Sand sifting starfish???

S

scubastorey

I purchased a Sand sifting starfish about 2 months ago and everthing seems good in my tank but I just read this;

"Sand sifting starfish are voracious eaters of nutrients in the sandbed- whether those nutrients be live, or detritus. So in a tank where sandbed infauna are depended on for the system, the sand-sifting star will be a poor choice that will eradicate such sandbed critters."

Aren't all saltwater tank sand beds alive? Should I get him out ASAP? Thanks for your help.
 
No, your ok. Just having one in your tank you should be good. I'm sure your tank will produce more of the good alive stuff before the one starfish can get to all of it.
 
Your sand be will have an assortment of life in it whether you are going for a deep sand bed or just a shallow display bed. Dr. Ron Shimek did a work up on the starfish and he more or less said they will consume everything, good or bad, in your sand bed in a matter of months and besides killing your sand bed they will eventually starve to death as they need something the equivalant size of a pool bottom to survive and have no impact. he will be at the comas crase event in october speaking about inverts and he very well could touch on this very subject.
 
That's really bad news. Now I don't know what to do with it. I don't want to kill it but it doesn't sound like it's good for anybody else. Anyone have any suggestions. I tried to make sure it was safe for seahorses but failed to find out if it was sand bed safe. My bad,,,,,More research next time!!!!!
 
:oops:

Woops, sorry. I guess I was told different. Once again, I have one LFS where I live, and I've gotten lots of bad knowledge from them. Sorry again :)

My thought was that they do starve to death. That's why I didn't get one in my 100 gallon. My friend ordered several for his 55 gallon. I didn't think they'd last long especially in numerous numbers. When I first entered the hobby, I thought they were SO cool. I asked the LFS about them and was told that they are just good filter feeders and stir up the sand. Was never told that they eventually die off when out of "stuff" to eat. Anyway, I believe they are like seahares, once again, my LFS says they are good critters to eat GHA, but was never told they can starve to death until reading on here about them.

Thanks Wes for correcting me :)
 
Don't feel bad. I got this one because I read that they were good for cleaning the sand. Then yesterday I found the other information and started to worry.
 
Trade the starfish in at an LFS instead of killing it. But I guess someone else will let it starve to death in their tank... :sad:
I wish more people knew about sandsifters as they are very common in the hobby and many LFSs encourage customers to buy them. Hopefully that's because they are misinformed, not just because they want to make a sale. Either way, it's not so good...
 
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