Anybody have/had a Christmas Tree Worm rock?

raycityboy1 · 08-03-2007, 09:33 AM

I have some questions about christmas tree worm rocks. The internet hasn't been that helpful all the sites say pretty much the same thing which isn't much. Does anyone have/had one that they don't mind talking about?

Kimberfish · 08-03-2007, 09:39 AM

I have one

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YLChik · 08-03-2007, 09:53 AM

the christmas trees are worms that live in corals. The worms themselves to not need light, but the corals that they live in need a high light tank. Not sure what kinda flow they like.... hope that helps a little.

Cute little worms though, i like 'em too!

raycityboy1 · 08-03-2007, 09:53 AM

I know its such a silly question but I have not found the answer online. If a rock has about 50 worms with at least 2 being tiny juveniles. Will they/are they breed/breeding? I have seen some sit in LFS tanks with 3 worms in it for over a year but does increased numbers mean increased possibility of breeding?

Many of the worms have similar qualities in color and looks like they bread with eachother to get the colors that are there. What determines worm radiole color? Breeding? or do they just decide what color they want to be? or is it environmental (color depends on environment)?

Will they ever vacate the rock? Whether the rock is alive or dead??

Online I read typical full grown stage is 2-4" in the wild, much smaller in captivity? How big are yours?

Have you been feeding your tank with that rock in it with phyto?

Kimberfish · 08-03-2007, 10:05 AM

I"ve read that if the porites on the rock die so do the worms. I have /do occasionally feed phyto & coral smorgasboard.
When I got the rock it had a few more worms than it does now but I had a fish that pruned the worms and I thought they were all gone. Once I got rid of the fish though they came back(or reappeared). Even if I walk by they retract into their tubes - they are super fast!
As far as color I'm not sure what determines that. My rock has blue and white ones. I would assume they would reproduce like any other tube worm

raycityboy1 · 08-03-2007, 10:09 AM

I read no butterflies

Kimberfish · 08-03-2007, 10:16 AM

yeah those long snouts are made for going into small crevices like tube worms live in

Kimberfish · 08-03-2007, 10:25 AM

in a book I have (the nano reef handbook) it says no angelfish either , the only crab you should house with it is a hermit and some ornamental shrimp will eat them too.

They are sensitive to poor water quality but are considered med hardy. They should be fed phyto or zooplankton several times per week

BTW they are annelid worms the christmas tree worm is spirobranchus sp. You might try googling that to see what else you can find

Hope this helps

raycityboy1 · 08-03-2007, 12:58 PM

Its hard to get a shot thats not drowned in light. It's near the top. I counted 48 last night that were out simultaneously. It was a good score and at only 40 bucks I couldn't pass it up. There are Burgandy, dark blue, light blue, yellow, tan, tan stripe, red stripe, blue with yellow centers and others too numerous to list.

teach · 08-03-2007, 01:08 PM

It's been my experience that they slowly die off.

LadyReefNeck · 08-03-2007, 02:32 PM

I've had two rocks with Christmas Tree Worms handed down to me. The smaller one had about 5 worms on it but now only has 1. The larger rock has about 11 on it. Both rocks the coral had already died (at least I've never seen polyps on them). In rearranging a few pieces of rock at one end of my tank where the smaller rock was, I discovered 2 of the worms had moved themselves to the underside of an adjacent rock. It's been about 4 months now and I'm not sure if they survived under that rock or not as I can't seen them without taking that rock out of place.

sea devil · 08-03-2007, 03:12 PM

REALLY, REALLY HARD TO KEEP ALIVE! Just my many experiences & attempts to keep them. The ones from the Caribbean seemed to last the longest, about 6-8 months. IMO they're best left in the Ocean.

Scruffys Catch · 08-03-2007, 03:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by raycityboy1

Its hard to get a shot thats not drowned in light. It's near the top. I counted 48 last night that were out simultaneously. It was a good score and at only 40 bucks I couldn't pass it up. There are Burgandy, dark blue, light blue, yellow, tan, tan stripe, red stripe, blue with yellow centers and others too numerous to list.

We had two simaler to these and we had them down in the sand bed and they both did very well.

raycityboy1 · 08-03-2007, 03:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sea devil

REALLY, REALLY HARD TO KEEP ALIVE! Just my many experiences & attempts to keep them. The ones from the Caribbean seemed to last the longest, about 6-8 months. IMO they're best left in the Ocean.

Kinda like goniopora? Sooner or later, it will give out and its only a matter of time?

mbdave · 08-04-2007, 01:56 PM

On the reef I would see those out on the exposed areas in big current. I've read the same also I have heqrd that they get some of their nutrition from the mucus on the coral among other things (micro foods) I say good light, great current. I had one for some time I collected myself and have had them in the past (long time ago) that were store bought, the store bought seemed to do fine until the porites started dying (this was a very long time ago). Keep the porites healthy and they will probably do pretty good.
Good luck

Anybody have/had a Christmas Tree Worm rock?

They love the current.