Would a Feather Duster do ok?
- Thread starter saltwater4life
- Start date
DANG stop making wanna get one! lol i cant wait any longer!! i want one now! well i have one last question and i hope it's yes, Will it do ok in my tank since it's only been up for a month or do you think it would die since it's a filter feeder i dont really know what all that means but i hope i can still get one
well thx for all your help and Joe Fish you getting one today still?
well thx for all your help and Joe Fish you getting one today still?
I have had my tank up for about 6 months or so and I do have a xenia, which is a filter feeder. It's doing pretty good. About once or twice a week I add a zooplankton concentrate. I add it to a cup of water(about 5 drops from the sucker thing) then I put it in the tank. I was told this isn't really necesarry, but a lot of my fish eat the stuff to so...
I'm gonig to check them out. Making sure it looks healthy first.
How do they reproduce?
I'm gonig to check them out. Making sure it looks healthy first.
How do they reproduce?
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Featherdusters are really worms that secrete a mucus to make their tube their home~! They do not move around the tank. They usually come attached to coral rubble; make sure the bottom end is closed andthe top end is open and not cracked or ripped.
A healthy featherduster will pull back into its tube Quickly when disturbed by movement, a shadow, (ie. if a fish etc is pokingaround looking for food). Otherwise, make sure their crown is visible most of the time, which means it is out filter-feeding.
When you bring it home, don't expose it to the air AT ALL! an air bubble could get in the tube & kill it; make sure you stabilize it in the sand where there is a good current going by to send food to it. When I had mine I would also target feed phytoplankton and turn off the pump for about an hour so it had more time to suck it up!
Hope this helps*SUNSMILE*
ps I don't think they reproduce in tanks; I've read that in the ocean, sometimes when they break in half, the rear part forms its own head and swims off & reproduces in the water
A healthy featherduster will pull back into its tube Quickly when disturbed by movement, a shadow, (ie. if a fish etc is pokingaround looking for food). Otherwise, make sure their crown is visible most of the time, which means it is out filter-feeding.
When you bring it home, don't expose it to the air AT ALL! an air bubble could get in the tube & kill it; make sure you stabilize it in the sand where there is a good current going by to send food to it. When I had mine I would also target feed phytoplankton and turn off the pump for about an hour so it had more time to suck it up!
Hope this helps*SUNSMILE*
ps I don't think they reproduce in tanks; I've read that in the ocean, sometimes when they break in half, the rear part forms its own head and swims off & reproduces in the water
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I buried the tube in the sand with an inch or so stickingup out of the sand. It has been that way for a couple of months and seems to like it.....in face one is buried deeper than it was (thanks to the gobie spitting sand on it) I don't feed them much just whatever is in the water column.....The pull in when disturbed....but other wise they look just like they did when I got them.....
looks real cool
BTW i got another question my uncle said when he put his FD in his tank he just flipped it over and stuck it in the tank so that the bubbles wouldn't stay in it could that work but i'll probbly just put it in the water like you guys said i hope the dude doesn't take him out of the water when he nets him out... or i'll be PO'ed and tell him to do it the right way but then again they put all there live stock in a QT for a few weeks then put them in there tanks aka Feather duster would be in the Feather duster tanks so i would think they'd do it right since they lived that long if air was in there
EDIT so there is no way to move it once it's in the tank? so no way to move???
BTW i got another question my uncle said when he put his FD in his tank he just flipped it over and stuck it in the tank so that the bubbles wouldn't stay in it could that work but i'll probbly just put it in the water like you guys said i hope the dude doesn't take him out of the water when he nets him out... or i'll be PO'ed and tell him to do it the right way
but then again they put all there live stock in a QT for a few weeks then put them in there tanks aka Feather duster would be in the Feather duster tanks so i would think they'd do it right since they lived that long if air was in thereEDIT so there is no way to move it once it's in the tank? so no way to move???
sure you can move it, but the more you disturb it, the more stressed it can get and not come out, possibly 'drop' its feather crown,and starve. Just try to be sure when you place it the first time, it's secure in its spot, either in a hole in the rock, or buried in fine sand, not course sand/rock/coral-and be careful not to damage its base when you do place it. I don't think it actually has a 'foot' to put down, like an anemone, but that it probably "attaches" and builds its tube onto and around what it's stuck into...you have to be really careful when you decide you need to move it and pick up everything it has built itself onto, or else you can possibly snap the tube~!
the tube wouldn't snap per se as it is kind of rubbery.....but you wouldn't want to tear it or anything. They have been known to shed their crowns if stressed, if so leave them be and they should grow a new one.....they sometimes build their tube in the sand and can appear in another spot .......strange I know.