Where can I get small tube worms?

[Levinson]

I want them tiny tube worms, not the big fancy feather dusters. The ones that often live in a white hard tubes.
How do people get them?
Also, do they reproduce in the tank?
Cheers.

 

[exnisstech]

Be patient they will appear on their own. Pretty much like asterina starfish, they just appear out of nowhere like majic and then won't go away.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

they come in as hitchhikers, I've never seen them for sale. They are filter feeders, so if you broadcast feed powdered foods such as reef roids, then the population will increase.

 

[Levinson]

Be patient they will appear on their own. Pretty much like asterina starfish, they just appear out of nowhere like majic and then won't go away.

I've had my tank for over 2 years so I don't think they'll appear anytime soon.

 

[exnisstech]

I've had my tank for over 2 years so I don't think they'll appear anytime soon.

Did you start with all dry rock? I have 4 tanks running and have the little tube worms in all of them but used some live rock in all. My oldest system has so many in the sump they are becoming a nuisance.

 

[Dan_P]

I want them tiny tube worms, not the big fancy feather dusters. The ones that often live in a white hard tubes.
How do people get them?
Also, do they reproduce in the tank?
Cheers.

Tube worms will proliferate if the water is full of their food which I presume is microscopic living and nonliving particles. In my system, these did not appear until I started dosing trace elements (CheatoGro). There growth and pineapple sponge growth exploded. I continue to dose and they continue to appear all over.

I assume my system had been trace element depleted for years and lacked the kind of microorganisms in the numbers needed to supoort filter feeders

 

[PotatoPig]

Do you have an LFS with a tank full of live rock/long term cured rock they sell? If so grab a small piece with white tubes on it.

Another ultra budget (if hit or miss) is to ask the LFS for a few empty shells from their hermit crab tank.

A more expensive but much more comprehensive option is to order live rock from any of the online vendors folks regularly recommended on here.

/haven’t personally ordered from any so will hold from giving recommendations

 

[exnisstech]

I was half asleep when I posted earlier. After taking a look in one of my sumps I'm not sure that these are something I would wish for. This is couple months after I scraped out a 4 cup measuring cup packed full of them. I even had to put a screen over my skimmer intake to keep them out.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I want them tiny tube worms, not the big fancy feather dusters. The ones that often live in a white hard tubes.
How do people get them?
Also, do they reproduce in the tank?
Cheers.

Often, LFS live rock may contain them and in time they appear especially in the sump

 

[Shon]

These?

Cluster Dusters, Social Feather Duster - Bispira spp.

Cluster Dusters (Bispira brunnea) is peaceful and omnivore organism that lives in Caribbean, Mediterranean, Indo-Pacific.

www.bluezooaquatics.com

Or the really, really small brown ones?

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I've had my tank for over 2 years so I don't think they'll appear anytime soon.

Have you added any frags recently? They don't just spontaneously "poof" into existence

 

[Levinson]

Did you start with all dry rock? I have 4 tanks running and have the little tube worms in all of them but used some live rock in all. My oldest system has so many in the sump they are becoming a nuisance.

I started with mostly live rocks. It had sponges, worms, pods, & etc which I still got but guess it didn't have the tube worms.

These?

Cluster Dusters, Social Feather Duster - Bispira spp.

Cluster Dusters (Bispira brunnea) is peaceful and omnivore organism that lives in Caribbean, Mediterranean, Indo-Pacific.

www.bluezooaquatics.com

Or the really, really small brown ones?

The really small brown ones.

Have you added any frags recently? They don't just spontaneously "poof" into existence

No, never had any corals or fish. I mostly grow inverts (excluding corals) in a nano tank.

 

[Kershaw]

I know this old. But I have been looking for these for a while and just found some at two fish stores. They charged my 5 bucks for a clump. Hopefully they will reproduce, I only had them in my first tank years ago, got a copper band and it wiped them out.

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

Buy wild caught corals. You'll get everything from those, any hitchhiker you can think of, spaghetti worms, chitons, peanut worms (and unfortunately sea spiders)

My tank is covered in duster tubes and it's only a year old, of course started with dry rock