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One of the most common creatures kept in the reef aquarium trade other then corals and fish are feather dusters. Feather Dusters come in many diffrent sizes and colors and the more common ones such as the Sabellastarte indica (shown above) are very hardy and easy to keep. Feather dusters offer the reef aquarist diversification within the reef tank and it is an interesting subject to talk about as most people in my experience don’t realize that it is a marine worm.
Purchasing a Feather Duster
Picking out a feather duster is not an easy task as it may seem. There are several things you should look for when purchasing a feather duster. One of which is if the crowns (the feathers) are still attached. The feather duster should have a full crown, the crown should look healthy and the worm should retract into it’s tube when scared or if approached from the side of the tank. The marine worm should react and retract to shadows as well. When looking to buy a feather duster its best that the feather duster be in the dealer’s reef tank for a while. If the feather duster has been in dealer’s reef tank for some time then it should be well acclimated and well fed. Newer deliveries of feather dusters tend to be hungry from being moved from tank to tank or tank to bag. Make sure that the feather duster you are picking out has a complete tube without any damage.
Feeding and placement of a Feather Duster
Depending on the type of feather duster you acquire you will want to research where the best possible placement is for it. The most common feather dusters as pictured above will feed on live brine shrimp, nuapali, rotifers and finely minced “meaty” foods. They capture the food particles in there crown of feathers and bring it down to there mouths, they may retract after capturing food. Placing a feather duster such as the one pictured is relatively easy for us that have a full blown reef tank. The feather duster prefers vigorous water movement so that it can help with the exchange of wastes and the capture of food. Most common feather dusters prefer to be placed in the sand or if you have a bare bottomed reef tank then between rocks (as long as its not crushing them!). If the feather duster does not like where it is placed then it will abandon its tube and look for another spot. The feather duster above, has moved before and ended up living in a hole in my live rock. Another thing to note is when moving your feather duster its important not to expose it to air if at all possible, captured air bubbles in a feather duster’s tube can spell disaster for the feather duster.
Water Parameters for a Feather Duster
To keep a feather duster in your reef tank it is recommended that you have very good water quality. From my experience, they will loose there crowns if you have an excess in nitrate. I would also assume other water quality issues such as ammonia, nitrite and salinity would also come into play. If you are not sure of what your reef aquarium’s water quality should be at then check my post marine aquarium water parameters.
If you would like to share your thoughts and information on on the marine feather duster please do so with the comments button below.
Thank you. I was just thinking about how I should pick up a feather duster and – there it is! Right in time!
I am actually cycling a 65 gallon tank and I found a feather duster in the tank I am wondering the tank has cycled. This the first week with live rock in tank and with 3 days I was looking at the live rock only to my surprise to see a small feather duster appear. The rocks were half way cured according to the lfs. What is your opinion abd what should i do. The feather duster is only 1/2 inch in size
Hi Brandon,
The smaller reef aquarium feather dusters that we often find on our live rock will flourish without any direct care. Just make sure that your water parameters are good. You will start noticing more of these in your tank as your reef aquarium starts to mature. good luck.
hi guys
exxelent report on the dusters just what i was looking for, now to the point i just purhcased one feather duster today an amazing worm i couldnt beelave it that i touched it and it retreated and after a short amount of time it comes back out just amazing!.
now if u say they eat brine shrimp and all that the problem is when i put the shrimp in i looked at them and none of them when to its way so he couldnt eat any of them is there any other way for it to feed rather than that like i could throw a few pellets in its crowns or somehitng im kinda worried my water lvls are perfect! checked them my self and at a shop so all its fine now what shoudl i do with the feather duster? and do they breed in anyway so ic ould get more of them in my aquarium lol!?
where did my comment go? why was it removed i asked a good question and yet u removed it.
u said on top of ur report that they eat almost any meaty things but when i put the food into the aquarium it dosent go its way and therefore it dont eat anything so how come my comment was removed?
Hi Georgino,
I havent approved your comments until today, Which is why you havent seen them. I approve all comments manually.
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To answer your question,
Personally I havent directly fed my feather dusters, I know some reefers that do. I don’t believe that it is necassary becouse they get food that is left over from feeding your fish and corals, if you do so. Otherwise if you do want to feed your feather dusters then i would suggest a product such as cyclop-eese or a jar of nuapali. When i say finely minced “meaty foods” I basically mean a nice blended array of seafood that is super minced. Keep in mind that they are filter feeders so anything that is floating in the water column is free game for them, including algae.
To my knowledge i have nether seen or heard of sabellastarte feather duster reproduce in the aquarium.
Brett
hehe thanks so much my friend sorry i didnt know that u had to approve them first
thanks so much now i totally understand it all:):):) thank u:)