Insight on Chocolate chip sea star

[perryg]

Hello!I am currently doing research with chocolate chip sea stars, and i’ve been trying to keep them alive until we begin our study. We acclimated them to the water temperature for 2 hours, the salinity was the same as the bad, nitrates and nitrites are 0, perfect temp. The tank has a filter, a bubbler and some rocks from a separate tank for some natural microbes. The tank was running for about a week before we placed them in there. They came with a few white spots and one was dead, two are very pale in color): They are small and we made sure everything was okay in the tank according to the professors. They are active and eating, they do have some stringy filliments which to my understanding is their stomach content and mucas. What is the best way to keep these guys healthy to prevent any death. Any insight is so helpful!

 

[perryg]

here’s a photo, please no judgement the school is not their best on accommodations and the shipment of substrate hasn’t arrived yet

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

They require good water conditions, and they eat plankton, sponges and detritus that is found on sand and rocks. Since your tank has neither, they do not have their natural food source, they are probably starving. You can try to feed some meaty food like mysis.

With the tank only one week old and no natural food source, it will be an uphill battle to keep them healthy.

 

[perryg]

They require good water conditions, and they eat plankton, sponges and detritus that is found on sand and rocks. Since your tank has neither, they do not have their natural food source, they are probably starving. You can try to feed some meaty food like mysis.

With the tank only one week old and no natural food source, it will be an uphill battle to keep them healthy.

They each have their own live mussle they are all feeding on!

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Chocolate Chip Stars (Protoreaster nodosus) eat algal films, biofilms, and meiobenthos (benthic organisms like worms and pods and such that are small enough not to be considered macrofauna, but not small enough to be considered microfauna). The biofilms - specifically those found on seagrasses and sediments in this case - are thought to be the main component of their diet though (and many sponges are quite rich in biofilm forming microbes, so it's not really a surprise that many biofilm eating starfish are known to eat sponges).

ISpeakForTheSeas said:
If it is Protoreaster nodosus or a Pentaceraster sp., than it's a biofilm eater and will be difficult to feed long term - though biofilm eating starfish can usually survive a decent length of time in large enough aquariums (the smallest recommended tank size I've seen to accommodate this is 75 gallons, but bigger is substantially more likely to be successful as I understand it). Additionally, these species are known to eat corals in aquaria, so that would be something to keep in mind (this is largely thought to be a result of limited preferred food sources - i.e. it's thought that they eat corals when they run out of biofilm). Protoreaster nodosus seems to prefer biofilms that form on sediments and seagrasses, and Pentaceraster spp. seem to prefer biofilms that form on macroalgae (and possibly seagrasses too). So, having some seagrass and macroalgae in the aquarium could potentially help feed these guys, but there's no guarantee.

I've heard of people doing supplemental feedings with mussels, oysters, fish food, etc. but I haven't heard of any long term successes that way yet with any biofilm feeding starfish - long term being at least 18-24 months (preferably until the animal dies from old age).

The longest supplemental feeding (diet of oysters, Masstick, and whatever comes in on the liverock offered in the tank if I remember correctly) success I'm currently aware of with biofilm feeding stars is right around 10-11 months now though, and the star seems to still be healthy (most that I've heard of die around 6-8 months). Also, I'd have to reach out to them to verify this, as I don't quite remember for certain, but, if I recall correctly, the star's keeper may have had a couple of other species that didn't fair as well. So, your success with the supplemental feeding may depend on species, quality/freshness of feed, quantity/frequency of feeding, and the overall health of the specimens you're working with.

That said, I would not expect long term success (i.e. a long life) with biofilm feeding stars at this point in time. It's possible yours will do well, but - based off of what I've seen at this point - I would expect yours to live anywhere from about 8 to 13 months (assuming they're in good health).