Archaster sand star

Care at a glance

Archaster typicus is often sold as a sand sifting starfish, but it is a different species from the Astropecten that usually goes by that name. It is sand-coloured with dark blotches, buries itself during the day and comes up in the evening to roam the bottom. Along the way it eats detritus, leftover food and the tiny life between the grains.

It is a little less demanding than Astropecten, but this starfish also lives off what the sand bed provides. Give it a fine layer at least five centimetres deep in a mature tank and keep only one per aquarium. If it thins out, or sits on the glass instead of digging, target-feed it with a piece of mussel or a sinking tablet placed right next to it.

Good to know

• Digger — needs fine sand
• Needs a mature, stable tank

Best not combined with

• Harlequin shrimpHymenocera picta

Related species

• Fromia starfish (orange marble)Fromia monilis
• Red African starfishProtoreaster linckii
• Blue Linckia starfishLinckia laevigata
• Indian sea starFromia indica
• Chocolate chip starfishProtoreaster nodosus
• Spotted Linckia starfishLinckia multifora