What Do I Need To Keep A Starfish

[marto]

Hello all,

Currently i have a 9gallon nano tank with 2.5kgs if live rock, 2 clownfish and 1 boxer shrimp.

It is just a strong fluro light and i was wwondering if there is anyway i could keep a small starfish in there?

What do i need to do and is it completly not going to happen?

Cheers

 

[steelhealr]

Unfortunately, starfish will not do well in a small tank. No one completely understands what they eat..but..some prefer sponges which are particularly difficult to maintain in a small tank. Although there are sporadic 'posts' on success, the likelihood is that the 'sea' star will starve to death.

Reading this, one might say "well, I'll give it a shot". However, when a star dies, it disintegrates quite rapidly and can crash your tank. Marto, you have to weigh the risks of trying to maintain the star vs. coming home to find a cloudy tank with everything dead in it, particularly in this very small nano tank. SH

 

[JJ1234567]

Let me add to Steels warning. I came home to a dead tank. If I never do it again it will be too soon. Dont risk it.

 

[Navarre]

My wife nano has a great collection of starfish!

She has plenty of Asterina starfish and they seem to be fond of the algae in the tank (cant prefer corals as she doesnt have many). However, i dont know of any place you can buy asterina stars. As for any other type of star... Nope, dont try it, they dont do well and even brittle stars rewuire more room than a nano can provide.

Last word which is off topic... Whatch the boxer shrimp with those clownsin a tank of this size.