feather duster

[Pjanssen]

I'm thinking of adding a feather duster as my first coral to my 5 gal Nano. No fish yet, just live rock and sand, and a few clean up crew. Any thoughts on the topic?

[lawnmowerblenny]

make sure you spot feed them regularly (reefsnow) or a similar product

[saltohio]

I'm thinking of adding a feather duster as my first coral

 

I may be mistaken, but I think a feather duster is a marine worm.

So, you have yet to add your first coral.

[WilD]

I may be mistaken, but I think a feather duster is a marine worm.

So, you have yet to add your first coral.

 

You aren't mistaken, feather dusters are indeed worms.

[Pjanssen]

You aren't mistaken, feather dusters are indeed worms.

oh. wow! strangest looking worm I have ever seen. But is it good to put in my tank?

[saltohio]

oh. wow! strangest looking worm I have ever seen. But is it good to put in my tank?

 

I just bought one for the local FS a week ago.

Placed it vertically on the sand bed and seemed to be doing fine until an emerld crab took a keen

interest in it. The crab constantly hung on it and picked at it. Eventually, a crack developed on the

tube, I "assisted" the crab to leave the duster. don't know if it is going to survive.

I'm thinking of putting it in the LR to see if it will abandon the tube and find a crevace within the rock.

Good luck with yours, they are interesting and unique creatures.

[xerophyte_nyc]

Feather Dusters are filter feeders and have a very particular diet of plankton, small molecules and microbes. It is difficult to duplicate their diet in a small tank. They tend to survive for a while but after several months of starvation they shrink and eventually wither away.

 

People who have successfully kept these for an extended period of time supplement with phytoplankton or other food designed for filter feeders.

[mmcguffi]

Feather Dusters are filter feeders and have a very particular diet of plankton, small molecules and microbes. It is difficult to duplicate their diet in a small tank. They tend to survive for a while but after several months of starvation they shrink and eventually wither away.

 

People who have successfully kept these for an extended period of time supplement with phytoplankton or other food designed for filter feeders.

false.

 

tons of people keep these and do nothing special and they thrive for years (including myself). super simple to keep.

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/search/q.php?cx=p...e&sa=Search

 

Edit: I would, however, make sure you are feeding something in your tank (ie fish, coral, etc). the duster will do fine from those feedings

[lakshwadeep]

Hitchhiker feather dusters are usually easy to keep because of their size. The problem comes when you get large ornamental species, like "coco worms", which need additional feeding.

[xerophyte_nyc]

false.

 

tons of people keep these and do nothing special and they thrive for years (including myself). super simple to keep.

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/search/q.php?cx=p...e&sa=Search

 

Edit: I would, however, make sure you are feeding something in your tank (ie fish, coral, etc). the duster will do fine from those feedings

 

Your water has enough small particulate debris from leftover feedings to keep the feather worms going. Either the particles act as food directly, or they support plankters in the water. Many people have nutrient poor tanks which work fine for many coral, but pose a challenge for filter feeders.

 

All about feather dusters

 

http://www.dtplankton.com/articles/filterfood.html

[matt_longview]

It depends on your filtration. If you're running an Ultra Low Nutrient System, you'll need to feed. If you're not, it will likely feed on the nutrients in your water. So, if you're VSV dosing or running biopellets you'll def need to feed. If not... you should be fine. If it ever starts to look unhealthy (research them so well that you know what unhealthy looks like! This will help you pick out a healthy one when you buy anyways) start adding food then.

[Nate Dawg]

I have a hawaiian feather duster and a coco worm for months, and I've never fed them once. They are doing great!

[xerophyte_nyc]

I have a hawaiian feather duster and a coco worm for months, and I've never fed them once. They are doing great!

 

Nate Dawg - I don't mean to be cynical in any way...but having a plant or animal remain alive for a few months does not necessarily mean it is "doing great". Many sea (and land) creatures are highly tolerant of neglect and subpar conditions for a period of time and may not show signs of distress until it is too late. The bottom line is you cannot really know, yet.

 

That being said, I hope your worms continue to survive and thrive!

[Lorenz725]

Just wanted to say I have 6 in my main tank all different sizes and colors. That does not include the tons of hitch hikers I got on my live rock. The first one i got is now 2 years old but I would recommend letting your tank get more established before getting one. They are filter feeders so if your tank is really new you will not have much in your water for them to eat. I love featherdusters and think they are a nice add to a tank good luck.

Charles

[saltohio]

Just wanted to say I have 6 in my main tank all different sizes and colors. That does not include the tons of hitch hikers I got on my live rock. The first one i got is now 2 years old but I would recommend letting your tank get more established before getting one. They are filter feeders so if your tank is really new you will not have much in your water for them to eat. I love featherdusters and think they are a nice add to a tank good luck.

Charles

 

Have your feather dusters remained in their tube or do they sometimes take up residence in LR hole/crevace?

I'm asking because my duster had it's tube damaged by a crab and I'm hoping to get him to live within the LR

by placing him near a piect of LR with deep holes.

I do feed it photplankton every second day.

Thanks for the comments, lots of knowledgeable people here.

[iSpeakWhale]

Hey everybody, I have a question about some odd behavior my feather duster is exhibiting..

I've had my tank for a couple of weeks now and the feather duster was one of the first inhabitants. Normally, it is open and beautiful, like this:

Recently though, for the past three days, actually, it's only been halfway opening, at best, like this:

At first I thought that it was baiting my cleaner shrimp, in hopes of a little cleaning, but the pattern became duster opens halfway, shrimp starts to clean, shrimp becomes over zealous, duster closes up tight.

Please help me!! Everything else in my tank (which could be seen here if anybody wants to check it out- http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/323481-innovative-marine-nuvo-8g/) is doing fine. Chemical levels are fine, too. pH is a little low but that's about the worst of it.

Has anybody seen a duster do this before? Is it stressed? Should I do something?

Any feedback at all would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[ns1166]

You might want to move it to another spot. Maybe your mushrooms could be bothering it. I have seen in the past certain corals that come into contact with feather dusters will cause them to hide. What is your flow like?