Offical Starfish (Fromia) Thread

[bobioden]

I have always wanted a small starfish. I have been researching them for the past 2 years and finally decided to take the plunge. The Fromia I wanted was the Fromia Milleporella from Bali. I bouight one locally on 2/15/05. I did a 3 hour drip acclimation, and he is doing fine so far. Their diet as best as I can find is small Microalgae film with grows on the LR and tank glass. They also love sponges, which my tank has in abunbance.

 

 

 

Here is a little bit about them:

 

The Red Sea Star, or Red Starfish, of the genus Fromia may be various shades of red. It has multiple black pores (dots) on its surface. The tips of the arms are the same or a lighter color than the rest of the arm, differentiating it from Fromia indica.

 

It generally lives alone, but if the aquarium is large enough to support more than one, it will tolerate others of its own species. It requires a mature tank with algae and is generally fairly self-sufficient in the aquarium, finding enough micro-organisms and detritus to scavenge if live rock is present. It is diurnal.

 

The Red Sea Star is very intolerant of sudden changes in oxygen levels, salinity and pH of the water, and cannot tolerate copper-based medications. The drip acclimation method is highly recommended for all Sea Stars due to their intolerability to changes in water chemistry. It should never be exposed to air while handling.

 

The Red Sea Star is extremely difficult to breed in an aquarium, with no distinguishing characteristics to help differentiate it from its mate.

 

If there is insufficient algae growth in the aquarium, the diet should be supplemented with flaked foods, and small pieces of fish or mussel.

 

 

 

 

 

I am hoping others who have a Fromia will post and share pics and experiences.

 

 

Bob

[bobioden]

Some pics of mine.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 8, 2005 by bobioden

[bobioden]

Some more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 8, 2005 by bobioden

[B16A2NR]

Good luck, Mine self destructed for no reason one day. Still have a nice green linkia though. I like your last photo.

[bobioden]

Originally posted by B16A2NR

Good luck, Mine self destructed for no reason one day. Still have a nice green linkia though. I like your last photo.

 

Thanks, How long did you have yours?

 

Bob

[SLOreefer]

ive always wanted one but with a small tank i didnt want to risk it. are these any hard/easier to keep than the indica from your research?

[bobioden]

Originally posted by SLOreefer

ive always wanted one but with a small tank i didnt want to risk it.  are these any hard/easier to keep than the indica from your research?

 

I think the Indica are sharp looking starfish. From what I have read there dosen't seem to be one species of Fromia that is easier to keep than another. They are all hit and miss. The main thing is to get them acclimated correctly. Then go from there. I choose the one I got because I wanted to buy locally, and the Milleporella seems to be available from time to time. I have never seen a Indica around Denver. The Marbled ones occasionally but they have always been pretty big. The LFS where I got him quarintines all livestock, and I have had a great success rate with everything I have purschased from this reef store.

 

Hard/Easy??? Hard to say, still to early. I know the one I have is amazingly fast. I will see him on the glass, turn away and look back a few minutes later, and he will be on the other side of the tank. They like float across the sand. He also is out in the open alot. Loves the front of the tank, which makes me happy.

 

 

 

Bob

[B16A2NR]

Mine lasted a month. I acclimated him for 2 hours.

[timb000]

I had mine since november and is still ticking. When I do waterchanges I sometimes forget that the red starfish is on the top part of the tank and is exposed to air. I just knock it down and it is fine. Scared the ###### out of me though. lolz

I acclimated the star for 4 hours. They need long acclimation times thats what I hear. Will take some pics on my next day off.

[RandyO]

From what I have read, virtually any starfish you purchase and put in your tank is destined to die of starvation. Not due to bad husbandry but just that the tank enviroment is not suitable to starfish. Good luck

[Withers]

Originally posted by RandyO

From what I have read, virtually any starfish you purchase and put in your tank is destined to die of starvation.  Not due to bad husbandry but just that the tank enviroment is not suitable to starfish.  Good luck

 

While this statement has merit, it's not necessarily true. I had a starfish for about a year and 6 months (he stuck with me through more than 1 tank), and he was fine in all my tanks. I could never feed him though, he was feeding off of something on the live rock I assume, but he never touched my corals the entire time I had him. Then one day, I found him attached to one of my A. tenuis frags. I pulled him off, and it turns out he was eating it!!!! Needless to say, he was returned the next day, unfortunately.

 

So, I would say they have 2 options. Either they starve to death, or they realize that there is other sources of food in the tank (corals usually). For reference, this was not a fromia, it was a Haitian Reb Knobby. And I know what you're thinking... they're not reef safe, but there are 2 species that look very very similar, one is reef safe, the other is not, I had the reef safe kind. I've been itching to try another one, but I haven't taken the plunge yet. Here's a pic, just for the hell of it.

 

[finmktmgmt]

I've had a chocolate chip star in my nanocube for many months now. He usually just chills out at all various parts of my tank grazing on algae. He usually hangs out on the surface sometimes exposing his mouth so I throw some flakes in dead center. His tentacles go crazy and he eats them up. I guess that's a good thing because I enjoy him a lot and wouldn't want him to starve to death.

 

I guess I'm just lucky to have him for this long.

[bowfront26]

I love mine, never had any probs. I've had it for about 5 months, never directly feed him.

[bobioden]

Originally posted by timb000

I had mine since november and is still ticking.  

I acclimated the star for 4 hours. They need long acclimation times thats what I hear. Will take some pics on my next day off.

 

Timbo- glad to hear yours of doing good. Do post some pics when you get the chance.

 

RandyO do you still have yours? It looks alot like the one VicSkimmer had. BTW- very looking nice Starfish Vic.

 

Bad Starfish

 

 

 

Bob

[bobioden]

Originally posted by finmktmgmt

I've had a chocolate chip star in my nanocube for many months now.  He usually just chills out at all various parts of my tank grazing on algae.  He usually hangs out on the surface sometimes exposing his mouth so I throw some flakes in dead center.  His tentacles go crazy and he eats them up.  I guess that's a good thing because I enjoy him a lot and wouldn't want him to starve to death.

 

I guess I'm just lucky to have him for this long.

 

I think the CC Starfish looks cool, but all I have heard is they are a big NO-NO in a reef tank.

 

Bob

[bobioden]

Originally posted by bowfront26

I love mine, never had any probs. I've had it for about 5 months, never directly feed him.

 

This is good to hear. Have any pics bowfront26?

 

 

Bob

[rbeleno]

Have had mine for 2 months now since January and it's doing fine moving around. So far happy with it.

 

Ron

 

 

[RandyO]

I still have my Red Knobby and am hoping it is not starving. I think they can survive a year or more as they starve. Bottom line is if they lose a leg, they are starving. I would love to think he is doing just fine because he is still alive but I think I would be kidding myself.

 

If I had a place to get rid of this one, I would. He is extremely active and hate to see it die. Makes it especially bad is that they will replace this one with 2 more.

 

I am more than willing to accept blame for picking an animal I should not have. Featherdusters are a lot like this, they take a year or so to starve to death.

 

Now if we had data on what the actual life span was........

[Travis]

Do any of you guys have clams with your starfish? I want one, but I also want a clam. Does this type of star eat clams?

[technoshaman]

Biggest problem with fromia's is no one is 100 percent sure what exactly they eat. Most reading I have done points to possibly small colonial animals , sponges, tunicates etc or bacterial or algal films. I go have a small one in my 220 that has been there about a year - in a smaller with little live rock I could see them starving in short order.

 

I can sort of reccomend a Linckia multiflora. I've had one going on 3 years now through several tanks and it's fairly hardy but again need a lot of mature live rock to hope it has enough to eat.

[kermoga]

Wish I could get a pic but my cam sucks. I think I have the Fromica indica, leastwise the entire body is a solid deep red, with no color variation. I've had it for about a month and a half, and I'm really excited that he's become very active in the last week.

[RandyO]

Travis, I have heard some not so good stories about many clams as well. Some of these more interesting species are truely neat to look at but trying to maintain them is another story. I can not prove it but I am pretty sure my red knobby is getting smaller.

 

I do not mind learning how to take care of things, I just do not like killing them in the process.

[timb000]

Here you go the best pic I can get today.

 

[bobioden]

rbeleno - cool starfish, looks just like mine. How big is it?

 

Travis- I have mine in with a 4" Maxima Clam and he dosen't bother it at all. I don't think the Fromia's are Clam eaters.

 

technoshaman- that is what I have read also. As far as anyone know they eat microalgae film off the LR and tank glass, along with sponges. I haven't seen mine eat any sponge yet, but he has alot to pick from one he decides to munch.

 

timb000 - Nice Star. Is that a Fromia, Linckia, or a Orange SeaStar(Echinaster)? How big is it?

 

Love the pics and info so far.

 

 

Bob

[redparrotbubbles85]

What does algae film on the glass actually look like? is it just like green algae that makes it hard to see through the glass?