Feather Dusters

hunt

hunt

Active Member
Im going to mt LFS thursday to hopefully get my tail spot blenny and i got thinking about the $10.00 feather dusters i keep seeing. (i cant remember the name but i think it has hawian in it). Are these hard to care for, i know some people spot feed them, but is that really nessisary? Will they be safe in my tank (two ocellaris clowns, two fire fish, hopefully soon a tail spot blenny, blue leg hermits, and i think a halloween hermit). Thanks
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
have one in my tank with hermits, turbos, sixline (might be the only one to mess with it when he gets bigger) clown, tang and mandarin
 
speg

speg

Active Member
I've been out of the game for a while, but they were difficult to feed and keep alive when I last did this.
Ron Shimek suggests that they're just too difficult to feed and usually only last for about 6 months and then starve to death :(
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member

Feather dusters are easy to care for, but you do have to feed the tank some Kents microvert or something along those lines, but not spot feed. Put them in the spot you want and leave them alone, if the leave the tube they usually die, but not always. They will attach themselves to the nearest rock with a foot and be very established and happy.
They should have a nice gentle constant current but not beat to death with it. They shed the crown and it grows back, but that crown shrinks if it isn’t getting enough food from the water current.
 
mrdc

mrdc

Active Member
I think the biggest problem with handling them is starvation. Some people have great success with them and I think those people heavily feed their tanks. They are easier to handle and cheaper to get than coco worms.
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by mrdc
http:///forum/post/3286794
I think the biggest problem with handling them is starvation. Some people have great success with them and I think those people heavily feed their tanks. They are easier to handle and cheaper to get than coco worms.

+1
 
speg

speg

Active Member
Originally Posted by Flower
http:///forum/post/3286785
Feather dusters are easy to care for,
Some are much more hardy than others. Some literally require little to no special care and will end up thriving. Saying that dusters as a whole are easy to care for is a mistake IMO.
Hawaiian feather dusters are not an easy duster to keep long term.
 
ladyreefseeker

ladyreefseeker

Administrator
Staff member
I have several and I buy Wild Toe to feed all corals and inverts. The trick to keeping them is to have an established tank with a variety of natural occuring microrganisms, Wild Toe works great for me. Also I have taken the Mysis and put them in a blender and I put a bit of that in too. I think feather dusters aren't difficult to keep.
 
speg

speg

Active Member
Originally Posted by ladyreefseeker
http:///forum/post/3286943
I have several and I buy Wild Toe to feed all corals and inverts. The trick to keeping them is to have an established tank with a variety of natural occuring microrganisms, Wild Toe works great for me. Also I have taken the Mysis and put them in a blender and I put a bit of that in too. I think feather dusters aren't difficult to keep.
What types do you have and how long have you kept them alive out of curiosity?
 
ladyreefseeker

ladyreefseeker

Administrator
Staff member
They are the Hawaiian Feather Duster variety as seen in my nano pic. I have one in my nano 12g and 6 in my 120. All have been alive for over a year now. I thought the nano one would be the most difficult to keep given the fluctuation of water quality, but it has been doing great and is huge. I really think it has to do with the micro organisms, like those in Wild Toe and probably other coral type foods.
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member

I had one for 4 years, and a regular giant brown one for 5 years. My Coco worms however only lasted 2 years, one just lost its crown and never emerged again and about a month later I was moving the remaining one to another part of the tank...it slipped out of its tube (wierd looking critter) I never seen it again.

So I always considered feather dusters really hardy.
 
hunt

hunt

Active Member
ill probably get one one of these days, or when i have the money for them. For now i guess ill just enjoy my little blue hitchhiker ones
 
speg

speg

Active Member
Here's some info that Ron Shimek writes about feeding feather dusters:
"First, let's consider the larger feather duster worms. Although commonly sold, these animals are very difficult to keep alive in a reef tank; read that statement as, "They are impossible for all but the most dedicated of reef aquarists to keep." They need large amounts of very small particulate matter added more-or-less continuously in low densities in the proper non-turbulent conditions. Most aquarists do not/can not add sufficient food to keep them alive. Consequently, they will live for a few months in a tank, and then shed their tentacle crown, shrink and regrow a new crown. So, they then extend out of their tube, as a smaller version of their former self. This behavior is a response to starvation. They may do it one more time, but generally after about the second try, they simply die, having starved to death.
Some smaller feather dusters have different requirements and some species, with crowns about 1 cm (3/8th in) across do fairly well in some tanks as long as they get a lot of food."
I've personally never had luck with larger ones like the hawaiian dusters as they seem to follow the exact pattern that Ron Shimek says here. Although I will say that marine foods have come a long way since I last tried them.
The little hitch-hikers that come on liverock seem to survive through anything. I literally ignored my tank for a year and only kept it running but only did top-offs once a month and never did a water change..then I dismantled and set the tank up in a new house and MIXED THE SALTWATER IN THE TANK rather than in a seperate container with the liverock/sand because I figured nothing would be alive...Hermits, bristleworms, and FEATHER DUSTERS survived.
Good luck. Others have suggested there is hope and maybe you'll find their luck.
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by Speg
http:///forum/post/3287067
Here's some info that Ron Shimek writes about feeding feather dusters:
"First, let's consider the larger feather duster worms. Although commonly sold, these animals are very difficult to keep alive in a reef tank; read that statement as, "They are impossible for all but the most dedicated of reef aquarists to keep." They need large amounts of very small particulate matter added more-or-less continuously in low densities in the proper non-turbulent conditions. Most aquarists do not/can not add sufficient food to keep them alive. Consequently, they will live for a few months in a tank, and then shed their tentacle crown, shrink and regrow a new crown. So, they then extend out of their tube, as a smaller version of their former self. This behavior is a response to starvation. They may do it one more time, but generally after about the second try, they simply die, having starved to death.
Some smaller feather dusters have different requirements and some species, with crowns about 1 cm (3/8th in) across do fairly well in some tanks as long as they get a lot of food."
I've personally never had luck with larger ones like the hawaiian dusters as they seem to follow the exact pattern that Ron Shimek says here. Although I will say that marine foods have come a long way since I last tried them.
The little hitch-hikers that come on liverock seem to survive through anything. I literally ignored my tank for a year and only kept it running but only did top-offs once a month and never did a water change..then I dismantled and set the tank up in a new house and MIXED THE SALTWATER IN THE TANK rather than in a seperate container with the liverock/sand because I figured nothing would be alive...Hermits, bristleworms, and FEATHER DUSTERS survived.
Good luck. Others have suggested there is hope and maybe you'll find their luck.

I read the same book, that’s where I got the info on the crown falling off and re-growing smaller because of starvation.
I fed my tank that Kent's microvert it was cheap and everything thrived on it. I have moved onto other foods but every once in a while I buy some of the Kents again. I also over feed my tank so algae will grow for my critters to eat, (I let algae grow on the sides and back of my tank) they mow it down as fast as it grows. Most likely why the big feather dusters thrived in my tank, the coco worms are more delicate I think.
 
hunt

hunt

Active Member
Ive heard you can feed them things like baby brine shrimp, or finely chopped mysis. is that true.
 
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