feather dusters

[ivy2dw7]

Is there anything special you have to do to care for feather dusters. I know they're filter feeders and I thought it'd be nice to have 1 or 2 in my reef tank. But I'm not sure what I am supposed to feed them, if anything, and I simply just don't know exactly how to care for them.

 

[farslayer]

Feather dusters are cool little inverts. They are actually worms that live inside of tubes, so you'll need to maintain proper calcium to keep their tubes in good shape. I used to have a few years ago, but for some reason I never bothered to put any more in my tank. Keep them away from things like arrow crabs since these eat worms (like bristleworms). I would add Kent Microvert to your tank occasionally or just use it to spot feed them a few times a week. They are extremely easy to care for. Just drip acclimate them for a coupla hours, then place them on a rock or some other decorative locale. They won't generally move on their own, but they can leave their tube and make a new one elsewhere. I always liked to put four or five of them altogether in a little pile

 

[debbie]

farslayer, I have two large feather dusters and just love them. Can you please tell me something, when the tubes are a purple color and the grey color is missing on them is this an indication that there is something wrong?
I got rid of my shrimp and crabs and I seen them eating my dusters crown and tubes. The only thing in the tank is some bristle worms... pods, 5 margarita snails and two ocellaris clowns.
Just want to know if this is normal.....

 

[farslayer]

The purple is probably just coraline algae growing on their tubes, this happened to mine and it was really cool. I have also heard of crabs eating the crowns although mine were never bothered by my crabs. Now if the tube looks like it has holes in it, it can indicate inadequate calcium. They use calcium to build these tubes in conjunction with excretions from their bodies (I believe). They also use these excretions to attach themselves to rock and aquarium glass (I'm sure you've seen this). But otherwise the purple is more likely than not just coraline algae.