Tile Sea Star...Do they break things? How hard to keep?

[duganderson]

Would a small (2-3") Sea Star like a Tile Sea Star, (Fromia monilis) tend to break coral or knock over frags due to crawling around on them? I"m most concerns about my small photo synthetic gorgonians, SPS like birdnest or mont cap?

 

Also, how hard are they to keep alive (Red Sea 34 g.)? My parameters are pretty stable (not quite good enough for SPS right now).

 

Thanks, Doug

 

 

[Thomas898]

I've got a small red fromia indicia, assume they are around the same size, mine crawls over absolutely everything, pleased to report nothing has ever been broken or moved. SPS are quite strong and would take a lot more than a little star to break them, they move surprisingly fast too so they don't spend too much time anywhere you don't want them to be.

 

As far as hard to keep alive, I've personally had mine for about 3 months now, but problem is no one really knows what they eat in captivity, a mature system with a variety of foods should help, but there is not a lot of reported success keeping fromias in captivity long term.