How to feed starfish?

[lpsouth1978]

I used to feed mine small pieces of raw shrimp. He LOVED it!

 

[austibella]

Hi experts, as there is no Starfish specific threads i am posting it here.

Do we need to feed starfish? If so, how do we feed them?

Here is mine..... moving around the tank so much not sure if he is looking for food and he has enough in the tank.

As you can see I have many stars here are just a few the others I only see at night I also have some large blue stars i only see at night.i feed my tank heavy with fresh cut up fish, as well as frozen and pellets in my 180 gal. I have never lost my stars . I think variety of foods as it is in the wild is key to success if you only feed fish a small amount of food there will not be enough left over food for stars crabs, shrimp etc.when you feed your corals with a turkey baster extra food should go to the bottom to feed everyone else.

 

[ssunthar]

As you can see I have many stars here are just a few the others I only see at night I also have some large blue stars i only see at night.i feed my tank heavy with fresh cut up fish, as well as frozen and pellets in my 180 gal. I have never lost my stars . I think variety of foods as it is in the wild is key to success if you only feed fish a small amount of food there will not be enough left over food for stars crabs, shrimp etc.when you feed your corals with a turkey baster extra food should go to the bottom to feed everyone else.

Wow.... nice.

 

[ssunthar]

I never had good luck with blue, orange, or purple linkia. Fwiw i always had better success with formia species of stars.
Most melt to alk and salt swings. Your doing great. Keep at it. Feed that monster!
Lol
D

I am guessing that formia species are reef safe?

 

[MJBraden9]

Know this post is a little old but figured I would share my experience with my orange linkia. LFS finally had one so grabbed it shortly after upgrading to a new tank, didn't move any of my old rock so was worried about him starving like most here in my 2 month old tank. I found that some fresh scallops from Wegmans (grocery store) work amazing, the starfish eats it EVERY single time and is getting in a routine of coming to the top for his feedings.

 

[Breadbox]

What species are people having success feeding? other than chocolate chips of course.

 

[ssunthar]

What species are people having success feeding? other than chocolate chips of course.

In my experiance.. brittle starfish are very easy to feed. I also have a red knobbed starfish which I feed the same way as my chocolate chip star.

 

[Tbg299]

Hi experts, as there is no Starfish specific threads i am posting it here.

Do we need to feed starfish? If so, how do we feed them?

Here is mine..... moving around the tank so much not sure if he is looking for food and he has enough in the tank.

I feed my sand sifting sea star some chunks of clam 2-3x a week. It

Hi experts, as there is no Starfish specific threads i am posting it here.

Do we need to feed starfish? If so, how do we feed them?

Here is mine..... moving around the tank so much not sure if he is looking for food and he has enough in the tank.

I feed my sand sifting sea star chunks of local caught Littleneck Clams 2-3x a week at night. This seems to be it's favorite food. It immediately emerges from the sandbed the second the clam meat hits the water.

 

[Tbg299]

What species are people having success feeding? other than chocolate chips of course.

My Indo-Pacific sand sifter star (Astropecten polycanthus) is doing fine feeding on clam meat.

 

[mysty]

So far, the only stars that I know prey on corals...and to be specific stony corals, are crown of thorns (COTS), certain asterinas and chocolate chips. Obviously COTS would hardly be in anyone’s tank given its destructiveness but choc chips have a reputation of feasting on sps especially. Yours doesn’t look like a coral eater and more of either a crustacean or mollusk eater. So just beware if you have any prized clams.

Always ask for reef safe stars when buying them if the pet shop knows anything about them they will know what is reef safe and what's not

 

[cws]

Thank u all for posting ; Our 5 inch star fish runs away from offered tiny fresh clam pieces placed under him thus Having same anxiety about my echinaster species “ red play dough” looking star fish starving slowly

 

[tes2022]

Wow.. does that mean my corals are in danger? So far i didn't see mine disturbing my corals so much. I guess thats what happened to my sand sifter last year... it died a silent death. Thank you very much.

I have a chocolate chip starfish and it eats shrimp and seaweed. My has tried to eat dead fish, pests in my tank(they were a small starfish breed and he ate them all) and tried to eat my Duncan coral. But! If your coral doesn’t fit in it’s mouth, it’s probably safe.

 

[littlefoxx]

Hi experts, as there is no Starfish specific threads i am posting it here.

Do we need to feed starfish? If so, how do we feed them?

Here is mine..... moving around the tank so much not sure if he is looking for food and he has enough in the tank.

I have three serpent starfish. I feed them with a baster and are always checking its disk! They just eat what I feed my tank, mysis, brine, plankton, krill, clams, squid ect!

 

[Letta's Lettuce]

Go to your local fish monger and buy a dozen clams. Regular clams, nothing fancy. Throw them in your freezer. When ready to feed ( a couple times a week) open a clam and cut off a chunk. Put the remaining back in the freeze for another feeding. You can use forceps to get the clam piece close to the starfish. It will "smell" the clam and come and get it from you.

Okay, so I went and bought the clams. Now I just chuck them in the freezer whole and pry a frozen one open and cut a piece off when ready to feed?

 

[redfishbluefish]

Okay, so I went and bought the clams. Now I just chuck them in the freezer whole and pry a frozen one open and cut a piece off when ready to feed?

Bingo! I found it very easy to shuck a frozen clam versus a fresh clam. (I'm not a clam person) I also found it easy to slice a slab off a frozen piece versus handling that little slim ball. The remaining piece goes back into a ziploc sandwich bag and back into the freezer for another day.