help??

365seasons · #1 02-17-2009, 03:49 AM

Thank you!
I hope they are beneficial. I'm not sure if they look like those little things posted.
They're too small to tell.
Just little white squirmy things.

There was nothing living in the shell when we pulled it out. I have a feeling that they may have come from our live rock, as we also found a dead crab that is about an inch and a half...it just kind of showed up one day.

Our tank is a 60 gallon, is that still too small for a sand sifting??

365seasons · #2 02-17-2009, 03:51 AM

As well, we have been putting lots of nori, as well as algae pellets in the tank for the two critters...
Is that still not enough for the starfish to survive off of?

We're new to saltwater, and the guy at Ocean City suggested the starfish for a beginner tank. =(

tang daddy · #3 02-17-2009, 03:56 AM

As everyone has said the sand sifter is too large for a tank your size but if you want to keep it just know that it may starve to death..... The shell you found of the crab may be a molt as crabs do that often like shrimps shed to grow.

so you may still have a crab in your tank if you ever get a chance to see it make sure it doesn't get too big as some will eventually prey on fish!

naesco · #4 02-17-2009, 04:21 AM

Return the starfish to the LFS for a credit and buy some food or something.
Lose the LFS and get a recommendation for a responsible, knowledgeable LFS from someone on this board.
What critters are you feeding?
In a new tank, there is not sufficient food in the sandbed to be able to allow jawfish, stars cukes and others to survive.
Similarly, there would not be enough pods to allow fish like mandarin to survive.
And, an aged aquarium is necessary to have some SPS like acros to survive.
As the tank matures lots of minute food develops.

Rbacchiega · #5 02-17-2009, 04:52 AM

This surprises me because normally Ocean City is a great place to go.

Sandsifting stars...can be good in that they will help with the sand bed, but in a tank your size, it will quickly eat all thats there and head towards starvation. I could see someone adding it to a well established tank. I used to have a 33 gallon with about a 6 inch sandbed that I would add dirty filter sock gunk to in order to keep a small group of sandsifters alive (4 of them)...but that was when I was feeding a trio of Harlequin Clown Shrimp...

Anyways, back to the topic at hand. I would try and return the starfish and see if you can get a credit. If not, post it on here and I'm sure someone would take it off your hands.

tgoeujon · #6 02-17-2009, 05:23 AM

i must be lucky. the sand sifter star was my first addition to the 55 with a 2" sandbed and hes goin on 2 years old. i never even realized there supposed to be difficult?