Tang ate feather dusters

[chiqui bb]

I purchased some soft-tubed feather dusters on Saturday. They were small, roughly 1-1.5" in length. There were about 30 of them in one big clump with three different colors (orange, purple/white, and red). I painstakingly glued them to a piece of rock and within minutes of placing them in the tank, the regal tang started picking at them. I assumed it was the location (maybe too close to his sleeping cave) so I moved them. Same problem. Moved them again...same problem...you get the picture. :frustrat: I finally gave up and watched, horrified, as he decimated them. I saw one that had come out of the tube floating around, another one shed only the top and that was floating as well.

The tang wasn't picking at the feather portion of the tube, rather, at the bottom where they were all connected. I suspect the attack caused them a considerable amount of stress anyway.

I'm hoping that some of them survived and found a place to hide. Any idea how long it will take for me to see them again?

 

[AmberSunrise]

Aww poor worms. I would have taken them out right away and back to the store.

 

[chiqui bb]

Aww poor worms. I would have taken them out right away and back to the store.

I had already glued them to a rock......

 

[AmberSunrise]

I am sure the store would have given you a new rock to replace that one.

 

[Bifferwine]

That's weird. Was he picking at the base of the dusters, or algae that was attached to the base? Fish are unpredictable. :(

If some survived, you should see them within a couple weeks. But if your tang has a taste for them, he will probably find them and keep eating them.

 

[chiqui bb]

Thanks Biff. Your response is exactly the type of information I was looking for.

He was picking at the base. I didn't see any visible algae but there was something there that he wanted! The tang has never bothered anything else. I have several hard tube feather dusters (very small) attached to rocks. I also have a coco worm and he has never bothered it. He swims so close to it that he touches the crown and the coco worm doesn't even retreat. I guess I'll just keep watching and see if any of them crop up elsewhere. They were so pretty.