You can get dried seaweed though. Ask Chris if this would work.
Thorny stars (Echinaster echinophorus - not to be confused with knobby stars) are my favorite. There is a cute video in Serendipity's thread showing how brightly colored they are but many of the photos of my octos include a thorny. They are carion eaters naturally (in spite of what some of the literature says) and do very well in with an octopus. The bonus is they are very day active and can be bright, bright orange. I have several and have only lost one. That one was a mystery an I have voiced musings as to the content of octopus saliva possibly being the cause. The star that disintegrated was in Beldar's tank. The tank has little lighting (designed for nocturnals) so there was not much algae available but I have kept one in that tank for over a year in the past. I move the resident thorny before Bel arrived because there would not be sufficient food in an empty tank and put one back (not sure if it was the same or a different one) when the tank was reoccupied. I have not tried another in that tank but the serpent and peppermint shrimp continue to do fine even after Bel died.
I took a picture of the knobby in Maya's tank for you to make a comparison but I don't think yours is a knobby based on the underside in the photo. I am thinking sand sifting star (Archaster angulatus) as I look back at the photos and they are known to die pretty quickly from starvation. I had one I thought was doing pretty well once until the pencil urchin started eating it. It may have been dying but pencils can get aggressive if there is not enough plant matter and the tank lacked that food. It is another animal I will not try again.
After 4 years in my reef tank, my common stars are definitely starving. I have moved them to Maya's tank where there is far more natural food but have yet to try the dried algae. The knobby may eventually suffer the same fate (As I mentioned, I did not mean to get a knobby) but has plenty to eat now. You have me thinking about about growing a small algae tank to create food. The thorny's on the other hand do not seem to have a problem living on the octo leftovers, Cyclop-eze and mysis fed to the tank and are the first critters (beating out the brissles) to find large scaps if one of the octos does not eat a piece of shrimp. Do not put them with decorative clams though or they will eventually eat them.
Thorny stars (Echinaster echinophorus - not to be confused with knobby stars) are my favorite. There is a cute video in Serendipity's thread showing how brightly colored they are but many of the photos of my octos include a thorny. They are carion eaters naturally (in spite of what some of the literature says) and do very well in with an octopus. The bonus is they are very day active and can be bright, bright orange. I have several and have only lost one. That one was a mystery an I have voiced musings as to the content of octopus saliva possibly being the cause. The star that disintegrated was in Beldar's tank. The tank has little lighting (designed for nocturnals) so there was not much algae available but I have kept one in that tank for over a year in the past. I move the resident thorny before Bel arrived because there would not be sufficient food in an empty tank and put one back (not sure if it was the same or a different one) when the tank was reoccupied. I have not tried another in that tank but the serpent and peppermint shrimp continue to do fine even after Bel died.
I took a picture of the knobby in Maya's tank for you to make a comparison but I don't think yours is a knobby based on the underside in the photo. I am thinking sand sifting star (Archaster angulatus) as I look back at the photos and they are known to die pretty quickly from starvation. I had one I thought was doing pretty well once until the pencil urchin started eating it. It may have been dying but pencils can get aggressive if there is not enough plant matter and the tank lacked that food. It is another animal I will not try again.
After 4 years in my reef tank, my common stars are definitely starving. I have moved them to Maya's tank where there is far more natural food but have yet to try the dried algae. The knobby may eventually suffer the same fate (As I mentioned, I did not mean to get a knobby) but has plenty to eat now. You have me thinking about about growing a small algae tank to create food. The thorny's on the other hand do not seem to have a problem living on the octo leftovers, Cyclop-eze and mysis fed to the tank and are the first critters (beating out the brissles) to find large scaps if one of the octos does not eat a piece of shrimp. Do not put them with decorative clams though or they will eventually eat them.