urchin with feather dusters?

[fallnhorse]

I have a pencil urchin in my tank. I bought him 3 months ago. Does a bang up job of stir the sand and clean alge. I notice he has a half dozen small feather duster on him. about 5mm is all. Kinda neat to watch. I add a little trace elements for my live rock and amemones. I just wonder if anyone had any thought? Heard such a thing. If they will reproduce. I don't mind them and if they do get to be too many of them. Maybe there a fish that will eat them? Ever heard of this?

 

[chipmaker]

I have a few turbo snails that have numerous dusters on them. As fast as they knock them off or destroy the tubes somewhat when they fall off the rock and tumble down, the dusters seem to reappear..........the small dusters will grow just about anyplace their larvae just happens to get placed......it dones not matter if its mobile or stationary......and yes they will reproduce, but usually its not a problem of any kind.

 

[socal57che]

My Turbos kept mowing over my small feathers and killing them. After the last torbo died I just bought more astreas and decided to stay away from the turbos until the feathers got bigger. I have tube worms on several crabs and occasionally they will clean each other off, sometimes removing the worms, sometimes not. I consider more filter feeders better than fewer (if there's stuff floating in my water for them to eat then let them have it).

 

[dgott2000]

just as puffers and triggers will gladly eat your urchin, feather dusters are the food of choice for several aggressive fish such as triggers but also more dosile fish such as butterlies and other fish with long snouts capable of picking feather dusters out of their tubes. I have seen clownfish attempt to use large feather dusters as hosts, specifically Hawaiin Featherdusters. What fish are in your tank, and please describe your setup?
Also, to socal57- your snails should not be dieing. If it happens all at once it is usually indictive of a problem and you should get your water tested and do a big water change. If one or two just happen to die you may have too many for your tank. A general rule of thumb is about 1 snail or hermit crab for every gallon your tank is. You can have any combination of snails and/or hermits or all snaill or all hermits.

 

[socal57che]

Also, to socal57- your snails should not be dieing. If it happens all at once it is usually indictive of a problem and you should get your water tested and do a big water change. If one or two just happen to die you may have too many for your tank. A general rule of thumb is about 1 snail or hermit crab for every gallon your tank is. You can have any combination of snails and/or hermits or all snaill or all hermits.
They didn't just all die at once....over the course of 3 years i lost two....when the 2nd one went I simply bought a few astreas to take up the slack....there was no raging epidemic in my tank...but thanks for the concern.