Kerbash Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 Hey guys, Im been eyeing a christmas tree worm rock for a while now. Anyone got experience with them? Are they hard to keep? Will wrasse pick on them? and can I expect to see baby Christmas tree worms popping up?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eatfrenchfries Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 Depending what you have on your Christmas rock will relate to its difficulty. Feather dusters are great and do good with fine foods but some of of the shrimps may get picked off by your fish. The little crabs should be fine, if the coral starts to decline they may look for something else to colonize or die in their hole. Mine got picked off by the puffer when they fled their shelter. The organisms it comes with need care (fine food like phyto, marine snow, pods, etc). The porite itself is easy to keep. The hard part is keeping everything growing in balance. Coral has to grow at a rate that the symbiotic organisms won't overgrow it. Feeding the organisms may cause them to grow faster than the coral causing them to damage it. Spider sponges are a similiar premise in keeping the symbiotic organisms in balance. Lots of times one will kill the other inadvertently since the conditions needed to keep them both don't have much leeway. You should do it though. People keep them for quite a while before they lose some of the "Christmas" from their rock. Bit of an ebb and flow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerbash Posted March 5 Author Share Posted March 5 Oh i see, its a balance act, have you ever had any worms reproduce? Or do they just slowly dwindle away? Do you know what coral do they usually live in too? It looks like a cyphastrea? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eatfrenchfries Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 Generally the coral they host would be porites or cyphastrea. Porites you'll get some more of the other inverts. Cyphastrea just has the worms usual. Colored feather dusters will multiply on your Christmas rock. They may spread to other rocks in proximity but fish can eat them then. Generally the tan/red small common variety will outcompete the colorful christmas wormsover time. I suspect the coral may be vital to keep the original seed. I always end up with one or two colors over time. I have a few blue feathers but mostly tan throughout my rock scape after having a Christmas rock. It's a fun balancing act of NPS care on an SPS coral that appreciates light. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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