Seanfg89 Posted October 15, 2006 Share Posted October 15, 2006 I'm going to place my first livestock order tomorrow and I hope to include one or two dwarf colored feather dusters. I've never kept feather dusters before intentionally, have had the occasional come with my lr, and don't know how or where to place them. I know they like good water flow but how and where do I "stick" them into the rock and do they require any glues or epoxies to make them stay? Thanks in advance. Link to comment
nd12nc Posted October 15, 2006 Share Posted October 15, 2006 I wouldn't worry too much about them. They're pretty hardy. I have had one for about a year. At first i fed it with phytoplankton, but i think that just pollutes the tank. Mainly they'll get they're food from your water. If they really dont' like where you placed them in the tank they'll shed their tube and move somewhere else and build themselves a new one. However this is kind of stressful for them. I'd say try to place them in a medium current and they should do well. Link to comment
drowsyfirefly Posted October 16, 2006 Share Posted October 16, 2006 I would feed with phyto--but if you're worried about polluting your tank, go with DT's live phytoplankton, which will hopefully survive on their own once inside your tank. Even after my own died I've kept dosing in smaller amounts because I think it helps. There are a lot of filter feeding creatures that you may not know about that appreciate the phyto. Putting in in anyways is probably just me and lots of people would disagree. I also don't mind putting things into the water that may cause higher nitrates because I keep macros and want them do well. I think if you're going to spend money to get them, you should probably also try to feed them. They're beautiful and really neat to watch. Good luck! I hope you enjoy them! --Meghan Link to comment
SeaCrop Posted October 16, 2006 Share Posted October 16, 2006 Don't glue them to the rock. They'll do best sitting on your sand bed. They'll position themselves to their liking there and generally stay put once they find a comfy spot. Also, take the previous advice and feed them. Link to comment
Seanfg89 Posted October 16, 2006 Author Share Posted October 16, 2006 Thanks for the tips. I bought Kent Micro-Vert food for filter feeding invertebrates, will this suffice? Link to comment
drowsyfirefly Posted October 16, 2006 Share Posted October 16, 2006 Should do fine, but be careful because it's not alive so if you add too much it will pollute the water. Any pictures of them? Link to comment
Seanfg89 Posted October 16, 2006 Author Share Posted October 16, 2006 I ordered one Hawaiian FD and one Dwarf Colored FD (Yellow in this case), both are labeled as small. They are due to arrive tomorrow along with a mated pair of small tank bred ocellaris clowns and a nano pack of mushroom corals. I will post pictures as soon as they get "settled in" and when the worms and corals open up. Link to comment
Nosferatu Posted October 16, 2006 Share Posted October 16, 2006 Everyone always says FDs are easy (same with leathers), but those seem to be the 2 things I cannot keep for whatever reason. It's kind of odd, but everyone has their white whale and FDs are one of mine Link to comment
non-photosynt Posted October 20, 2006 Share Posted October 20, 2006 I just placed it into the hole in the rock. Crown oriented to the flow or slightly aside. I tried Micro-Vert only, didn't see any effect, added more diverse feeding for the whole tank. Mainly finest particles after seafood blending and defreezing mysis shrimp, but phytoplankton too (spray-dried, ESV) and different sizes of zooplankton (ZoPlan), as well as Cyclop-Eeze dried for a larger tank habitants. I dont have a link right now, but trere are 2 recipes of the finest food, using crushed flakes, soaked in Selcon or ReefPlus, let sediment set, freeze, use upper top of mixture (marycox dendronephthya recipe search or garf.org gorgonian recipe search). There is article of Rob Toonen, mentioning small feather dusters feeding. And article of Dr.Shimek, including anatomy drawings. Link to comment
drowsyfirefly Posted October 21, 2006 Share Posted October 21, 2006 There is article of Rob Toonen, mentioning small feather dusters feeding. And article of Dr.Shimek, including anatomy drawings. The Dr. Shimek article has to be one of the best articles on feather dusters I've read in a long time. Also meant to say that target feeding is a good idea, but having enough phyto in the water to feed on is way more beneficial. --Meghan Link to comment
foolosophy Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 what about those really really tiny feather dusters? like as big as this "O" ? how do you feed them? are they sensitive to parameters? cos i got one as a hitchhiker on a snail shell. Link to comment
pixierealm Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 i wondered if you feed the very small ones too. I have a ton of them in the tank. Link to comment
foolosophy Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 they are teh coolest! the way they dart in and out to grab whatever. and turn to face the current and stuff. Link to comment
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