Fromia milleporella

Acclimation: it copes very poorly with sudden changes in water chemistry (oxygen, salinity, pH). Acclimate it very slowly by drip, the method recommended for all sea stars, and never take it out of the water while handling it.

Setup: keep it only in a mature, stable tank with plenty of live rock covered in algae, as it grazes the films on it all the time. Reeflex recommends at least 200 L. Quality Marine also advises a sand bed and open space.

Tankmates: it is peaceful and considered reef compatible. It usually lives alone but tolerates its own kind if the tank is large enough to feed them. Avoid the harlequin shrimp, its predator, and fish that scrape off every algal film: one hobbyist reports his Fromia died, probably of hunger, after a grazing blenny (Atrosalarias fuscus) was added.

Sensitivities: no copper-based medication. When injured, it can regrow an arm. According to Reeflex, long-term keeping is not really documented, and red stars rarely live long in aquariums because they lack suitable food.

Water: aim for 22 to 25.5 °C, a specific gravity of 1.023 to 1.025, pH 8.1 to 8.4 and 8 to 12 dKH.

In the wild it feeds continuously on thin layers of algae, fine particles and small organisms that it picks up from the substrate as it moves, like most stars of this group that graze surface films.

In the aquarium it finds most of its food on the live rock of a mature tank. If algae run short, supplement with flake food, small pieces of fish or mussel, or sinking shrimp pellets placed near it. There is little you can do to supplement its diet: watch that it does not waste away.