Chocolate Chip Starfish Curled Up?

[Jerseygirl0398]

Well ive had my tank for about 3 months my tank finished cycling and everything was great the paramiters were great and my levels were zero it was time for something..so my boyfriend picked me up a peppermint shrimp and a chocolate chip starfish.. now the shimp seems to be doing fine and i read some where that the starfish curls its legs up to catch food..is he always supposed to be like this? he moved around quite alot last night and is now at ththe top of my tank..

 

[chrissaysyes]

Is he on the side of the tank with his leg curled like he's walking on the water? He's catching debris and algae film from the surface...it's normal but for a chocolate chip it could mean he's starving, do you feed it any meaty foods?

 

[Jerseygirl0398]

Is he on the side of the tank with his leg curled like he's walking on the water? He's catching debris and algae film from the surface...it's normal but for a chocolate chip it could mean he's starving, do you feed it any meaty foods?

well yea he does look like that hes on the side at the top they gave me a fod mix they use for thier animals and i used it dont know if he ate it.. and i tried blood worms i hav for my shrimp ...i do have some frozen shrimp in the freezer?

 

[chrissaysyes]

Like I said in that PM, and also I've heard of people putting the hand in the tank, dropping bits of shrimp into their hand while submerged, then placing the star in their hand...kinda makes me nervous since the things are capable of eating snails...dont want him munching my palm But you should totally try it

 

[tat2life]

yeah if you dont see him feeding then chances are he aint eating, they move so slowly you really to need to target feed them. when he is on the glass stick some frozen food on the glass next to him just above water level so it will stick, or just put it in your hand and then put him on top of it like chris said, it does work that way aswell becasue i used to do it with my blue star until i figured out sticking it to glass lol

 

[steelhealr]

CCS stars have a history of not doing well in captivity. Keep an eye on it and if there is any sign that it is dying or has died, remove it as quickly as possible from your tank it minimize contamination. They disintegrate quickly. SH

 

[Jerseygirl0398]

yea im trying to feeed him and im liek damn.. how the hell do i feed this thing.. its stuck tothe glass lol.. im liek i cant rip him off id hurt his little suckers HAHA.. and he moved abit last night and he looks a bit better hes still firm and has some color in his "chips" i was jsut worried cause i added him and my shrimp first and another site liek reemed me out and said that it was a bad idea...oh well cant go back now.. and the shrimp molted last night so i guess thats good.. the paramerts are all perfect..the salinity is perfect.. so i guess its jsut lets chop up some food and try and feed it to him.. i seen them little almost liek clips you hang on the tank.. maybe ill buy one.. i seen it in the store maybe thats what they use to attatch some food for the fish and star fishes.. so thhat he could just go over top of it and eat when he wants.. but im gunna try hand feeding him again today.. i tried with blood worms last night cause i use that for my shrimp but.. i dont think he got any of it.. i have some tiny shrimp i can use tho.. so.. maybe ill try that..

 

[tat2life]

just stick the frozen shrimp to the glass right next to him or just pull him off the glass lol it doesnt hurt the suckers they retract them back in. just wiggle it a bit rather than pulling it though. i hand fed mine by pullin it of the glass for a few weeks and was fine. is alot easier sticking the food to the glass though

 

[Jerseygirl0398]

i tried sticking it to the glass but it floted away i got a cool suction cup thing that holds the food but the shrimp i got is like completely frozen should i make it warm first?

 

[Lynden]

Chocolate chip stars are hardy, they are one of the few stars that DO have a decent aquarium record. You must find a way to feed it, any sea-faring meaty foods will do; one way is to jam food into rock crevices near the star. If you put it at the same place every time it will soon learn where to position itself when it is hungry.

P.S.
Yes, always unthaw the food.

 

[chrissaysyes]

I dunno how good of an idea it is the keep a chocolate chip with a shrimp just because of competition for food...for the record.

 

[Jerseygirl0398]

well the shrimp dont really bother it.. and they eat two different things the shrimp dosent usually try and take the food that i do try and give the star away.. so i guess thats good.. it kinda just chills by itself in its cave and at night jsut crawls around on the rock and occasionally trys to crawl up the glass but never near the star..i bought that clip thing for the food and i added some dethawed shrimp and he seems to be inching twords it so im hoping that works..i will wait till morning..if not i will try and take him from the glass and put the shrimp underneathe of him and see what happens..

 

[chrissaysyes]

Glad you're willing to invest so much effort into the little guys health!

 

[Jerseygirl0398]

well i love my tank..i dont want ne thing to get hurt.. he ate some of the shrimp i put on the clip last night but not alot..it was a mini sized shrimp and he ate a little bit from the top but he stopped. so i took the eaten shrimp out and threw it away cause i didnt want it to stay in the tank to long and make the levels go all haywire

 

[chrissaysyes]

Glad he's eating, do your best to mix up the food, maybe chop up some silversides or try different types of shrimp, clam, or oyster, variety is always good.