feather duster

[baum89]

i would really like to put a feather duster in my 5g nano, given i target feed them daily how long could i expect one to last? are they hardy?

[betamed]

most feather dusters are hardy, what and how do you plan on feeding it? what filtration does the tank have?

[medicdiver]

Just make sure you leave enough room for the feather to grow as well as adequate room for it to spread. If it cannot spread out without touching something else, it will get very stress and not last long.

[Loverotties]

You can have one in the 5 gal.,but you don't need to feed it.

[baum89]

yes i have a good amount of room for the duster, from my reading its common for them to starve to death. i plan on feeding some liquid organic food as well as phytoplankton if i can get ahold of some. as far as filtration on the tank its a stock eclipse built in filter but in the tray where one would usually put a carbon insert i have some foam and biomax and then lastly a bio wheel. so one more thought on feeding, should i feed daily? it would be easy to over feed and dirty the tank... i suppose it would be best to play it by ear or sight as it may be

[medicdiver]

you should know pretty quick if they are not getting enough food. the feathers will start dull in color and wilt on the ends. they also made shed thier core (tube) due to stress. They also will not open as often or stay open as long. happy feathers usually stay open all the time. if you see it hiding most of the time, something is wrong. I wold start off feeding once or twice a week just to see how much it will affect your system. being that small it will be easy to overdose and cause a major algea bloom. So proceed with caution with feeding. Start broad and narrow as needed.

[kyrie_eleison]

I love feather dusters...I've had quite a few in my time (but all have died due to one thing or another; sometimes, there's no explanation either). They ARE tricky to understand sometimes. I have one right now in a small 5 gallon with a couple of coco-worms which do require phyto. If you place a small amount of phyto into the tank once a week, you should be fine. My feather duster has been doing pretty well since I put this tank together. My only real concern is the number of isopods which could cause a little bit of stress to the worms but they don't seem to bother the tube worms even though they run around this small tank with nothing to predate on them.

[baum89]

so (kyrie) how long have you had the feather duster in the 5/ how long could i expect to keep one. also im curious as to where you get your phyto, my lfs doesnt have any. do you use DT's phyto?

[baum89]

otherwise does anyone have any recommendations on foods. has anyone used marine snow, or the kent marine phyto or the kent marine zoo max. do the dusters take brine in as well or is that too big of a media?

[kyrie_eleison]

baum,

I do in fact use DT. I've had the feather duster in the tank for......I'm not entirely sure but it's been a while (I'd say 5 months now). The only real problem I have other than the isopod population is the amount of water evaporation each day.

[baum89]

cool, i think ill go ahead and get one. ill need to find me some DT at some point... so another thought, i have one little blue legged hermit crab . could i expect him to over browse the tube and stress the worm?

[kyrie_eleison]

A little. I would probably keep the hermit crab in another tank for a little while longer to give the feather duster a little time to adjust. The hermit crabs don't really eat feather dusters (at least I haven't seen it yet) but don't quote me on it. They just have a tendency to go where ever they please w/o knowing what they're doing.

[kyrie_eleison]

Here are a few pics of my 5 gallon nano. No fish present although I had entertained a few ideas. My star polyps aren't out but only because the lights went out much earlier in the day; plus, freakin' hermits are always crawling on them. I had a little bit of an algae bloom but no biggie. Sorry about the picture quality; I'm a better reef aquarist than I am a photographer.

Enjoy!

[Orient Master]

Originally Posted by kyrie_eleison

Here are a few pics of my 5 gallon nano. No fish present although I had entertained a few ideas. My star polyps aren't out but only because the lights went out much earlier in the day; plus, freakin' hermits are always crawling on them. I had a little bit of an algae bloom but no biggie. Sorry about the picture quality; I'm a better reef aquarist than I am a photographer.

Enjoy!

Wow nice pics i like the one on the top center.

[kyrie_eleison]

There's actually a cocoworm on the other side but for some reason it gets real spooked easily. It's back there but I can't get a decent picture of it w/o it retreating.