Getting rid of starfish - suggestions?

[KNelson]

I think I'm going to get rid of my sand-sifting starfish.  I don't think he's in danger of dying any time soon as I have a plethora of tiny snails and I inject food under him when I feed the tank, but it's time nonetheless.  I currently have 2 nassarius snails - how many more should I get?  Will I still get algae growth on my sand? 

 

Sand is apx 17x10x1.5"  Rock is set on eggcrate.

 

[mndfreeze]

Nassarius don't eat algae or anything, but do help turn the sand bed over when they burst out from under it to feed.  How many gallons is that tank?  Adding a few more won't hurt even if it's a small tank.  No matter what your sand will never be perfectly clean and pretty from just being turned over though.  You can look into adding something like a tiger tail cucumber as they injest the entire sand and poop it back out sparkling clean lol.

 

[KNelson]

@mndfreeze

 

Thanks for the reply!  It's a 12 gallon tank.  Current inhabitants are a Purple Firefish, a Citron Goby, a Circus Goby, 3 Banded Trochus, 2 Nass. and a smattering of corals.  I would love a cucumber!  I'll research them.  I tried a conch (grew too fast) and the star (does a fantastic job, I just don't want to be the one he dies on).  

 

EDIT: 2 sites in and it looks like it will be way too large for my tank 😶

[mndfreeze]

you specifically want a tiger tail cuc, and IMO its not to big, just get a small one.  You just need to be careful you acclimate it properly and not let your tank swing hard on quality or anything because cucumbers can poison your water if they die or get super stressed, but tiger tails are generally hardy.  They also basically hide in your rock and sand so it doesn't take up a lot of space or add bioload really.

 

[mndfreeze]

Also, they split to reproduce vs mating, so once you notice you have more then one just take out the larger one and trade it in at your LFS or something and keep the smaller one.  I had one in my 14G for over a year and it was great.  Did a good job cleaning the sand bed too.  It will leave little piles of perfectly clean sand poops behind. hah

 

[KNelson]

9 hours ago, mndfreeze said:

It will leave little piles of perfectly clean sand poops behind. hah

 

😂

 

Thank you for that info.  I'l check around at a few LFSs to see if they can get one for me.