invert. questions

[hottielover14]

-does anybody have a sea squirt. Should i get one they seem neat.

- I was thinking of getting a hawaiian feather duster, the ones that get 7" wide either that or the purple ones. does anybody have one. could you tell me about them.

- If i got the white sand sifter starfish, would it hurt my clam. Also i saw on this site a electric flame scallop that sends electricy along it's mantle and you can even see it at night. would my brittle star hurt it or if i got the sand sifter would that hurt it.

[Craig Manoukian]

See my answer on the Flame Scallop in your other thread!

[Jason McKenzie]

HL14,
What I usually do when I'm jonesing for something new is do some research on the web or in books. from there I can determine if what I was looking will work in my system. It also helps me understand what for eg. a sea squirt requires for food and lighting and water conditions. If at that point I still feel I need personal options or first hand knowledge I ask here. Very often my gut feelings after I've done my home work are the correct once.
Unfortunately I've never looked into Sea Squirts, Feather dusters or Flame Scallops. All Of which are filter feeders I believe. That usually means supplementing with Phytoplankton. My LFS has had Flame Scallops in for several months. They don't seem to be able to sell them. They still look very healthy and each time I'm there they seem to be open and feeding.
I know that's not a lot of help but sometime this odd ball stuff is hard to find people with first hand knowledge.
I'd be very interested in what you purchase and how it works out for you


Jason

[fletch]

For what it is worth, I had a Flame scallop not to long ago it did just fine for about 3 weeks it was opened up and looking good it would move itself around my tank I thought it was doing great and then it started slowly closing it's shell little by little and then it died I have no idea what caused it's demise but there you have it. If you do some reading up on them you will see that they are difficult to keep in a home reef environment, So I would say to do what Jason subjected and do all the research you can on what you would like to include in your tank and believe what they say! if it says that they are difficult to keep you may want to have second thoughts about purchasing it just to watch your investment die from your lack of knowledge like I did ....... John

[Craig Manoukian]

Flame Scallops are expert only and still have low survival rates.

[reefman_MC]

I've had my flame scallop for almost a year. I bought one of the flashers and he died within a week. I can't help on the sea squirt.

[hottielover14]

you mean the flashers as the one that has electricity from it's mantle. Why are they so hard to keep. don't they just require constant food.

[reefman_MC]

Yeah I mean the ones that flash. I'm not sure why they're so hard to keep. My LFS gets flashing ones all the time and they die one right after the other.

A sand sifter will not touch mollusks. Your brittle probably will. I think you should take your brittle for a ride. That's just my opinion. As he gets larger he will eat fish. They end up feeling around and when they touch a fish, the fish will immediately try to get away and the brittle will catch him and eat him if the fish is slow enough. Keep the brittle if your too attached. If you decide to keep him I would advise against fish that perch on rock such as mandarines, blennies, jawfish. That's just a few.

[hottielover14]

how big will he get. Will he hurt and corals or anyother inverts. I don't know if i'll be able to get him out w/out hurting him by pulling off a leg. He's always inbetween my rock. It would be very hard to do.

[hottielover14]

have you ever asked your LFS "why they always die." I read it's mostly from lack of food but i don't see how. can't you just turn off your pumps and spot feed him.