Starfish in a 10 gallon reef tank?

[Reefer_E]

I have a 10 gallon reef tank that currently has a clown fish, a candy cane coral, and a Xenia. I was looking at getting a fire and ice zoa and a star fish I found a Ehinaster spinulosus or orange starfish and was wondering if it could be in my 10 gallon.

 

[legalreefer1]

I’m no expert- but in a tank that size I’m pretty sure you can only have a brittle or serpent star

 

[VintageReefer]

It would likely only live for a few months and then begin to deteriorate. Some starfish can be fed with tongs but I do not know if the stuff we would feed (mysis and thawed frozen foods ) has all the nutritional requirements they need. They eat biofilm and would deplete a 10g tank in a couple months.

 

[tzabor10]

I have a 10 gallon reef tank that currently has a clown fish, a candy cane coral, and a Xenia. I was looking at getting a fire and ice zoa and a star fish I found a Ehinaster spinulosus or orange starfish and was wondering if it could be in my 10 gallon.

I found a few starfish for you

 

[VintageReefer]

Yes you could get what’s called micro bristle star, or a larger brittle star, which are detritus eaters and would also do fine on meaty foods

 

[Reefer_E]

Yes you could get what’s called micro bristle star, or a larger brittle star, which are detritus eaters and would also do fine on meaty foods

So would the micro brittle eat only algae from the tank?

 

[fishguy242]

Agree with above ,only micro brittles for that size tank,will eat leftover food debris ,etc, not algae.

 

[VintageReefer]

So would the micro brittle eat only algae from the tank?

They eat leftover food from feeding fish and corals and possible algae. I just fed my tank and they are coming out in these pictures. They have thin striped arms and are probably 1-1.5” in diameter but mine live in gaps between frags and plugs. They come out when they smell food in the water

I can’t get any great photos but if you look under the corals you will see curly striped arms

 

[Reefer_E]

Yes you could get what’s called micro bristle star, or a larger brittle star, which are detritus eaters and would also do fine on meaty foods

Would a chocolate chip starfish work?

 

[VintageReefer]

5x Live Micro Brittle Starfish Saltwater Reef Tank CUC Cleanup Crew Free Ship! | eBay

Micro starfish are small and don't get large like other brittle starfish.

www.ebay.com

I know this seller, I’ve purchased coral from them before and have had many convos with them. They are a trustworthy seller and good shipper

 

[VintageReefer]

Would a chocolate chip starfish work?

They eat coral

 

[VintageReefer]

This might be more along the lines of what you are hoping for…it will scavenge good but you would need to feed it every day or two

Red Serpent Starfish Live Marine Saltwater Reef Safe | eBay

Like other serpent and brittle stars, they are easy to care for and will eat almost anything that falls to the bottom of the tank or lands on the rocks.

www.ebay.com

 

[Alexraptor]

Your best bet would be asterinas, often found as hitchhikers. They are probably the only variety of starfish that actually truly thrives in a nano.

 

[Reefer_E]

This might be more along the lines of what you are hoping for…it will scavenge good but you would need to feed it every day or two

Red Serpent Starfish Live Marine Saltwater Reef Safe | eBay

Like other serpent and brittle stars, they are easy to care for and will eat almost anything that falls to the bottom of the tank or lands on the rocks.

www.ebay.com

I was thinking more of this

Assorted Red, White, Black, Brown Brittle Starfish Clean Up Crew

addictivereefkeeping.com

It’s more in my price range

 

[VintageReefer]

Those should be ok in your tank but keep in mind these need to be fed. They will grab food right out of tongs

 

[Reefer_E]

Those should be ok in your tank but keep in mind these need to be fed. They will grab food right out of tongs

Will the eat any animals in the tank? Just don’t want to find him eating my clown fish

 

[VintageReefer]

Will the eat any animals in the tank? Just don’t want to find him eating my clown fish

They won’t eat anything alive. If something is decaying or dead they will eat it

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

I agree with the above comments - if you want to keep starfish, I recommend either Brittle Starfish (*not* the Green Serpent Starfish, Ophiarachna incrassata, as it's a known fish-eater, but pretty much any other brittle starfish is safe), or, if you want a true starfish, Aquilonastra Stars (known in the hobby as "Asterina Stars" - the ones mentioned above).

There are currently 32 accepted species in the Aquilonastra genus - some of them seem to be safe while others are known to eat zoas (whether they mean to eat them or not is still unknown); a few, rare species may also occasionally go after a different kind of coral, but it's incredibly rare.

With you wanting zoas, I'd suggest brittle starfish.


Brittle starfish are actually Ophiuroids, while true starfish are Asteroids; brittle starfish typically do well in our tanks, and can be sustained readily on things we feed our fish. True starfish, on the other hand, typically fair very, very poorly in our tanks, usually starving within ~8-13 months. To overgeneralize a bit, there are basically two kinds of true starfish: predatory stars (generally not reef-safe, as they may eat corals and/or other critters in the tank; the ones that are comparatively easy to feed adequately are typically temperate/coldwater stars) and biofilm-feeders (generally reef-safe with a few noteworthy exceptions - like the Chocolate Chip Starfish - but borderline impossible to feed adequately at this point).

 

[Malum Argenteum]

This might be more along the lines of what you are hoping for…it will scavenge good but you would need to feed it every day or two

Red Serpent Starfish Live Marine Saltwater Reef Safe | eBay

Like other serpent and brittle stars, they are easy to care for and will eat almost anything that falls to the bottom of the tank or lands on the rocks.

www.ebay.com

I've had a couple of those big red ones. They're too much star for a 10g, IMO -- they can get big, and I wouldn't trust them with fish in those tight quarters.

I was thinking more of this

Assorted Red, White, Black, Brown Brittle Starfish Clean Up Crew

addictivereefkeeping.com

It’s more in my price range

Even better than those might be some of the common serpent stars, such as the harlequin serpent star. All the serpent stars (Ophioderma?) I've had stayed smaller than all the brittle stars (Ophiocoma?) I've had, and they might even be a little more hardy.

 

[PharmrJohn]

Would a chocolate chip starfish work?

If your gonna have corals, no. No serpent stars either. I'm for the micro-brittles. I would be worried that a standard sized star would starve slowly.