What Featherdusters are these?

[DegaBird]

One of the first things I put in my tank back in January of this year was a Caribbean Feather Duster from reefcleaners.org. It seems to be doing well still and likes the spot its in. My question is, how do (or IF) these guys multiply in the home aquarium?

My original rock was from Pacific East Aquaculture. It was listed as "live" but there wasn't a ton of life on it when I got it. There was one tiny duster that had the hard tube, but that has long since disappeared.

Suddenly maybe two-ish months ago, feather dusters EXPLODED in my tank. They are not hard shelled, but long and flexible like my large duster. They are also growing quite rapidly. Are these offspring from the big duster, or just a coincidence?

The note from ReefCleaners on species is as follows: While this is unfortunately a random assortment, it will only contain Sabellastarte sp. and Bispira variegata species.

Tank gets fed frozen, flake and reef roids. Either way, I love them and happy they are so prolific!

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

One of the first things I put in my tank back in January of this year was a Caribbean Feather Duster from reefcleaners.org. It seems to be doing well still and likes the spot its in. My question is, how do (or IF) these guys multiply in the home aquarium?

My original rock was from Pacific East Aquaculture. It was listed as "live" but there wasn't a ton of life on it when I got it. There was one tiny duster that had the hard tube, but that has long since disappeared.

Suddenly maybe two-ish months ago, feather dusters EXPLODED in my tank. They are not hard shelled, but long and flexible like my large duster. They are also growing quite rapidly. Are these offspring from the big duster, or just a coincidence?

The note from ReefCleaners on species is as follows: While this is unfortunately a random assortment, it will only contain Sabellastarte sp. and Bispira variegata species.

Tank gets fed frozen, flake and reef roids. Either way, I love them and happy they are so prolific!

The first picture could be what we used to call "cluster duster" worms, Bispira brunnea. The second photo looks like a generic feather duster - Sabellastarte sp.