For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. Mar 8, 1, 0 0 43 Sugar Grove, IL. Just curious Lupin Registered Member. The good ol' days when I had them before. This might help. Sexual reproduction involves the release of gametes into the water where the fertilized eggs develop into free-swimming larvae that eventually settle in an appropriate habitat.
In the case of Serpulids, they settle on corals and the coral grows around the calcareous tube they build, making asexual reproduction nearly an impossibility for them. Soft tube varieties reproduce sexually, but many form dense colonies of clones by a budding process called scissipary. In this process the posterior end of the worm breaks off and develops a new crown while the "parent" grows a new posterior.
Grins Girl Reefer May 1, 10, 0 0 56 Charlotte, NC. To add to Lupin's reply I've seen my feather spawning May 22, 0 0 47 Miami, FL. The new ones are at least 5 inches long that I can see and go into the rocks and the smaller one is sticking out about 3 inches and has a smaller head. I was looking it up and found this info. Jenna09, Jan 11, I would have never guessed they would spread like that. I'll post a pic in a few minutes. Last edited: Jan 12, Bifferwine, Jan 12, Here are pics I just took.
I tried to count -- I have at least 30 on this one rock. They are hard to photograph because they are constantly moving and I have a lot of flow in my tank, which makes it difficult to focus. The geometry of crown is breathtaking and delicate.
Note the iconic feather duster appearance, starting with the tube handle and large feathered crown. A Featherduster worm is often found in the subtidal zones of reefs around the world, positioned in moderate currents where plankton meals get brought to them each day that are gentle enough to not damage their feathery crown.
The feathery crown that gives the feather duster worm its name is a specialized part of its body that is used to trap plankton and move them to its mouth. If a feather duster worm detects a shadow or feels threatened, it will retreat into its tube for protection.
Watching this game of peek-a-boo is definitely part of the appeal of adding this segmented worm to your tank. Another interesting behavior exhibited by the polychaete feather duster worms is that they build the tubes that protect their soft bodies from detritus they filter from the water.
They also have the ability to reproduce asexually through fragmentation. Feather duster worms are not particularly picky in terms of proper conditions to care for them in your reef tank. They require standard reef tank water parameters. Like most other reef invertebrates, copper will kill them.
The best placement for these annelid invertebrates is your sandy or crushed coral substrate in an area of gentle-to-moderate water flow adjacent to your live rock. Caring for them is not dissimilar to caring for a non-photosynthetic soft coral. Anyone interested in adding a fan worm to their reef tank is likely adding them because they love the look of the feathery crown and the peek-a-boo behavior.
So they may be horrified and panic when their crown loses its feathers. This unsettling event can be bad news—but not always. If the worm sheds its feathers right after being added to your tank—it could just be because of the stress of transportation.
As long as the fan worm is otherwise healthy, you should see new feathers within a few weeks. In the ocean, Sabelildaes will shed their crowns during mating season—it is thought that this is a survival adaptation that prevents the fan worms from accidentally capturing and eating junior.
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