Echinaster sentus - common seastar

[Europhyllia]

Has anybody kept a common seastar in their system.
I am working on my wishlist for my big Sealifeinc order and these sound good.

It would be great if they really easily accepted foods/be fed.

I am not worried about small clams or mussels but would eventually like to get another spiny oyster or two. I also love sponges.

anybody knwo how the sentus does with those?

[ErikH]

i would not welcome anything in my tank that fed off microfauna.

[Europhyllia]

could you elaborate on that? mussels aren't exactly microfauna. lol
what are you referring to?

Maybe you are thinking of the sandsifting seastar? Yeah I wouldn't want those either. Or sandsifting gobies and all that.

Echinaster Sentus is not the Sandsifting Sea Star (Astropecten polycanthus).

Totally different critter. ;)

[justahobby]

Don't all stars eat microfauna, sponges, or both?

[Europhyllia]

I think that's what makes keeping seastars so challenging. In a lot of cases the diet of the seastar hasn't been clearly identified (hence they live for a few months and then die).
Some are supposed to eat 'bacterial film' (like Linckia), others definitely are predators for larger items (think chocolate chip sea star), some sift the sand for microfauna (sandsifting sea star)
Per the collector's description the Echinaster readily accepts small items like clams and mussels so would be closer to a predatory seastar than a microfauna eater and easier to keep a live and feed than a don't-know-what it eats seastar.
So my concern is how predatory would it be.
That was my question... ;)

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-12/rs/index.php

[justahobby]

True, I didn't think about bacterial film eaters. LOL @ "how predatory". I know what you mean.... I had a choco chip eat my waratah anemone I waited for months to find.

[sergiotami]

I have a brittle star white in appearance...None of my fish have disappeared, but really active at night amongst my live rock..Whats the easiest way to lure it out to catch and put it into my sump to hold until
I can take it to my LFS?