first hitchhiker mini feather duster disappeared.

Discussion in 'Live Rock' started by scorpnat, Sep 15, 2008.

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  1. scorpnat

    scorpnat Astrea Snail

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    Location:
    Tamarac, FL
    Yesterday, I found a little white crown (somewhere between 1/8 and 1/4 of an inch) on the back side of the rock . I was pretty excited because it was the first hitchhiker I've found on the rock, but of course now it's gone. I'm hoping that it's just pulled it's crown in and that it's not really gone, but I don't know how likely this is because there was no visible tube. It was in a pretty porous area of the rock though. I have a few questions

    Could one of cleanup crew have eaten it? I have 4 bl hermits, 1 bumble bee snail and 1 redstripe turbo. (only fish is a b/g chromis). One of the hermits was sitting a couple inches from where the crown was when I noticed it missing.

    If it was eaten, what's the likehood I'll have one or more come back?

    If I want the feather dusters to come back, should I pull out the hermits?
     
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  3. {Nano}Reefer

    {Nano}Reefer Dragon Wrasse

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    hmmmm, i dont know how likely it would be the bl hermits, but i guess it could be possible, what are you feeding them? there might be more in your tank, you never know. no need to pull the hermits out, they are a good clean-up crew, the duster might have died for another reason and they where just doing there jobm or it could have moved.
     
  4. phoenixhieghts

    phoenixhieghts Panda Puffer

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    You will have loads of Hitch hikers - you just cant see them!!
    Dont worry about it, more will come!
     
  5. lotzofish

    lotzofish Fire Worm

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    It is possible that the hermit crab was hungry and ate it, but it may just be hiding for right now. IME, where there is one, there are usually others. :) I started with just a couple of little tubeworms, and now they are ALL OVER the aquarium! I only have three hermit crabs in my 155gallon tank because I didn't want them eating all of my tubeworms, but I do struggle with algae sometimes (due to lack of hermits). I believe that hermits are great scavengers, and are necessary (to some extent) to assist in the maintenace of almost any aquarium. How many hermits do you have and what is your tank size?
     
  6. scorpnat

    scorpnat Astrea Snail

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    Location:
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    Thanks for the reply!
    I'm not sure if you are asking what I've been feeding the bl hermits or the "feather duster". I didn't even know I had a feather duster before yesterday, so I hadn't been feeding it anything. The crabs just eat the detrius and algae in the tank.
    I only feed the tank some packaged "marine granules" from my LFS, for the bg chromis.
    I guess I forgot to mention, I'm still cycling the tank. All my levels are stable except for N03, which gets up to about 20ppm prior to my weekly tank top-off (drops to 10ppm after that). I added the hermits and snails to take care of a diatom bloom that I had last week. That's the only reason I'm considering pulling the hermits to "save" the feather duster.

    I don't know why, I just like the idea of watching a hitchhiker feather duster grow from the rock...
     
  7. {Nano}Reefer

    {Nano}Reefer Dragon Wrasse

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    i use snails instead of hermits for that exact reason, i dont see why people think they "need" crabs, in fact my snails move faster and do a better job IMO :)
     
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  9. phoenixhieghts

    phoenixhieghts Panda Puffer

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    Because hermits have a personality and are much more visually asthetic to the eye

    my opinoin tho
     
  10. scorpnat

    scorpnat Astrea Snail

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    Location:
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    I have four blue leg hermits, one bumblebee snail (carnviore), and one turbo snail (omnivore?). The LFS recommended that number of hermits for the tank, and also recommended four turbo snails (I listened to their advice for the hermits, but only got the one turbo).

    This tank is actually a FOWLR (for now :) ), 20g with 40lbs of live sand and 8 lbs of live rock.
    Looking at how many hermits you have in a much bigger tank, maybe I should go down to just one hermit if I want to keep the tube worms around... Let me know what you think. Thanks
     
  11. {Nano}Reefer

    {Nano}Reefer Dragon Wrasse

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    hmm, i can understand that :) and i forgot about macro algea, which ive never seen a snail eat before ;D
     
  12. scorpnat

    scorpnat Astrea Snail

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    I guess you're right, the tank has only been running for about a month now. The hardest part of this hobby is being patient!