Fanworms

[itafx]

I'm a newbie at SW and i just got a fan worm. It's been about a week and it seems to be doing fine, but I don't know how to feed it or what to do to keep it alive. I have a well cycled 20 gal SW tank with 2 small perculas, one fiji blue devil, 1 sand crab, and 3 sand bugs.


Also, are you supposed to bury part of it in the substrate? How does it stand up?

[Sadielynn]

You can place them where you wish for them to be. Being careful not to crush them, I placed mine between 2 rocks again being gental ..... They will bury themselfs if they wish usually IME they will attach to a rock or such . To stand them up place a small piece of rubble under them to "perch" on .They are filter feeders that will benifit from a very light once or twice feeding of phytoplankton .Phyto can foul your water quickly so use spareingly ....I use a med syringe to measure out and place in 1.5 units per feeding.

[itafx]

I just got some phyto at the LFS. They had live phyto in the fridge and other phyto on the shelf for a lower price. I asked if the phyto would live in the tank and multiply. Their "expert" said no, it would just get filtered out. I brought the stuff home and put 2 tiny drops in my 20 gal which has one fan as the only filter feeder. Does this sound reasonable? There were several kinds of phyto on the shelf. How do I know which kind is best?

[Sadielynn]

Really it is just trial and error to see which works best for you .. I have the stuff that you refridgerate , tho it all should be after opening IMHHO ... Also shake it well as it settles to the bottom ... I would say that the 2 drops seems reasonable , and wont over do it in your tank ...

[melosu58]

I use DT`s phytoplankton. It`s supposed to be live. I would follow the directions on how much to add to the tank but I would go longer on how often. For example if it says every day I would do every three days to keep from fouling up your tank. JMO and IME.