thinking of buying a few feather dusters for my fowlr tank... but i do not know how to acclimate them. Any help?
How do I acclimate a feather duster?
- Thread starter RPetty
- Start date
i drip acclimated mine for about an hour or so. i do know that you're not supposed to take them out of the water at all, which is tricky because you really don't want to get any of the lfs water in your tank. i honestly don't remember how i pulled that one off! been wondering, cause i want to get another!
Really? I don't remember ever hearing that you can't take them out of the water. Mine all survived my acclimation process when I did that. The only creature I heard that can't handle exposure to air is sponges.
And I would also recommend the drip method. I would do it for more than an hour though. They are very sensitive to water changes.
i just float acclimated mine and then threw it in the tank...
did fine for about 5 mins...
then my peppermints ate it... it retracted but the peppermints tore through its protective cover lol...
did fine for about 5 mins...
then my peppermints ate it... it retracted but the peppermints tore through its protective cover lol...
Yikes! I would be horrified if that happened. But its a good story to show that shrimps, some fish, and all hermits might find the feather duster to be tasty treat.
Thats why I am slowly moving all my hermits out of my 10G and placing them in my 125G. I want to place some more feather dusters in my 10G again.
For inverts I use this method:
- float bag for 15 minutes
- open bag, attach it to my sump or display and then I test the SG in the bag to see what difference there might be from my tank.
- If there is no difference (rarely so) I use the turkeybaster to add water and take a bit out every 5 minutes over the course of 40 minutes or so. If there is a difference I instead use a drip line of one drop per second and typically takes about 90 minutes + to bring the SG to match my tank. The longest I've had to do it was 3 hours but that was for my anemone.
- Then I remove the invert and place into the tank (sometimes a QT depending on what it is) I use a bit different method depending on what it is. For a crab or shrimp I dump the invert and water into a coffee filter and then place it into my tank and release. For the featherduster I held it upside down and did a tiny shake (tiny) to help release any air and then put it into the tank upside down before placing it in the substrate. This is similiar to the method used with clams (sometimes called burping).
thanks .... I am going to my LFS today when i get off work to pick up a couple. I appreciate all the instruction and advice.
rp
rp
acclimation went well i think... over the course of an hour I slowly added tank water to the bag and then placed the two feather dusters where I wanted them.
one of them stays open and the other doesn't come out...? is there a problem? are they in shock? and what should i look for to tell if they aren't going to make it?
one of them stays open and the other doesn't come out...? is there a problem? are they in shock? and what should i look for to tell if they aren't going to make it?
If you made sure that they were acclimated to the temp and salinity they shouldn't be in shock. Try casting a shadow over the one that is out and see if it retracts.