EMeyer Posted April 20, 2018 Share Posted April 20, 2018 (edited) Over the past two years I've killed quite a few worms trying to figure out the secret. I've ordered from 3 different vendors; I've put them in two different tanks; I've tried a range of foods from homemade seafood smoothie to live phytoplankton or newly hatched brine shrimp. To be clear, the animals I am talking about are the large feather duster worms (Sabellastarte or Bispira ) like these https://www.bluezooaquatics.com/productlist.asp?did=2&cid=297 I've never seen one live more than a couple weeks, and often its only a few days. They died in tanks supporting zoas, SPS, a thriving christmas tree worm "rock" (porites), and even cuttlefish. So its not a complete failure of water chemistry or something. Fortunately theyre not terribly expensive or intelligent so I dont mind experimenting a bit more, but havent had any promising results so far. Any feather duster worm experts here? Anyone have advice? Thanks! Edited April 20, 2018 by EMeyer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted April 20, 2018 Share Posted April 20, 2018 They can only eat a certain size of suspended particles and some people spot feed. I did not need to as usually I had them in smaller tanks where they were heavily fed. I would supplement with foods like oyster feast and phytofeast. Also sometimes they don't mix with shrimp because shrimp can aggressively take the food away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sroberts Posted April 20, 2018 Share Posted April 20, 2018 I just got a couple at the meeting last week and they are not looking too healthy at this point. I lowered them to a point where the flow is much less and the light is not as intense. Hope that helps them open up more fully. In the past I have found them to be fun to watch as part of the tank and they have been really healthy and open. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eclipse522 Posted April 21, 2018 Share Posted April 21, 2018 Sea urchin do not mix well with them. Found out the hard way. Urchins love to eat the feather dusters' homes. That is how I lost mine. If you have urchin/s, it will not work out. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertareef Posted April 21, 2018 Share Posted April 21, 2018 1 minute ago, eclipse522 said: Sea urchin do not mix well with them. Found out the hard way. Urchins love to eat the feather dusters' homes. That is how I lost mine. If you have urchin/s, it will not work out. This is an interesting tidbit I did not know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EMeyer Posted April 21, 2018 Author Share Posted April 21, 2018 Thats OK, sea urchins are banned from my display tanks anyway. When I want random destruction of corals and aquascape I can always stick my hand in the tank to do some cleaning. Shrimp are also excluded from one of the tanks by virtue of being irresistible to cuttlefish. I also have read they are size-selective filter feeders but neither dried or live phytoplankton products have made a difference for me. I do continue to feed live phyto several times a week because I believe the christmas tree worms eat it. One thing that is common to both tanks is hermits, but I've never witnessed them messing with feather dusters. (Only crazy idea I can think of: I've seen bristleworms go absolutely bananas over them. I know the common theory is bristleworms can only eat detritus. Since I've witnessed bristleworms attacking and eating live shrimp on multiple occasions, I dont find it far fetched that after they finish pulling off the crown of the feather duster (seen this several times) they could finish it off. But thats a fringe theory, I'm hoping its something simpler like food!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertareef Posted April 21, 2018 Share Posted April 21, 2018 5 hours ago, EMeyer said: Thats OK, sea urchins are banned from my display tanks anyway. When I want random destruction of corals and aquascape I can always stick my hand in the tank to do some cleaning. Shrimp are also excluded from one of the tanks by virtue of being irresistible to cuttlefish. I also have read they are size-selective filter feeders but neither dried or live phytoplankton products have made a difference for me. I do continue to feed live phyto several times a week because I believe the christmas tree worms eat it. One thing that is common to both tanks is hermits, but I've never witnessed them messing with feather dusters. (Only crazy idea I can think of: I've seen bristleworms go absolutely bananas over them. I know the common theory is bristleworms can only eat detritus. Since I've witnessed bristleworms attacking and eating live shrimp on multiple occasions, I dont find it far fetched that after they finish pulling off the crown of the feather duster (seen this several times) they could finish it off. But thats a fringe theory, I'm hoping its something simpler like food!) I knew there was a reason I didn't like bristle worms... besides the fact that they creep me out of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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