Mobile Bay Reef Keepers

Does anyone have any experience with the starfish caught off of Panama City Beach? A friend of mine came back this week after a 1 week diving vacation over there. He brought me some 'gifts' which included 4 small starfish he snatched up. They're really cool looking; black/dark maroon base color with lots of small white spots. They are small like a quarter or a half dollar. Has anyone ever put these in a reef tank?

does it look like this:


or this


If so it is the Echinaster spinulosus or Orange Starfish. very common around these parts and is considered reef safe

Yep... this is it:



You think they are safe?

KrazyPlace wrote:You think they are safe?

From all that I have read, they seem to be reefsafe and good additions to aquariums. A few online stores sell them for reeftanks. I have no personal experience with these though. Just do a search for "Echinaster spinulosus" or orange starfish and see what you find.

Do they change color with age? If they do, then that would explain the difference in color in the two pictures. All 4 of mine look the same, but they are really small. What I have been able to find the Internet said they get up to 4" across.

They also said that they eat snails. That doesn't sound good me, but I might put one in the reef tank for a test.

one website said that they can change color 3-4 times during their life

Can you send me that link?

To my knowledge, this particular Echinaster species is temperate, not tropical. May want to keep an eye on it to make sure temp-related stress does not occur. There are several starfish sold that are also temperate, which usually dont live terribly long in captivity in higher temps.