sand dollars and starfish

[katie]

my aunt took her kiddos to the coast here recently and they caught some live sand dollars and a starfish...she wanted me to find out if anybody knows how to KEEP them alive. so....does anybody have any idea?

[EJ]

Since they live in a tidal environment .... Id assume they would need a highly oxygenated "home" ..otherwise they will likely croak.

[cactuflage]

salt water aquarium?

[AmyB]

You need a salt water fish tank (aquarium) to keep them alive. I had a star fish and it eventually died when it figured out how to get the lid off the tank and it crawled out. You can buy them at PetSmart and other stores.

www.petsmart.com/global/browse_category.jsp?ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=2534374302023693&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302030067&CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673326329&bmUID=1090275749966

[katie]

i just need to know what they eat....or somethin like that. i don't really know what i need to know

[AmyB]

Here's an article on Starfish: www.petco.com/pet_care_article.asp?ArticleID=606&categoryID=13

Here's a caresheet for Starfish: www.petco.com/assets/articles/caresheets/pdf/aqsstarfish052003.pdf

You may want to get some Algea and some frozen seafood (shrimp, scallops?)

Here's a link to algea: www.petco.com/product_info.asp?sku=0094575004&dept_id=%2D2

Hope that helps.

[katie]

thanks a ton....i would do that web searching myself but my computer is horrible about just stopping in the middle of using search engines....freezes up and all that fun stuff where you have to completely restart it! thanks again

katie

[AmyB]

No problem ;D I spend most of my day at work doing research on the computer - it's more fun to search for non work related stuff