Feather Duster

[OCCFan023]

I picked up a feather duster today at my lfs (I had seen them all the time and finally got one). Anyway I got it and put it on one of my rocks in the tank and came right out..


I had some questions on it just to make sure it is ok. One is should I place it on the sand (I read somewhere it uses sand in its shell?) or can I just keep it on the rock and see if it moves. I have it on the rock now and Ill see if it moves on its own ( they can move on there own right?)


Also after it settles in, should I feed it? Should i feed it like flake or frozen mysis shrimp? I think it likes phytoplankton, but could I supplement it with something more readily avialable? Does anyone who has featherdusters feed them?

 

[1979camaro]

some dusters live on the rock some live in the sandbed...it depends on the type...they can't really move on their own so you might want to figure it out, but in your tank it will probably be ok either way. a general guidline is that dusters with papery sheeths cover under sand and those with hard shells live in the rock. feeding is the perrenial problem with dusters, they are filter feeders and they need things in a very specific (and small) size range...flake and mysis won't likely be accepted

 

[OCCFan023]

I think its a hawaiian feather duster, is this a type/class of featherdusters?

 

[1979camaro]

it is a type...i believe it is one of the soft bodied tube worms...probably should be burried in the substrate somewhere where it will get good water flow

 

[OCCFan023]

yea when you said the ones with papery seeths, that describes what mine looksl like. Right now his head is on the sand bu his body is holding onto the a peice of live rock. Ill take him off and burry his body in the sand and make sure hes ok.

Im going to go back to the store tommorow and get some new cleaners and cool crabs (I went today but they had crap and there getting a shipment in) and ill ask if they feed them anything particular and see what I can do.


Im still contemplating corals, so right now the duster will be the closest thing to them and I really like him, so maybe hell push me over to spend the money on a new light...

 

[OCCFan023]

ok I moved him and put his body basiclly completly under the sand (except his head and a little of his body. It was pretty hard to get him under because hes so damn light and would move constantly, I bent his body a little so hopefully hes ok, and doesnt die on me (from that atleast)


I put him in a good current spot right at the front of the glass in front of the rock, so hopefully hell like the spot.

Ill try and get a pic and post it

 

[KahluaZzZ]

my hawaian feather is almost totaly covered with sand..looks ok, fed with marine snow once a month.

 

[OCCFan023]

thats good to hear that you have one thats doing well. Do you spot feed it? or just add Marine Snow to the enire tank?

 

[KahluaZzZ]

usually i shake the bottle a lot, use a seringe ( without needle ) with marine snow + water sucked from the tank, and try to target feed gently..too much pressure would make the duster retract. Sometimes i just add marine snow into the tank 'cause bubble corals need to be fed.
Well i DID add marine snow, my refrigerator died when i was out..lost 100 CDN $ worth of food and products...argh

 

[OCCFan023]

did you order marine snow online, or was it at your lfs?


hopefully the 100 cdn $ wasnt all from the Marine Snow

 

[KahluaZzZ]

nope..but still i lost a 24 $ CDN marine snow bottle almost full, 3 types of emerald food, mysid, brine, a big pack of Formula 2 freezed food, 2 types of plankton and.. maybe my seachem reef plus 'cause it's supposed to be in a fridge but i kept it. The marine snow i bought was a big al..not online

 

[KahluaZzZ]

The smell of the rotten marine snow is now encrypted in my head.. just can't forget it ..geez never smelled something that digusting..ever !

 

[OCCFan023]

that sucks about the food and stuff, and I can only imagine the smell of the rotten marine snow.


Thats pretty cool that you can go into Big Als, are the prices as good in the retail as online?

 

[KahluaZzZ]

if you switch from us to canadian site and compare the prices, this is ridiculous. We pay double even triple ( when the 15 % tax is added ) for the same stuff..except for food or tanks.
I went 1 or 2 times and have no plan to return there unless i'm in usa.

 

[OCCFan023]

O ive never seen the canadian prices online, just the US, but after hearing that Im glad I dont need to purchase from Canada (no offense, just the money ).


I did find the marine snow online at big als for like 7 bucks, so Ill pick that up.

 

[lordroad]

Hey OCC, got any pictures of your duster? How is it doing?

 

[KahluaZzZ]

7 bucks...wow...man i live like 35 miles from the states. That's it...i'm gonna be a marine snow pusher

 

[OCCFan023]

I never looked for it at my lfs but they have a small bottle for like 14 bucks, but online at bigals(for the us site) its like 7 bucks.


Ill have some new pics of the tank in general up in like a week!

 

[wayne]

Why don't you just manually stir the sand on the bottom of the tank and free up some debris.

 

[OCCFan023]

I didnt know that would be adequite food for them, Is there alot of filter feeder food in the substrate (that would be enough to feed them)