Social feather duster

Care at a glance

Overview

The social feather duster is a small, peaceful filter feeder that grows into clusters on the live rock of a reef tank. Once established, it is one of the easier feather dusters to keep, though it is best with a little experience.

Caring for the social feather duster

Give a social feather duster a mature reef tank of at least 11 gal (40 L). Tuck it among live rock in moderate to strong flow, but avoid blasting it directly, which can damage the delicate crowns. A cluster can be left there to spread on its own over time.

Keep the water at 75 to 81°F (24 to 27°C) and a pH of 8.1 to 8.4. Like all feather dusters, it is a filter feeder rather than a photosynthetic animal, so it gets nothing from the tank's lights. Dose newly added worms regularly with phytoplankton or other very fine food. Once established, a cluster in a mature reef tank with a healthy microfauna population needs little extra feeding.

The social feather duster is peaceful and reef safe. Keep butterflyfish, large angelfish, triggerfish, decorator crabs and peppermint shrimp away from it. All of them are known to pick worms out of their tubes.

Most worms in a social feather duster cluster reproduce sexually, according to field studies. Roughly half also reproduce asexually, by budding or splitting.

Good to know

The social feather duster, Bispira brunnea, is a colonial tube worm in the family Sabellidae. It is small compared to the giant feather duster. Its crown carries 18 to 28 banded radioles, arranged in two spiraling half circles. A colony retracts in near-perfect unison when disturbed, a response to water vibration rather than sight.

In the wild

Social feather dusters are native to the Caribbean and the Bahamas, and their range extends north along the southeastern coast of North America. They grow in dense clusters on rock, dead coral and sandy rubble, in areas with good water movement. Each worm builds its own soft, sand-flecked tube.

Common questions

Related species

• 

  Giant feather duster

  Sabellastarte spectabilis

  5.9 in (15 cm) · 20 gal (75 L)

  5.9 in (15 cm)20 gal (75 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Caribbean long-spined urchin

  Diadema antillarum

  3.9 in (10 cm) · 79 gal (300 L)

  3.9 in (10 cm)79 gal (300 L)72–81°F (22–27°C)

• 

  White urchin

  Lytechinus variegatus

  3.9 in (10 cm) · 20 gal (75 L)

  3.9 in (10 cm)20 gal (75 L)72–81°F (22–27°C)

• 

  Yellow sea cucumber

  Colochirus robustus

  3.9 in (10 cm) · 11 gal (40 L)

  3.9 in (10 cm)11 gal (40 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)
• Shingle urchin

  Colobocentrotus atratus

  3.9 in (10 cm) · 53 gal (200 L)

  3.9 in (10 cm)53 gal (200 L)73–82°F (23–28°C)
• Sputnik urchin

  Phyllacanthus imperialis

  3.9 in (10 cm) · 79 gal (300 L)

  3.9 in (10 cm)79 gal (300 L)72–81°F (22–27°C)