Lincking You To A Beautiful Red Star

Of all the colors to get into your aquarium, red is one of the hardest. There are few corals, and not that many fish that are dominantly red, the ones that are often huge, or hard to keep, or expensive. There is however, the Red Linckia Sea Star. They range in color from a deep royal red to a solidly mid-century orange, and even Crayola's famous burnt sienna. They add intrigue to the aquarium and are also valuable as members of your cleanup crew.

Red Linckias come from all over the tropical Pacific and west Indian oceans. They are collected from shallow, sunny areas, often on reefs or reef fringes. They are bigger than many of the other popular aquarium stars, and can get six to eight inches across, which makes them a bit of a showpiece in most aquariums. They are also somewhat shrouded in mystery, partially because of their famous, but more temperamental cousin, Linckia laevigata, the Blue Sea Star. Blue Sea Stars are a very different critter than reds, having different diets, different parasites and elevated sensitivities. Red Linckias are a much more durable choice.

Red Linkas still aren't for beginners, but they can be kept successfully for years in the home aquarium. Their average life span in the wild is less than 3 years, as they are easy food for a variety of species. Though we have heard of a public aquarium in Japan who allegedly kept one in a dedicated display for more than 30 years! The biggest factors for successful husbandry of the Red Linckia are a mature aquarium environment, stable aquarium parameters and access to enough food.

Having a big enough aquarium to house the Red Linckia is paramount to the effort. Obviously, bigger aquarium = more water volume = more stable. The more water you have, the harder it is to change anything. Look at it this way, if you have a swimming pool of water, and you put a drop of food coloring in it, nothing happens, but if you put a drop of food coloring in a small glass of water, the color changes. One of the things that all stars are susceptible to is changing conditions. They will do best in an aquarium that is very stable especially in regard to temperature, pH, and having enough volume in your aquarium will make this much easier to achieve.

As they are omnivore grazers, it will help to have an aquarium that is bigger than 55 gallons, with lots of rockwork for algae to grow on, and little crevices for micro-critters to hide in. The more mature this aquarium is, the more food will already be available for your star. That being said, if you fail to get your Red Linckia supplemental food, it will die sooner than expected. They will eat just about anything, but it needs to be small enough for them to consume easily. Place morsels next to their legs and the star will usually take care of the rest. They can be fed mysis, krill, bloodworms, tubifex etc. They should also have access to algae-based foods, especially if the tank housing them doesn't have much algae in it for them to graze on. You can do this with algae wafers and Nutramar's Algae and Color Boost Shots, just stick it in their path, and they'll consumer as much of it as they need.

Sea Stars of all kinds, and Linckias in particular, are sensitive to being exposed to air. Try to limit this as much as possible when transferring them to your aquarium. As was previously referenced, they are also sensitive to shifts in temperature, pH, salinity and water quality. With this in mind, they should be acclimated slowly, we suggest using drip acclimation (see our acclimation article) for an hour at the minimum, but there isn't any need to extend this time for more than two hours. Like all invertebrates, stars are sensitive to copper, and you should avoid medications that include it.

In regard to aquarium parameters, if you have any invertebrates, you should be ready for this. Stars will do best in an environment with a specific gravity near 1.025, a pH near 8, and a temperature in the mid 70s Fahrenheit. Again, stability of these numbers is more important than the actual number (within reason). Now here comes the somewhat not intuitive part; your Red Linckia Star needs dissolved nutrients and will absorb them from its environment. You are not striving for a zero-level nitrate or phosphorus. These parameters still need to be kept in check for the rest of your aquarium critters, but they shouldn't be zero. This needs to be balanced with the Red Linckia's need for a wide and healthy range of minerals that are supplied by your regular water changes. A quality salt, like Tropic Marin will supply all the mineral content that the stars and the rest of your invertebrates need, just be sure that you are not doing so many changes that your star doesn't have any organics to absorb (which honestly, is pretty hard to do).

The last aspect of successfully keeping Red Linckia Stars is one of tankmates. A well fed Red Linckia is little to no risk to your corals, though they may try to eat clams, as such, they make pretty good candidates for reef aquariums, with that caveat. Fish that might take a nibble out of the star must be excluded, while stars can regenerate, this is a taxing process for them, and they often don't survive it (even in the wild). This isn't a complete list, but you should avoid housing them with puffers, triggers, and big wrasses especially Thalassoma (though even some of the bigger Halichoeres are a risk).

As you can see, there are some hurdles to keeping Red Linckia Stars healthy, though none of them are that difficult to do with some focus and effort. Successful husbandry of them results in a beautiful addition to the home aquarium that is very rewarding. They are active during the day and generate comments like nothing else. If you have a big enough tank, and have been keeping it stable for a while, maybe it's time to consider adding one of these big, beautiful, bright red stars to your tank. Head over to your LFS and ask about getting you a sustainably sourced Red Linckia Star from Quality Marine today!