Stowaway baby feather duster!

[mfbs1998]

So I went to my LFS store to get some cheap corals and I was able to get a pretty nice Blasto (yay!). I gave it a quick dip and it opened up nicely. About a week after that, I started to notice some type of polyplikethingymajig and that is when I noticed that I have a small, baby feather duster! I am still a beginner to this hobby and I have no idea on their care requirements, especially a baby one. Can anyone give me tips on the little guy?

 

[Josett Waid]

So I went to my LFS store to get some cheap corals and I was able to get a pretty nice Blasto (yay!). I gave it a quick dip and it opened up nicely. About a week after that, I started to notice some type of polyplikethingymajig and that is when I noticed that I have a small, baby feather duster! I am still a beginner to this hobby and I have no idea on their care requirements, especially a baby one. Can anyone give me tips on the little guy?

They are just filter feeders, so not much care needed. Pretty cool hitch hiker though.

 

[nervousmonkey]

Congrats! Sure, feather dusters are really worms, they live in a tube made from secretions that bond to salt and other small pieces of hard rocks, etc. to form the tube, where they can quickly escape back to if needed. They are filter feeders and prefer phytoplankton, but I feed my tank and feathers, with zooplankton also. Really helps them get healthy and repopulate. I feed them about 3-4 times per week, just broadcast. You'll never really get to target feed, since they just go back into their tubes. Broadcast feeding is good enough for them, as is stirring your sandbed up to release food that gets into the water column. They are pretty easy creatures, as long as your water gives them something to filter. Helping them grow is all dependent on how much they eat, as as they are filter feeders, the smaller the particles the better.
In the stage yours is in, there isn't much to do except feed as normal. When you target (or broadcast) feed your Blasto, the little guy will benefit, depending on the type of coral food you use. if you use reefroids or something like that, the powdered food that reconstitutes in water, that'll help the little guy. Just don't keep it too clean in the water column, not nasty but put some stuff in the column that will help the worm eat.
Good luck!!!

 

[mfbs1998]

Oh cool! I usually just feed my tank some brine shrimp and other frozen food. I usually let the cleaner crews do the work but the feather duster should be pretty easy then

 

[nervousmonkey]

Oh cool! I usually just feed my tank some brine shrimp and other frozen food. I usually let the cleaner crews do the work but the feather duster should be pretty easy then

Yeah theyre easy. Try feeding phytoplankton, everything likes phytoplankton. Its sorta like chicken; everyone likes chicken.