What fish would eat linkas

[plack]

I want to make sure any fish I get will leave medium to large linka starfish alone! Is there any problem with a purple tang or Harlequin tusk?
Thanks
Paul

 

[leebca]

The Linkas Starfish is usually a very touchy animal to keep. They are sensitive to water quality. :evil: It should have a large aquarium with a lot of live rock that has been established (cycled and mature). Probably an aquarium that cycled about 6 months to a year before would be good. One key to their success is to provide an extremely long acclimation time from where it is coming from to your tank. Lastly, their nutritional needs are not fully understood, so what will you feed it?

Even with all this, most of them don't do well. I suspect part of the problem is that they are not handled well through the system (I mean, what collector or exporter or wholesaler or LFS wants to spend more than 6 hours to acclimate a starfish?)

So, I would rethink trying to keep one. I think they are a part of the marine livestock that is best left in the sea.

As far as compatible fish go, keep predatory fish that eat crustaceans away from it. This means the Harlequin Tusk is not your best choice. All tangs should be okay.

 

[steve-s]

Acclimation aside, feeding is a larger long term concern. Even in a large well matured tank, Linkia species will not typically be long lived. More commonly your looking at an average of 6-12 months. Anything more than that would be a rarity. If you wish to keep starfish, look for more carnivorous species that will hunt larger prey and be target fed a little more effectively. The fall back to that is you need to be wary of fish and/or coral predacean. Coral safe predators will hide most of the time and fish safe ones will eat the corals.

Cheers
Steve

 

[plack]

I have had one alive for 3 months so far and transfered from a 55 to a 180 gallon. And I offered it mysis as it goes across the front pane of glass often and its fairly easy to offer food to it.Now if it will eat or not is another story. It goes all over all the rocks and can move fairly quickly if it wants too other times it seems to stay still all day long ?

I was wondering steve-s If a small harlequin tusk would be OK with a pair of medium sized Linckia's or if any reef safe wrasses would ever harm them?

 

[steve-s]

Most "reef safe" wrasses should ignore seastars of any type/species. Each wrasse species should be evaluated on a case by case basis to be safe. While I would not call the Tusk wrasse reef safe (coral safe, yes), I seriously doubt it would harm the linkia in any way. Shrimp, crabs, snails and the like would be on the menu though.

Cheers
Steve

 

[plack]

Thank you steve

Paul

 

[balogh03]

does it matter what color they are, because i hered that the blues were harder to feed? but that aside, i have had an orange linkia (my first invert) that i got about two and a half years ago. i have never tried to direct feed, but the tank has about 250-300lbs of LR in it.

 

[steve-s]

Color is not relevant in terms of what would be easier to keep than the next animal. Knowing which species you are dealing with is far more important. FWIW, most sold in the hobby are actually Fromia, not Linkia. Few of these types of stars will be easily maintained in a reef tank not matter what "targeted" methods may be employed. It simpley comes down to tank size, diversity and the maturity of the system. With the exception of the occassional suspension feeding (an arm or two dangling from the glass), these stars are grazers. Primarily algaes and microbes'/bacterium. At 300 lbs of LR, I would guess you would have a decently large system (?) so it's really a matter of has it had enough time to mature and properly provide for this species (Linkia) of seastar.

The blue Linkia (Linckia laevigata) mentioned above is probabley the most sought after but also the one with the poorest record. Not because it's an impossible task but the systems that are added to are not adequate to provide natural means of nutrition. The only "Linkia" species I have ever had good success with is a Linckia multifora. I think that has alot to do with it's smaller adult (?) size.

Other considerations that need to be taken into account when thinking about keeping species like this is competitive tank mates. Generally speaking there are many many competitors for the same resources these stars are seeking out. Worms, snails, urchins, crabs, hermits, amphipods, isopods, gammarids and on and on. The list is quite large. It's why it is so important that only 1 per 150 gal of tank volume is kept, the tank is a healthy reef system with LR and well matured. Also, your typical "SPS" system would also not be the best choice for thse types of species, too clean.

Cheers
Steve

 

[JC Pollman]

What about butterflies - say a racoon or threadfin?

 

[leebca]

I've seen my Butterflyfishes sometimes pick at my starfish. They don't do damage nor do they continue the picking. It's like an occasional pick. I think it's more curiosity and 'testing' than anything.

Butterflyfishes (in general) should be fine.