

Are you adding one to your 55 gal?
This topic tends to be contentious and like loves saltwater said, you will get many answers. The answer that seems to be most plausible is that yes, they are great at keeping the sand bed clean. They do such a good job that in a common sized tank
(anything under 300 gals) they will soon eat all of the life in the sand(it won't be live anymore) then slowly starve. You will surely get people saying "well...I have had one for two years and he has done fine". I am sure this is true but why play the odds? If your goal is to keep your sand bed stirred and cleaned the other suggestions are a much better option.
I am relatively new to this and am getting used to leaving the animal or specimen that I really wanted at the LFS (it happened yesterday with a thorny oyster that I REALLY wanted) because my tank is not suitable.

[drummereef]

Unfortunately they tend to starve in home aquaria. I don't believe other than brittle stars there is a good choice for our tanks.

[saltpeter]

No .

[turnburn]

I kept one for about a year. He did a number on my copepod population so I finally sold him back to the LFS.

[IslandCrow]

Get some nassarius snails and/or a sand sifting sea cucumber, just like Sam says. Be careful, there are carnivorous cucumbers as well, and they can cause issues releasing toxins if they get scared or stressed. Queen conchs, if they live long enough, will eventually get far too big for just about any home aquarium (1-2 feet across I believe). Go for a fighting conch. They do a good job on the sandbed and stay relatively small. Unfortunately, despite the name, they can't seem to hold their own against a belligerent hermit crab. Rest in Peace, Charlie the Fighting Conch.

[fasturtle30]

thanks guys i have one starfish already in my tank and is doing such a great job keeping my sandbed clean i guess also u damn scared me about it so im gonna try to get it back to the store or trade it in some way its been 2 days only in my tank so i guess didnt hurt too much dit it?


In adittion to this i have another qs. i have nassarius and snails and some blue legs but i guess they were not doing a good job since my trigger picasso was picking and killing them i guess but now the trigger is not in my tank, so you think the cleaning crew is gonna improve their job now?

[kau_cinta_ku]

as long as you don't have any other preditory fish in your tank they will do a good job. triggers are known to eat snails and other shellded animals.

[glockcoma]

Would a tiger striped serpent star also eat ls until its no longer ls

[IslandCrow]

Serpent stars for the most part are very reef safe. There are a couple that can be a danger to sleeping fish, but I don't think that's one. I believe they're mainly carnivores, though, so they probably won't do too much for your sand, but they're great scavengers. If they're like brittle stars, though (and I believe they are in this), don't spend too much money buying one that looks really cool. They'll promptly find a nice piece of rock to hide under during the day and only come out at night when no one sees them.

[AngeloM3]

FWIW..... I've had a sand-sifting star in my 50g (4"-5"DSB) for over a year.

What I think might help a bit.... I don't have many inverts that clean the sand.

[fasturtle30]

so your point is is you dont have many inverts 2 consume the the food in you sandtha star will keep healthy being the only guest down there? maybe you forgot about the LS issue?

[fasturtle30]

hey guys by the way i see many different opinios i just found this good looking starfish, SOMEONE TELL ME SOMETHING ABOUT THIS ONE PLEASE? :

http://www.saltwaterfish.com/site_11...ot_parent_id=4

[glockcoma]

if your just starting out, forget it, I had one and I later found out that they need an established tank and very vry intolerant to water changes, mine died in 2 weeks, IMHO DONT DO IT, youll waqste your money

[fasturtle30]

i got you and will follow your advice thanks

[EdKruzel]

Reading this thread, I'm shocked at all the misinformation, please stick to facts and not hear-say or minimal experience. There are many species of starfishes that will thrive in a home aquarium. The link to a fromia happens to be one of them. The question is which will coincide with the type system you have.

The original question referred to the Sand Sifting Star and keeping a sand bed clean. This species eats fauna (not bacteria) (although bacteria reproduce and die rapidly) and providing the sand bed is shallow (under 2''s) it won't effect the biological ability of the tank. Small particles of food (zooplankton) can be fed to keep your star healthy with a lifespan of three to five years.

In deeper sand beds the lower layers are devoid of oxygen and become anaerobic, feeding on nitrate converting it to free form nitrogen (about 80% of our atmosphere). In this type of biological filter it is imperative for the grains of sand to move only on a microscopic level which is accomplished by the small creatures (fauna) living within.
The best fauna for the job are worms and pods, however they really don't keep the top layer (aerobic) clean. Cucumbers feed on the bacteria and algae on the grains of sand by scooping up sand and redepositing it as waste in tiny clean loafs of sand. Many of the colorful cucumbers are stationary and highly toxic (all cucumbers are toxic to varying degrees), stick with plain brown or dull yellow cucumbers. There are numerous snails that will also help like Cerith, Nassarius and Queen Conchs (they won't grow 2' long). Queens will reach 10-12''s when mature which can take anywhere from 3-5yrs. Many hobbyists are in search for larger queens, so arrangements are often made with fish stores to trade in larger queens for the tiny juveniles. Fighting Conchs (grow to about 5''s) will clean sand as well, however go into long periods of dormant status.

[fasturtle30]

Hi Edkruzel i im happily impressed with your comments and valuable information, so i see you have like 20 years experience over saltwater and i could say that counts a lot!
Anyways if i understood what you say many starfish can be kept successful if you have the right environment wich is :

- Having a shallow sanbed under 2" (deeper ones require more care) won't affect the biological function of the tank.

- As well feeding them with small pieces food like zooplancton besides all food they eat over the sanbed

- Keeping snails, conchs or hermits won't hurt these starfish environment and will help cleaning the sandbed ?????

I hope i understood this concept ! i have a 55 gl u can see the information over my profile and keep nassarius, snails and blue legs, 3 turbos and now a SANDSIFTER Starfish for 3 days about, i was puting little pieces of zooplancton under its body and almost getting ready to return it to the LFS or echange for something else, however i would like to hear from you so i can clear these concept for my tank and other people who can learn from this thread, i dont have a deep sandbed now is under 2".
will be waiting for your comments!

[EdKruzel]

The correct environment has many variables and is different for many species such as the Chocolate Chip (Protoreastor nodosus) which is one of the hardiest, however does not like to be exposed to air for any length of time and will eat corals and especially clams. The Blue Star (Linckia laevigata) is reef safe, has the ability to grow large (requiring a minimum of 75gal) and feeds mainly off of bacteria and very small alga that we often refer to as slime algae that grows on the glass. The problem with many linckia is that they ship poorly and finding a healthy one can be difficult.

Now back to the Sand Sifter (Astropecten polycanthus) target feeding this species as you mentioned is the way to go; use a variety of foods throughout the week to figure out which it responds to best. Once feeding from a prepared food, you won't have to target feed as it will begin to search on its own. It will continue to eat what creatures you have in the sand bed, but since it's less than 2''s you won't have to worry about anaerobic zones being disturbed. 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.

[greenbean36191]

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. Based on my experience I would guess it's less than 10%. 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.

[EdKruzel]

In my experience I'm 100% for a minimum of three years and that is with more than a dozen specimens. 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.

[UnderCoverDork]

do not get a SSS for your 55 gallon..it will starve
they sure do keep the sand WHITE though

[hmello@bermexin]

I love it when greenbean comes on. So knowledgeable.

[virginiadiver69]

Originally posted by EdKruzel
Reading this thread, I'm shocked at all the misinformation, please stick to facts and not hear-say or minimal experience.

Where do you get your facts from?

Originally posted by EdKruzel


The original question referred to the Sand Sifting Star and keeping a sand bed clean. This species eats fauna (not bacteria) (although bacteria reproduce and die rapidly) and providing the sand bed is shallow (under 2''s) it won't effect the biological ability of the tank.

I don't think the issue is the health of the sand bed as much what will the sea star have to eat after it has decimated the sand bed weather it is shallow or deep.

Originally posted by EdKruzel
There are many species of starfishes that will thrive in a home aquarium. The link to a fromia happens to be one of them. The question is which will coincide with the type system you have.

While there are a FEW (not many, as stated) stars that will survive in a home aquarium they are mostly the brittle star variety. Sea Stars in general and the Fromia is in particular, according to Dr. Ronald Shimek are "not suitable for most tanks; will often live for a year or so then die of malnutrition".