to feed a chocolate star you simply put it in your reef tank and and it will leave you with coral skeletons! they will also eat snails and other meat. if you feed it raw shrimp or other fresh seafood (oysters, clams) on a regular basis and learn its patterns you can usually keep it off your corals but 8-12 hours is often the difference between him not being hungry and another coral being eaten. you will always have to be on the alert and worrying about it! sometimes i have tried to feed my star in the evening and its not hungry and in the morning another xenia or snail or worse is gone! i use to get upset about his snail addiction but a snail or two a week to feed him if thats ALL he eats isnt too bad! but kinda hard luck for the snails! some will even graze on algee, occasionally!