Couple of newbie questions... dumb ass starfish & food

Hi, yesterday I added my first inhabitents to my new reef/fish tank, 2
humbug damsels - doing very well and very entertaining to watch them
chase each other around the tank! 5 blue legged hermit crabs - again
doing very well and very active (these guys can really motor!) and a
red star fish, which has decided he wants to stick himself to the
underside of the condensation tray support on my tank! Depending on
what powerheads/skimmer etc. are on the water level drops, and he is
then only partially submerged in the water... is he safe there??? I
have tried to gently persuade him off but he is rooted solid to the
spot and doesn't want to move, shall I just leave him? Lastly whilst
purchasing my animals, my LFS said not to feed them on anything
intended for human consumption, and only to feed them on gamma
irradiated frozen foods (which they have a freezer full of!), are they
right? or am i safe to work on my seafood cocktail and feed them that
(which a lot of websites seem to recommend).

Any advice appreciated.

Chris.

Well irradiated food definately lessens any chance of any problems
associated with bacteria and unwated organisms to be introduced with
food, but there is certainly nothing wrong with making yur own home
brew food either..I buy food that I would eat myself so I certainly do
not see any harm in feeding it to the fish. Freezer full of
irradiated food, they sell it, should not take much to figure out
thier scheme of things...Sort of like saying you have to use Ford oil
filters and oil on Ford brand of cars or its gonna cause a
problem.....IMHO its a bit early to really introduce a star to your
tank.........
On 15 Jan 2006 01:34:44 -0800, "eskimoigloo"
wrote:
Hi, yesterday I added my first inhabitents to my new reef/fish tank, 2
humbug damsels - doing very well and very entertaining to watch them
chase each other around the tank! 5 blue legged hermit crabs - again
doing very well and very active (these guys can really motor!) and a
red star fish, which has decided he wants to stick himself to the
underside of the condensation tray support on my tank! Depending on
what powerheads/skimmer etc. are on the water level drops, and he is
then only partially submerged in the water... is he safe there??? I
have tried to gently persuade him off but he is rooted solid to the
spot and doesn't want to move, shall I just leave him? Lastly whilst
purchasing my animals, my LFS said not to feed them on anything
intended for human consumption, and only to feed them on gamma
irradiated frozen foods (which they have a freezer full of!), are they
right? or am i safe to work on my seafood cocktail and feed them that
(which a lot of websites seem to recommend).

Any advice appreciated.

Chris.

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The original frugal ponder! Koi-ahoi mates....

My starfish eats from the rocks and eats left over foods etc.. and I've had
pretty good luck with them. I do agree they need a well established tank
before they can thrive. They also need a real stable environment with all
the parameters in line. (Salinity, Ph, nitrates etc..)

Good-luck,
Susan
"Roy" wrote in message
...
Well irradiated food definately lessens any chance of any problems
associated with bacteria and unwated organisms to be introduced with
food, but there is certainly nothing wrong with making yur own home
brew food either..I buy food that I would eat myself so I certainly do
not see any harm in feeding it to the fish. Freezer full of
irradiated food, they sell it, should not take much to figure out
thier scheme of things...Sort of like saying you have to use Ford oil
filters and oil on Ford brand of cars or its gonna cause a
problem.....IMHO its a bit early to really introduce a star to your
tank.........
On 15 Jan 2006 01:34:44 -0800, "eskimoigloo"
wrote:
Hi, yesterday I added my first inhabitents to my new reef/fish tank, 2
humbug damsels - doing very well and very entertaining to watch them
chase each other around the tank! 5 blue legged hermit crabs - again
doing very well and very active (these guys can really motor!) and a
red star fish, which has decided he wants to stick himself to the
underside of the condensation tray support on my tank! Depending on
what powerheads/skimmer etc. are on the water level drops, and he is
then only partially submerged in the water... is he safe there??? I
have tried to gently persuade him off but he is rooted solid to the
spot and doesn't want to move, shall I just leave him? Lastly whilst
purchasing my animals, my LFS said not to feed them on anything
intended for human consumption, and only to feed them on gamma
irradiated frozen foods (which they have a freezer full of!), are they
right? or am i safe to work on my seafood cocktail and feed them that
(which a lot of websites seem to recommend).

Any advice appreciated.

Chris.

--
\\\|///
( @ @ )
-----------oOOo(_)oOOo---------------


oooO
---------( )----Oooo----------------
\ ( ( )
\_) ) /
(_/
The original frugal ponder! Koi-ahoi mates....

Hi Chris,

Having your seastar out of the water isn't good. How bad it is depends
on the species - For example, here in Washington state our most
commonly seen star, the Ochre Star (Pisaster ochraceus), is often left
high and dry by the outgoing tide and is capable of surviving several
hours out of water. Most other species aren't nearly as resilient and
there are some that would probably die in under one hour of exposure.
The thing is that none of them, to my knowledge, will voluntarily climb
out of the water.

Your star, whatever species it is, probably climbed onto his perch
while it was immersed and when the water level dropped he simply shut
down into low tide mode. That's characterized by clamping down on the
substrate and not moving - essentially, he's trying to not dry out
before the tide comes back in.

What you need to do is cause the tide to rise by shutting down any
system that drops the water level in the display tank. When the star
has been immersed for 30 minutes or so he may just crawl to a lower
part of the tank and the problem will be solved. If he doesn't move
down on his own then you'll need to sneak up on him. Generally
speaking, stars keep a pretty loose grip on the substrate except when
they feel threatened. The thing to do is wait till he's been immersed
long enough to relax and then sweep him off his perch with one smooth
and fairly quick movement. Do NOT exert much pressure! If he's relaxed
it won't take much force to displace him but if he has been able to
clamp down using more force will just injure him. If he's holding on
too tight to remove, just wait another 30 to 60 minutes for him to
relax and try again.


Radially yours,

Alex

Kinda early in the game for a red star fish isn't it ?

"eskimoigloo" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi, yesterday I added my first inhabitents to my new reef/fish tank, 2
humbug damsels - doing very well and very entertaining to watch them
chase each other around the tank! 5 blue legged hermit crabs - again
doing very well and very active (these guys can really motor!) and a
red star fish, which has decided he wants to stick himself to the
underside of the condensation tray support on my tank! Depending on
what powerheads/skimmer etc. are on the water level drops, and he is
then only partially submerged in the water... is he safe there??? I
have tried to gently persuade him off but he is rooted solid to the
spot and doesn't want to move, shall I just leave him? Lastly whilst
purchasing my animals, my LFS said not to feed them on anything
intended for human consumption, and only to feed them on gamma
irradiated frozen foods (which they have a freezer full of!), are they
right? or am i safe to work on my seafood cocktail and feed them that
(which a lot of websites seem to recommend).

Any advice appreciated.

Chris.

If your starfish is half submerged, and does not want to
go down, then he is fine. If he was totaly out of the
water, then that's different, but since he is half
submerged, then he is not so stupid that he doesn't know
were the water is.

Also, you didn't mention what type of red star it is, but
it's probably a type that eats coral.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



eskimoigloo wrote on 1/15/2006 4:34 AM:
Hi, yesterday I added my first inhabitents to my new reef/fish tank, 2
humbug damsels - doing very well and very entertaining to watch them
chase each other around the tank! 5 blue legged hermit crabs - again
doing very well and very active (these guys can really motor!) and a
red star fish, which has decided he wants to stick himself to the
underside of the condensation tray support on my tank! Depending on
what powerheads/skimmer etc. are on the water level drops, and he is
then only partially submerged in the water... is he safe there??? I
have tried to gently persuade him off but he is rooted solid to the
spot and doesn't want to move, shall I just leave him? Lastly whilst
purchasing my animals, my LFS said not to feed them on anything
intended for human consumption, and only to feed them on gamma
irradiated frozen foods (which they have a freezer full of!), are they
right? or am i safe to work on my seafood cocktail and feed them that
(which a lot of websites seem to recommend).

Any advice appreciated.

Chris.

Hi, thanks for the advice, my LFS said to get a star for my new tank to
help clean up an algae bloom i had!!! (bugger him then!) As said up
there somewhere, once my pumps went off on timers and the water level
rose he climbed back down again. He never has more than 1 or 2 legs out
of the water at once, but insists on continually climbing up there (as
i type this he is sat on the top of an outlet from an external filter).
I may have to drop my water level 1/2" so he actually has to leave the
water (which he won't do) to stick to the "roof" of the tank. The tank
conditions are VERY stable even for a new setup anyway, and he is
eating shrimp and algae etc. so I think he will be fine as long as he
doesn't manage to get all of the way out! As for the other fish and
crabs, they too are doing really well. Might try a bit of "human fish"
every now and again, but not make a habit of it in-case there's any
nasties in there.

Thanks again. Chris.

Hi Chris! Do you know what kind of starfish it is?

Susan
"eskimoigloo" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi, thanks for the advice, my LFS said to get a star for my new tank to
help clean up an algae bloom i had!!! (bugger him then!) As said up
there somewhere, once my pumps went off on timers and the water level
rose he climbed back down again. He never has more than 1 or 2 legs out
of the water at once, but insists on continually climbing up there (as
i type this he is sat on the top of an outlet from an external filter).
I may have to drop my water level 1/2" so he actually has to leave the
water (which he won't do) to stick to the "roof" of the tank. The tank
conditions are VERY stable even for a new setup anyway, and he is
eating shrimp and algae etc. so I think he will be fine as long as he
doesn't manage to get all of the way out! As for the other fish and
crabs, they too are doing really well. Might try a bit of "human fish"
every now and again, but not make a habit of it in-case there's any
nasties in there.

Thanks again. Chris.

Sounds like a Fromia or a Linckia. Linckia starfish are a little more
difficult to keep. Fromia's tend to be hardier. Both are really neat
starfish. Good-Luck and enjoy


Susan

"eskimoigloo" wrote in message
oups.com...
It is a red one... with little black tips to his legs/arms.

Chris.