Is Advice Always Correct?

[Mat.P]

Understood, and some good advice with species etc i will try and get some pictures of the stars up when i get a chance, although im fairly familier with stars and i have a red brittle to make direct comparisons with, my sandsifter is the classic grey with black markings and can be observed either sitting on the sand and filtering sand with his tube feet or completely submerging himself making it look like he is on quicksand, the red star is a small dark speccly red and im pretty sure it is a fromia .sp but i didnt put that because mine has unusuall markings that makes a direct comparison wit pictures difficult, and the brittle star has dark red with black stripes on his legs and he has the bristles on his legs so definately not a serpent star.

the longevity of my tank is still to be seen, i realise that im still a relative newbie and i hope for my tanks continued sucess but realise the jury is still out, but i guess thats what most people do.

Mat.

 

[Chad]

The red star does sound like Fromia milleporella but could be a small red linkia as well. A photo would help to be sure.

I had suspected that the sand stars that ate supplemental food were a different species but since many pet stores don't know species I think perhaps it's a crap shoot.

As for longevity, I always say, the fact that you're here asking questions shows that you care about your tank and generally that's a good indicator of how well you will do!

 

[Donya]

my sandsifter is the classic grey with black markings

There's more than one species with that coloration.

I had suspected that the sand stars that ate supplemental food were a different species but since many pet stores don't know species I think perhaps it's a crap shoot.

The ones that do this may be Archaster typicus. They are definitely a different species from others under the same common name, I'm just not sure of the exact ID at the moment. They are also supposed to stay pretty small and there is a lot of similarity in coloration to another species that is frequently IDed as Astropecten polyacanthus.

EDIT: fixed spelling on A. polyacanthus.

 

[Mat.P]

I will get those pics up when i get home as i really wanna know what they are now, trouble is i have to find them first the sandsifter burries himself so might have to wait till lights out when i feed him to get a photo, the orange star is just very good at hiding in holes that are inaccesable and takes 20 mins to come out after food goes in, brittle star is easy he comes out and wraps arms around my hand if i put them in the tank!

 

[Mat.P]

heres the long awaited pics of my beautifull stars, all photos were taken with the animals in the water :

This is the sandsifter going for some krill i just put in the sand (sorry focus not good)

 

[Mat.P]

Heres the nem too incase anyone is interested

 

[Box]

Nice pics mate like the nem! Looks just like mine

 

[Donya]

The sandsifter is the Archaster typicus one (assuming that ID is right, but the important part is that it's one of the easy feeders). The red star looks Echinaster-ish to me, maybe E. luzonicus. The only thing that bugs me a bit is that I'm not seeing obvious pores (which would be a feature of Fromia mileporella as well), but a lot of E. luzonicus photos don't show the pores either because of the coloration. The brittle is one I'm quite familiar with but never seen a totally satisfactory ID for, at least not one where I've seen the capacity for color change confirmed in the way that I'd like. Best sources I've seen ID it as Ophiocoma erinaceus.

 

[Mat.P]

thanks for the id now i gotta google them and learn some more, but first i gotta deal with itch on my blu tang.

 

[Chad]

The sandsifter is the Archaster typicus one (assuming that ID is right, but the important part is that it's one of the easy feeders). The red star looks Echinaster-ish to me, maybe E. luzonicus. The only thing that bugs me a bit is that I'm not seeing obvious pores (which would be a feature of Fromia mileporella as well), but a lot of E. luzonicus photos don't show the pores either because of the coloration. The brittle is one I'm quite familiar with but never seen a totally satisfactory ID for, at least not one where I've seen the capacity for color change confirmed in the way that I'd like. Best sources I've seen ID it as Ophiocoma erinaceus.

+1

 

[Donya]

Here's something better than Google regarding Echinaster species and why their feeding is both mysterious and strangely general: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1539682

From the conclusions section:

It is concluded that the digestive apparatus of Echinaster can function effectively in collecting nutrients from a variety of sources. It can take up dissolved nutrients released through modest external digestive activity or obtained from other natural sources, such as carrion, detritus, or organic-rich sea water. It may also be able to accumulate considerable quantities of particulate materials.

Citation info: "Feeding Activity in Echinaster and Its Induction with Dissolved Nutrients," John Carruthers Ferguson, Biological Bulletin, Vol. 136, No. 3 (Jun., 1969), pp. 374-384.

Strange and interesting stuff. Unfortunately I've never seen anything similarly useful on other commonly sold genera.

 

[Mat.P]

Thats interesting, thanks.

 

[Mat.P]

donya, i just noticed on further inspection the red sea star does indeed have little pores all over his top surface, i dont know if this makes a difference to your origional identification.

Mat.

 

[Donya]

Sorry for the slow reply and thanks for the update on the pores. If it was really smooth without the obvious pores, then I would be scratching my head and going back to my bookshelf. It's one of those features that rarely stands out clearly in photos, and it is cited as one of the things that distinguishes Echinaster from some other red stars. So, Echinaster luzonicus stil seems like the best match to me.