When it comes to cleaning the sand bed, the Sand Sifting Starfish works wonders and makes a great terrific addition to any home aquarium. The Sand Sifting Starfish fascinates with its amazing and interesting behavior. It works wonders in janitorial duties and also known as comb starfish, white starfish and sand starfish. The Sand Sifting Starfish is delicate in nature and needs care and particular parameters like constant salinity, lower salinity will lower its life span. This is a nocturnal animal and basically feeds on detritus and any uneaten food that makes its way to sand bed. The Sand Sifting Starfish belongs to the genus Astropecten, and can be good sand sifters. These are often recommended to use in aquaria with sand beds only. It is beige to brown body with lateral spines extending upward along each side of its five arms.
The Sand Sifting Starfish is a bottom dweller and is omnivorous in nature. It is a very peace loving organism and therefore doesn?t harm or disturb any other inhabitants. With its cleaning properties, the Sand Sifting Starfish makes a great addition to any home tanks as it can be both beautiful to see as well as can do wonders in cleaning its surroundings. Since, the Sand Sifting Starfish is a slow mover it is not advisable to keep with puffers which are considered as natural predators. Its breeding can be really difficult in a home aquarium as it is very difficult to distinguish male and female. Both of them has striking beauty and serenity to the alternating bands of brown and beige that dress this invertebrate?s thick, spine-covered arms.
Photo by saltwaterfish.com member, Grennan: David Grennan.These stars are found on muddy or sandy bottoms.They are best kept in deep sand beds.Offer supplemental feedings of dried algae or small bits of chopped clams.Starfish are intolerant of sudden changes in oxygen levels, salinity and pH of the water, and cannot tolerate copper-based medications. The drip acclimation method is highly recommended for all Sea Stars due to their intolerability to changes in water chemistry. It should never be exposed to air while handling.
