[Mr. Fishy Man]

Can anyone tell me if this is a coral or sea star? It was under the NPS.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/diversden/ItemDisplay.cfm?c=2733+10&ddid=182208

 

[Vizzle1717]

its phylum is Echinodermata...so yup. its a sea star

 

[Phillrodrigo30]

That's thing is cool I wonder if they come in other colors

 

[DerektheDiver]

they do come in other colors. I had one that was a dark red, but it didnt make it. I will try again sometime. Its pretty cool because they can kind of swim with their feathers.

 

[Mr. Fishy Man]

What do they eat?

 

[DerektheDiver]

they are filter feeders so planktons

 

[Mr. Fishy Man]

How big do they get?

 

[DerektheDiver]

not sure on that, mine didnt make it past 3 months due to my poor care at the time. I would imagine they could get big, depending on how old they are, but i have no clue.

 

[Vizzle1717]

they eat using a sticky substance on their arms and then pull the food in towards the mouth !!

the cooler part about them is the cirrus !! its like an under body attachment for mounting itself onto rock where there is proper flow to feed.

 

[connorp]

Nearly impossible to keep... They are terrible shippers. And need some sort of automatic feeding system in a dedicated NPS tank to survive. They are very sensitive to any parameter changes, especially salinity and nitrates.

 

[Mr. Fishy Man]

Guess I'll skip it if I can't target feed it ever night.

 

[Vizzle1717]

Guess I'll skip it if I can't target feed it ever night.

did you say night for a reason? honestly, with a good system, you can spot feed these things several times a day and have great results....especially with your NPS experience?

 

[Geoff]

Crinoids. those are why you see i fed my tank 5 times a day.

i really want to keep these long terms. i have had ok success with the green and white ones, but poor success with the maroon, black, and yellow ones. when i get my big tank up and running i will be trying to keep them again. the more diverse the food size and type the better the luck. they are predatory, so they need organically bound phosphates. they do not do well in tanks that are borderline oligotrophic generally because those tanks are afraid to feed as much as the Crinoids need.

G~

 

[Mr. Fishy Man]

I wouldn't say I have that much experience. I have just managed to keep a photosynthetic gorgonian alive by target feeding it every night, although I don't really know if it alive because I hear they take months to slowly starve.

 

[Mr. Fishy Man]

Hear is my way of target feeding them. Does it sound good?

http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/f6/target-feeding-method-201900.html

 

[connorp]

I wouldn't say I have that much experience. I have just managed to keep a photosynthetic gorgonian alive by target feeding it every night, although I don't really know if it alive because I hear they take months to slowly starve.

Those aren't NPS...

 

[Mr. Fishy Man]

Sorry, meant to put non-photosynthetic gorgonian. It is an orange/red w/ deep red polyps. Is it an orange tree gorgonian?

 

[connorp]

Probably Swiftia exserta.

 

[Mr. Fishy Man]

Thanks, it is what I thought it was.

 

[Vizzle1717]

Thanks, it is what I thought it was.

Dennis Green?!