New Crinoid (a.k.a. sea lily, feather star)

[NanoDude]

Hey everybody. I just bought a crinoid and I'm really excited. Does anyone have any insights as to thier husbandry? I've heard they're difficult to keep as not enough is known about them. But I think I'm up for the challenge. Hopefully I'll be keeping a diary of my progress. I'll post pics as soon as I can. Like I said, I know very little about them so anything anyone has to offer would be great.

Thanks

[justahobby]

TXA8VR had one, last I saw. They are pretty eccentric. What color is it?

[aggman]

Hey everybody. I just bought a crinoid and I'm really excited. Does anyone have any insights as to thier husbandry? I've heard they're difficult to keep as not enough is known about them. But I think I'm up for the challenge. Hopefully I'll be keeping a diary of my progress. I'll post pics as soon as I can. Like I said, I know very little about them so anything anyone has to offer would be great.

Thanks

i disagree with purchasing a living creature that you are unable to readily care for. i do understand that they are beautiful and elegant additions to any home aquaria, but the fact remains...you have no idea how to care for it. and without extensive research and preparation, it will most likely perish.

however, since you have already purchased the star, my only suggestion would be to hit the web and figure out exactly what you need to do to maintain it.

and don't get me wrong, i don't think you are going to intentionally kill it, i do think you will do all you can to keep it alive. however, the widespread notion that they are difficult to keep alive, to me, suggests that they aren't suitable for a synthetic biotope.

sorry for dampening the mood. it truly is a beautiful creature and definitely has the potential to become the star of your tank.

and keep us updated.

~alex

[JimD]

Appearently, theres quite a few out there... I saw some blue ones at a lfs a while ago. Cool critters no doubt..
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.oceanwideimages.com/images/7576/large/feather-star.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.oceanwideimages.com/categories.asp%3FcID%3D217&usg=__4JWaobdnReN_Z1ZF80mm3d80S7I=&h=262&w=400&sz=113&hl=en&start=44&um=1&tbnid=dxVLOkUj3hSmGM:&tbnh=81&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsea%2Blily,%2Bfeather%2Bstar%26ndsp%3 D20%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26start%3D40%26um%3D1

[txav8r]

I have one. Had him for about 5 or 6 months now. It looses a leg or two every few weeks. it is about 1/3 the size that is was when I got it. It seems to do better if I feed marine snow fairly heavy. I would not have bought him if I would have know his heath would decline so easily.
Good luck.
Jack
P.S. Mike and Kristie also have one. it is a basket star and at the tank tour it was doing very well.

[Kristy]

Hi-
We have a basket star... got ours as a VERY lucky accident... bought a gorgonian and had no idea what that spot of seaweed twisted and snaggled around it in one small spot was. We've had it well over a year, maybe a year and a half, and it's doing great, but I understand that this is such an exception to the rule as to be astonishing, because most tragically do not accept prepared foods and slowly starve to death.

We target feed ours religiously and offer a variety of foods. It opens and unfurls its arms each night when we feed and stays open all night to catch any stray food in the current. The fact that we often feed a few minutes before lights out may actually help the basket star (did not start out as an intentional strategy, we're just busy and rush to get the tank fed before the lights go out).

The star is really beautiful when it's all open. I have a few pictures of it and wanted to submit for POTM this month (starfish) but the photos are on a card at home and the camera and laptop and cords to download images are all here with me in England til mid-February. Will try to remember to update this thread with a photo later if you are interested.

This would be a good time to go read the "forbidden fish" thread, as this is another species that should probably never be taken off the reef.

[camaroracer214]

completely agree with aggman...

what size tank do you have? judging from your screen name, i'm assuming it's a nano. if that's that case, i would recommend that you find a new home for your feather star. they are very difficult to keep and require a constant amount of food and specialized care.

[wesheltonj]

Here a start.

http://www.reefs.org/library/article/r_toonen13.html

[NanoDude]

I completely agree with aggman as well. As a rule, we aquarists should not purchase livestock with which we are unacquainted and ill-equipped to manage. It is a terrible practice. And when it occurs, the reputation of our hobby suffers.

With that said, I stand by my decision. Here is my logic. Darby's received the creature by mistake. As such they were selling it for only 15 dollars. When I inquired as to what they were going to feed it, the reply was, "I don't know. They're really hard to keep. We'll probably just try some brine shrimp." Darby's is a business. They don't have time to perform an exhaustive search of the difficult to find research out there. So if it stayed at Darby's, it would probably starve to death. Further, it was cheap. So any novice, was just as likely to come in and take the poor thing home. They might think, "If it dies, so what. It was only 15 dollars." And if a someone with that mentality took it home, you can be pretty sure it would starve to death.

So I decided to attempt to keep it alive, not because I had to have it, but because if I'm successful the data I collect will further the hobby. I've started collecting data on water parameters, feeding regimen, and I'm taking notes on his behavior. I'm under no illusion that it will live. But it was doomed from the moment it was collected from the ocean. Maybe some good can still come of it.

Some of you might think that due to the law of supply and demand, my purchase will encourage Darby's to order more cromatulid crinoids (feather stars). I disagree. The employee that I spoke with told me that not much is known about them and, for that reason, they should probably stay in the ocean. I don't think they'll be ordering more until the probability of long-term survival is a little greater.

To those of you who provided me with information and links, many thanks. It was all very helpful. I've done a lot of research in the past couple of days and I've now got a plan. I'll keep recording data. I'll compile valuable resources I've found. And I'll keep everyone updated on my progress.

[edshas2]

Man those stars are pretty cool looking, wish they where alot easier to take care of, maybee sometime in the future.