basket star tank mate?

[rc]

i currently have a basket starfish in the tank that i plan on putting a baby bimac as soon as i get around to ordering it, the basket star is about 4-5" fully extended, could this animal pose a risk to the baby bimac??

 

[Jean]

Hi RC

Can't imagine that your star would bother the baby bimac, It's likely to be the other way round. That beastie is what I would call a crinoid or feather star and their arms can be very delicate. Just out of curiosity what do you feed it?? The NZ species are plankton feeders and won't have a bar of anything else. Although we did sometimes con them by squirting fish mush right onto the arms when the weather was too bad to put the plankton net out.

Cheers

J

 

[Colin]

never tried keeping one with an octo but i do agree that the octo is likely to annoy the star...

 

[rc]

ive tried feeding krll and other small frozen food, it hasnt eaten any of it, usually the the brittle star climbs on it and takes the food, it seems to be filter feeding, my tank is a sea of tiny white bugs (amphipods and copepods) the tank has been up for almost 2 months and i have a lot of caulerpa and other plants, probably where the bugs came from, im hoping that there are also lots of larger critters that have retreated the the sand or rock that the baby octo will be able to eat, enough rambling

my concern with the basket star arose when online i found people who feed theirs mysid and krill which leads me to believe they are carnivores, also when i touch it its arms seem to be very strong, the tip of its arm holds the end of my finger until my hand is out of the tank, then it lets go.

 

[Jean]

my concern with the basket star arose when online i found people who feed theirs mysid and krill which leads me to believe they are carnivores, also when i touch it its arms seem to be very strong, the tip of its arm holds the end of my finger until my hand is out of the tank, then it lets go.

Hmmmmm it's not too likely to feed on such large bits unless they are chopping the food up!

Crinoids such as you have are ciliary-mucous suspension feeders and are very passive. They will take detritus but it needs to be in the water column and pretty small. In many cases feather stars held in captivity die. check out the tree of life for more info

Crinoidea

Basket stars (Fam: Gorgonocephalidae) on the other hand are a little more robust although they are still filter feeders and tend to die in captivity.
try

http://www.centralpets.com/pages/critterpages/fish/saltwater_inverts/SWI1857.shtml


for info.

Despite the stars strong grip it's still pretty fragile. Those arms break very easily.

Cheers

J

 

[rc]

that was very interesting, in fact i have a feather star and not a basket star, very cool, i researched the info that you gave me. thanks a lot

 

[Jean]

Glad to be of help rc, can you keep me posted as to how your feather star is doing? We've had'm on display before and I'm always keen to hear of others keeping them (NOT that they'll ever replace cephs but they are an interesting group!)

J

 

[rc]

i have had it for about a week now and it seems to be pretty active, im not sure if this is good or bad, it might be active cuz its healthy or it might be active because it doesnt like the water conditions or current and is searching for a better spot?

i have seen many creatures on other web sites that actually live on the feather star such as shrimp and small crabs, if i could get some of these creatures im considering putting the star in a tank of its own