From ReefPedia

[edit] Sand Sifting Star Scientific Name Astropecten polycanthus Max. Size: 4" Tank Size: 60 gal+ Aggression: Non-aggressive toward typical corals and fish Hardiness: Good Reef-Safe: Yes Available as captive-bred: yes Hitchhiker? No

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Physical Description

Sand-sifting starfish are not exactly the prettiest starfish of the bunch. They are typically a brown color with slightly elongated legs. Often they will have small black stripes as well.

Distribution

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Behavior

Sand-sifting starfish are certainly a mixed blessing that may or may not be a welcome addition to your tank. In an aquarium focused on maintaining a live sand bed, adding this starfish is a terribly bad decision. In a tank with a shallow sand bed or other substrate, however, the sand sifting starfish can be a critical part of your clean-up crew.

Sand sifting starfish are voracious eaters of nutrients in the sandbed- whether those nutrients be live, or detritus. So in a tank where sandbed infauna are depended on for the system, the sand-sifting star will be a poor choice that will eradicate such sandbed critters.

On the other hand, if you have a shallow or "dead" sand bed, the sand-sifting starfish becomes an asset to your tank, as its voracious appetite is put to good use cleaning up unresolved detritus.

Feeding

See above

Social Structure

Several sand-sifting starfish can be added to a tank. The question is not aggression or crowding, but rather, how many starfish your substrate can support.