Sand sifting star - only 2 legs left

I've never had one so I don't have much experience to share but I have read that they get their nutrition from their sand sifting. Possibly they have exhausted their food supply?

 

That's what I've always heard, not sure if it's true, but apparently they eat all they can eat from the sandbed, deplete their food supply, then die/starve. I had one and it disappeared after several months, never to be seen again........

 

I think thats a pretty common story.  I have heard of that happening to a lot of people.
I have always had nano tanks, so as you can imagine a sand sifter is a big no no in them for sure, but before I moved to davenport, I have had lfs's tell me they would be good for my tank to stir up my dsb lol.

 

Actually I had one for a day. When I was new and bought impulsively, I bought one on the advice of a( now out of business) LFS. I went home, did some research and found out that I had no business putting one in a fairly new 29 gallon and took it back to the LFS the next day. I told them I didn't want to watch it die in my tank and they didn't argue with me and refunded my money. I learned to research first and buy second.

 

The key to keeping a sandsifter in a tank that small is target feeding. I bought one for my 120 about a month after I started (4 months ago). Some of the things I have read say 1 per 500 gallons, but that seems excessive. I've been target feeding him brine shrimp every time I see him. I squirt a little under him with a syringe, he stops, eats for about 5 mins. and then moves on. They are pretty neat, but I usually only see mine about 30 minutes before the lights go out. He definitely keeps my crushed coral substrate well mixed though!

 

I'm pretty sure you can pick up the frozen stuff at any pet store.

 

Here's mine, fed him about half a mL of thawed brine slurry today. Yum!

 

I do brine because its small and easier to suck up into my syringe. Mysis might be harder to get mushed up enough to fit in a syringe, but you can try!