Fromia star

Care at a glance

Overview

The Fromia star is one of the more popular small sea stars, because it is reef safe. It suits an established reef and a keeper with a little experience.

Caring for the Fromia star

Keep the Fromia star only in an established reef of at least 40 gal (150 L). It needs plenty of mature, undisturbed live rock to graze around the clock. It rarely takes hand feeding, so a young or freshly scrubbed aquarium cannot support it. A tank that has been running for many months gives it enough grazing area to find food on its own.

Use a slow drip acclimation, as with every sea star. Keep the salinity rock-steady, since a sudden shift is a common trigger for a fast decline. Hold the water at 75 to 81°F (24 to 27°C) with a pH of 8.1 to 8.4.

It grazes the thin film of algae, bacteria and microorganisms that coats the rock. Even in a mature tank, it can slowly decline if the rock cannot keep up with its grazing. Watch its body condition over the first few months. If it looks thin, add more live rock or try target feeding frozen mysis or minced seafood.

The Fromia star is peaceful and reef safe, and it leaves corals, clams and other invertebrates alone. It may pick at sponges given the chance.

Good to know

The Fromia star's species name, milleporella, translates loosely to thousand pores. It refers to the many small tubercles and pores scattered over its body, which also give it the name thousand-pore sea star. Many aquarium references still file it under the older family Ophidiasteridae, alongside Linckia. Current taxonomy places the genus Fromia in the family Goniasteridae. Its color runs from deep red to orange, often with small dark spots over the arms. Like other sea stars, it can slowly regrow an arm lost to a predator or an injury.

In the wild

The Fromia star is found across the Indo-West Pacific. Its range runs from Madagascar and the Red Sea to the South Pacific, and north to southern Japan. It lives on shallow reef flats and coral rubble down to about 70 m, grazing slowly over live rock.

Common questions

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