Can feather duster worms survive in BB?

[Deserter23]

Thinking of going BB on a 37g and want to know if my feather duster will be joining the inhabitants of the new tank.

 

[Deserter23]

Is there a forum who might be able to answer this for me?

 

[Bubbashrimp]

By BB you mean bare bottom right? This means nothing in the aquarium except plants and animals right? I can tell you that my LFS sells feather dusters out of a "BB" tank and they dont look that great except the ones that have ended up on top of another and is able to fully fan out. My feather duster that I bought out of that very tank is doing wonderful. So they probably can survive and in nature they probably end up on the ocean floor...It took me a couple of days to get my feather duster to sit just right. In my own mind I do not see the point of keeping a feather duster if it cannot compleatly fan out. However, it is just an opinion and as long as the feather duster is not being harmed by not fully fanning out or is not starving because it is not getting enough food then I cannot reason out another problem.

 

[LeslieH]

They may survive for a while but unless you drip feed phytoplankton & allow detritus to pile up & decompose they won't be happy or live very long. They need a constant supply of very small particle food - phytoplankton, bacterial floc, POM, etc.

 

[Deserter23]

I appreciate your input. He's doing great in my current tank but I am going BB soon. The worm has found his way into a whole in the rock and I do not want to "pull" him out just to give him away.

 

[petoonia]

I have a BB tank, and have always kept feather dusters. I just put mine in the rockwork, and they're fine. Of course my flow isnt that great, and detrius does build up on the bottom between water changes.

 

[Deserter23]

I think I'll get some detritus build-up as well so I'm going to try to keep my featherduster. Not only that but he's dug into a rock and will be near the bottom where detritus will likely be.

Thanks petoonia.

 

[dendro982]

Same, BB tanks and feather dusters (from medium to small, not the giant hawaiian feather duster) are multiplying. Tanks are well fed, and the small particles are used by feather dusters. You can feed them additionally by any fine food, available to you.

 

[Deserter23]

Good news! Thanks dendro

 

[Herpervet]

Ditto. My BB 550 gallon tank has a huge feather duster population. The small ones up to quarter "feather" size. They grow mostly under the main rockwork out of the direct light.

They also have encrusted my large sump in large numbers.