Starfish from the ocean!

[dinger28]

I have a 300 gallon tank and am heading back to SC from Florida right now. I caught this 8 legged starfish and some sort of conch and was wondering if it could go in my 300 gallon once quarantine was over. Is this possible? I have a 10 gallon tank it will sit in on the way home. This is running with a filter and sand collected from the ocean. Any advice would be helpful. Thanks!!

[jraker]

Pic?

[dinger28]

Here are a few pics!

[dinger28]

Also, it's a 9 legged starfish.

[Ron Reefman]

The species of the sea star is Luidia senegalensis, and we see those get washed up on the beach here in SW Florida every time there is a storm or cold front passage (we only get a few each winter). They get really big. Twelve inches in diameter is common and I've seen them up to 16" in diameter and I would think they might end up being a real 'bulldozer' in a reef tank with corals. But that's just my best guess, I've never collected one to take home. A search online shows they are a scavenger and a predator that eat molluscs and crustaceans. In polluted waters they have been found to concentrate heavy metals in their tissue. I wouldn't consider it for any of my tanks. It may be officially 'reef safe' because it isn't know to eat corals. But that's because it doesn't live in areas with corals, it lives in sandy/muddy flats, not reefs. But it may well eat your conch and any other shelled animals in your tank.

I can't pick out the conch in the second pic, but that's a nice macro algae!

The conch in the 3rd pic looks like a Florida Fighting Conch but a better pic would be helpful. Florida Fighting Conch are herbivorous and reef tank safe if you have enough sand and open space for it to get around. You may have that room in a 300g tank.

[Betta132]

It's generally not a good idea to bring aquatic animals home if you don't know what they are, since you don't know how to care for them, what they'll eat, or if they have parasites or diseases on them that could infect your other animals. Starfish in particular are bad impulse purchases, many species are either destructive or will starve to death in aquaria. Also, most states require a collector's license of some sort.

[Ron Reefman]

Originally Posted by Betta132

It's generally not a good idea to bring aquatic animals home if you don't know what they are, since you don't know how to care for them, what they'll eat, or if they have parasites or diseases on them that could infect your other animals. Starfish in particular are bad impulse purchases, many species are either destructive or will starve to death in aquaria. Also, most states require a collector's license of some sort.

+1
This is good advise for 2 reasons.
1) If you don't know what it needs, you may not what it in your tank.
2) If you don't have the license and FWC stops you (they do patrol by boat, jet ski, car and truck... and helicopter) you could be looking at a HUGE fine and the lose of whatever you collected.

I often mention here on RC the things we collect when we snorkel in the Florida Keys or at Home on the beaches on the Gulf of Mexico. But we (my wife and I) both have multiple licenses that allow for us to collect under FWC restrictions. Just want to make sure everybody is aware.

[dinger28]

I returned it since I have a reef. It is now in the ocean again.

[Betta132]

Are you telling me you released a wild-caught starfish from Florida into South Carolina waters?
Don't do that. That's how we get invasive species and spread foreign pathogens.
Wild-caught animals, once they touch an aquarium containing animals from anywhere other than that exact area, should be considered to be contaminated with whatever pathogens are in the aquarium. Once an animal is removed from the wild, it needs to stay out of the wild unless very specific precautions are taken and it is released into exactly the same spot it was taken from.

[dinger28]

No it was released back in Florida. Thanks though.