Saltcorner
By Bob Goemans
By Bob Goemans
Dear Bob,
Please could you tell me is there any star fish or anemones I could keep in my set up. It's a 180 Vision tank with an Eheim 2233 and a Fluval 304 filter and a pump driven protein skimmer. I have a cleaner wrasse, two clowns, one banggi, one dart fish, a boxer shrimp and a blood shrimp, all doing well.
Tom Topping,
Northern Ireland
Hi Tom,
Thanks for your letter and when it comes to anemones, I usually recommend to those that have 'planned' for their use, to place them in the aquarium prior to adding any other type of livestock. The reason for this is they will go where the current, light, food, and decor suit them the best. When added at a later time they may crawl over something live of more value and injure or kill it. Then, when settled down, build the rest of the livestock/corals around it. Keep in mind anemones are mostly difficult to maintain, therefore their species needs to fit the goals of the system. They can not be considered an easy to addition, as fishes are, to the system. So, without knowing much more about your goals, would recommend against an anemone at this time. However, if it's a must have, we need to discuss it much further!
But the same is not true for star fishes, now called sea stars. And keep in mind, besides sea stars, there are also brittle stars and serpent stars that might interest you. You can checkout the differences on my website at www.saltcorner.com. If you have corals in your system there are only a few sea stars to chose from. They are the Blue Linckia (L. laevigata), Red Star (Fromia milleporella) and Orange Star (F. monilis). All are good choices for the reef system. Any others need to be weighed carefully before they enter the system.
Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Bob
