Lamprometra palmata Featherstar Crinoid Care Guide
Lamprometra palmata is a featherstar crinoid (an echinoderm, not a coral), a demanding filter feeder with very poor captive survival.
Overview
Lamprometra palmata is a featherstar, a crinoid of the family Mariametridae. Crinoids are echinoderms rather than corals, but they are kept by some reef aquarists as non-photosynthetic filter feeders. The species is notoriously difficult: it captures plankton with its feathery arms and almost always starves in captivity, so it is regarded as an expert-only animal.
Taxonomy
- Family: Mariametridae
- Genus: Lamprometra
- Scientific name: Lamprometra palmata
- WoRMS revision: now treated as a synonym of Dichrometra palmata (Müller, 1841)
- Common names: Featherstar, Crinoid
Habitat
The species comes from the Indo-Pacific, where it lives in fast, often shallow water. It perches on sea fans, rocks and other structures and extends its arms into the current to capture suspended food. It is mobile and can relocate within the reef.
Tank requirements
- Salinity: 1.024–1.026 SG
- Temperature: 24–26 °C (75–79 °F)
- pH: 8.1–8.4
- dKH (alkalinity): 8–11
- Calcium: 400–450 ppm
- Magnesium: 1280–1350 ppm
- Nitrate: below 20 ppm; phosphate below 0.15 ppm
- Lighting: low (0–50 PAR); not light-dependent
- Flow: high
- Minimum tank age: about 1 year, very stable parameters
Feeding
As a filter feeder it relies on small planktonic food, with reports citing zooplankton around 400 microns in size, fed many times a day. Matching the right food size and nutrition is the central difficulty. Heavy continuous feeding combined with pristine, stable water is required, which is hard to sustain.
Survival in captivity
Captive survival is very low; feather stars usually starve slowly over weeks to months. Long-term success is exceptional and has been reported only in heavily fed, dedicated non-photosynthetic systems. For these reasons it is not recommended for general reef tanks.