How to Care for Your Sand Sifting Starfish
The sand sifting starfish can be an appealing addition to your aquarium. The light brown and yellow starfish are quite popular for aquarium owners, and if you’ve ever been to a souvenir shop by the ocean, chances are you’ve seen one dried out and on display. If you have recently added or are planning to add a sand sifting starfish to your aquarium, there are certain things you need to know in order to properly care for it so that you may enjoy it for years to come.
Benefits and Drawbacks
Before adding a sand sifting starfish to your aquarium, there are some things you need to be aware of first. This type of starfish is a ravenous eater. This can be absolutely devastating to your tank if you are trying to establish or already have a living sand bed since it will completely devour all of the nutrients. If your infauna, a word for water-based creatures, is depended upon for your aquatic ecosystem, the system will collapse due to the consumption of these little guys.
However, in a “dead” or shallow sand bed, this starfish will prove to be incredibly helpful to you since it will eat up any lingering particles of food, dead fish, etc.
Tank Conditions
In order to allow your sand sifting starfish to survive in your tank, there are certain environmental conditions that must be met—luckily, this is generally quite easy to achieve and maintain.
First and foremost concerns the size of the tank. Your tank needs to be at least 60 gallons and more than that if you plan on housing more than one starfish. The reasoning behind this is primarily because of their size. When fully grown, this starfish will reach almost a foot in diameter. It should be noted though that this will take several years and requires a large tank; if the tank is only 60 gallons, it will reach only half that size.
Water temperature is also a concern, but not much of one. Your tank’s temperature should run no higher than 76 degrees Fahrenheit and no lower than 72 degrees. This is a common tank temperature, so it should not pose a big problem for you.
In addition to this, a salinity level balance must be maintained. Ideally, your salinity level should be kept around 1.022 – 1.026. Drastic changes to temperature or salinity will not bode well for this creature.
Animal Behavior
When not burrowing down into your sand bed, this creature exhibits some very interesting behavior if you catch him in the act. It’s a nocturnal hunter, and so at night you may be able to catch it slowly creeping around the tank in search of food. While it is carnivorous, it’s important to mention that it is not aggressive to your other tank dwellers unless you have sea urchins as well.
You may also notice in the morning that some of your aquarium rocks and corals have been moved or overturned. That is because as the starfish goes through the sand, turning it over and devouring goodies, it will move certain obstacles and inadvertently knock into others. This may prove to be annoying to some tank owners, but others find it most entertaining.
Bad Bedfellows
Although your starfish won’t attack your fish, some of them may choose to attack it. Natural predators such as the puffer fish are best to be avoided. These starfish are cheap to replace but if a predator kills it and you aren’t aware until later, your entire ecosystem is in danger of collapse. Ask an informed employee of your pet shop what fish are best avoided.