i just wanted to know if any one else has had any success or given these guys a try. ive had my colony for two years now and i think i can safely say ive been pretty sucessful with this difficult species. if so i just wanted to hear techniques, care, possible foods. etc.

so far ive only been successful with detritus, and rotifer mash. though i havnt really explored other foods. surprisingly the detritus seems to be working, and has been semi long term.

ive also started an adventure with another "no no" filter feeding specie the blueberry gorgonian. now i know these are reputed as having dismal survival rates in captivity. but the same was said for these worms as well. it was a freebie chunk from my lfs, just a small bit from a larger colony they had. theirs didnt make it more than two weeks. however ive had this one for two months now. it has its ups and downs. though it seems to be making a bit of a comeback. i think my partial success thus far is due to my constant broadcast feedings and detritus stirring. ill have to take some shots of the bit ive got, seems as though it might be putting on a little bit of new growth.

Ive had mine for a year and both the coral and the worms seem to be doing great. I use a mix of cyclo/mysis/phyto/oyster every other day and spot feed my tank. I also baste the rocks down often. I wish I could say Ive had such success with gionaporas but I cant say that unfortunately

I haven't had mine long enough consider it a success. I make my own fish food and the mix I use was over blended so the particles are very small. My mix has very small particles anyways including spiralina powder and the smallest golden pearls powder. So I broadcast feed the whole tank but I squirt it in the general direction of the worms each time to ensure they get all the small particles. I also broadcast once a week some oyster eggs and reef chili.

So far, the worms look the same. The coral has been growing slowly.

Did the worms multiply for you guys?

cool!

do you have any pictures? id love to see em. ive tried cyclops before and havnt got even an incling of any feeding response. though from what i gather from all of my research there are several different species or perhaps subspecies with different sized feeding radioles. perhaps you have the larger of the two that ive come across?

from what ive read these worms grow very very slowly. some where in the neighborhood of 1cm a year. which seems about right from what little growth ive had. i believe these worms reproduce sexually and then land on a suitable coral in a planktonic stage where upon they take root and grow/bore as long as conditions are right. i have yet to hear of them reproducing asexually. though im no pro. there is an extremely tiny juvinile worm on the rock i have and it has put on hardly any noticeable growth in the past two years.

if i may recommend, do not attempt to target feed these species. they create their own counter current which enables the particles of suitable size and taste to be swept into the feeding radioles. i usually stirr up the tank at least once a day and then let it sit with no filters or protien skimmer running for hours at a time. using only my powerhead to distribute the food. that being said this method does create a tremendous amount of waste in the tank there by needing a tremendous amount of maintenance to keep nutrient levels in check. they are extremely sensitive to nutrients in the water. especially elevated levels of nitrate.

Christmas tree worms will be my next purchase I would also like to look into something like the blueberry gorgonian

any link's/info on the care for the blueberry gorgonian?

there are no known care standards for the blueberry gorg. generally they dont last more than a few months in most peoples tanks.

i might hold off on the gorg for a while. give the worms a go and if your successful after a year or so of keeping these high demanding filter feeders alive.

how long has your tank been set up? how bout some params?

As far as repoducing goes, I have several that have bored into other areas of my tank, yet they are very small

I'll start with the christmas tree worm's first

perimeter's are good with 4-t5 h.o on a 29G no refuge or skimmer I only have a fire goby,mandarin,rics,zoo's,sps

tank has been up for 1 year with rock's,water and gravel from tank's that were 7 years old



which area's? sps or rock etc?

sweet phyto!

sounds like you should be able to do just fine with them. there great creatures, one of my absolute fascinations.

i might recomend that you add a skimmer to the tank, as you have to dump a ton of food into the tank to keep em alive. broadcast feeding is messy business.

i notice when they havnt been fed enough or havnt had the right kind of foods they will start to drop bits of the radiole. so they look thinned out a bit, then i have to generally amp up the amount of food and intern amp up the amount of wc's.