i need help about dem stars

[i got crabs]

Hi every body!
Just want to say this a great site! iv,e been interested in octos for 2 years but found almos no info till i found this site about 1 week ago.
any-who..i just had a few questions and was wondering if someone could help me.
#1. I have a 45 hex with with 2 brittle stars and about 5 1in horseshoe crabs. (the horseshoe crabs were only 5$ for 5 and i figured they we make a good meel if i ever get an octo. plus there constant burrowing keeps the sand nice and stirred up so stuff cant settle on it.) everything going good, water parameters where they shoul be, animals fed often but very small amounts, and the tanks been running for just a few days shy of 3 months. the other day i found both brittle stars curled up into balls and seemingly motionless. this was unlike there initiall behavior, when i first introduced them they crused around the bottum of the tank and rocks for hours. i took them out thinking they were dead but after a few sec noticed there spikes(feet) had started slowly moveing. i ret them to the tank and a few days later they started moveing around again. in fact today i observed that they had re established themselves under da rocks and were busy (sweeping) for food. the stars are pink overal but brownish underneath. in addition to there feet they have bulb like extentions that grow off there legs. any idea what caused there odd behavior or is this normal.

#2. I placed an order for octopets. Gave them my credit info and all. and the next day saw on this site that octos currently out of stock. tried to call but no call back as of 5/11. what im wondering is does this put me on a waiting list? i understand that what o.p. is doing is difficult and ill just have to b patient but i want to know that im not waiting in vain. if u place an order do they respond once the order has been placed? if any 1 has any info i regarding either topic i would appreciate the help, till then im gonna go listen to m.s.i. records.

 

[Nancy]

Hi and welcome to Ceph Care!

Have you tested your water parameters to make sure they are good - you should have sg of around 1.026, ph 8.2 or thereabouts, Nitrites 0, Nitrates 0 (could be a little higher), Ammonia 0. This is what your future octo needs, and the brittle star behavior could be due to water parameters. I hope someone else can shed some light on this.

Octopets usually puts you on the waiting list, and they are hiring customer service people to respond about orders, but I don't imagine they're full time people. You might try an email.

Nancy

 

[Squiddyfish]

That sounds like a salinity issue to me...I've noticed brittle stars do that when salinity fluctuates.

 

[i got crabs]

Thanks Nancy and Squiddyfish for the advise but both water conditions and salinity are good.(ammonia-0,nitrites-0,nitrates-almost as low as the scale will go b4 reaching 0, and i use pre bottled sea water so its always 1.025. Unfortunetly it turns out they were fighting i just never saw it happening becuase im out all night(when there most active.) i did however find one starfish torn apart and the other eating it! i have never heard of this b4. is this something i should b concerned about for when i get my octo? there are other starfish in the tank and they seem to get along fine. is this just because they were the same species maybe? (the others are a chocalate chip, and some kind of small black spikey long thin armed kind of weirdo who realy likes frozen shrimp. realy likes um! Any advise would be appreciated. P.S. the winner is doing fine infact hes more active then ever now and has grown considrably over the past week.

 

[Jean]

HI I got crabs!

Strange behaviour for brittlestars! Sounds like a feeding issue to me. What do you feed them??? Brittlestars are generally either scavengers or filter feeders. Yours sound like the scavenging variety! I would hazard that one died and the other had a jolly good feed! If they are scavengers you may need to add a little extra food for them to feed on at night. A piece of clam flesh or a frozen shrimp every other night (many brittlestars are primarily nocturnal!) and remove any uneaten food first thing in the morning.

Many folk suggest that these stars can get by with leftovers from feeding of the other inhabitants but we've found that this is not generally so and we do feed our brittlestars.

when you get you octo the main problem I can see is that the movements of the octo may cause the star to drop arms. We don't keep brittle stars in with our octo here. The star can only cope with that kind of stress for so long!!

Hope this of some help!

Cheers

j

 

[i got crabs]

hey jean, thank you for the advice. i feed them frozen krill/shrimp. thawed of course. the chocalate chip and the black spikey realy like them. in fact if i stab a skrimp on the end of shish ka bob and dangle it a few inchs away they will grab for it. the pink star dosent like the shrimp but i dont think hes a filter feeder either. i do throw some flake food in for the damsels and ive seen him catch these on his arms and then work the food to his mouth via the tiny feet. either way the 3 remaining stars seem healthy now and ive been keeping a closer eye on water conditions just to be on the safe side.

 

[Jean]

HI you're welcome.

Brittlestars can be tricky. We've had them drop arms and go belly up for no apparent reason! Which is frustrating......and we have notes on keeping them going back 70 odd years!!

J