Acclimation: never lift the worm out of the water, as air can get trapped in its tube; move it in a bag, under water. When buying, pick a specimen with a complete crown that withdraws briskly when touched, and whose tube is neither torn nor broken. Invertebrates cope poorly with changes in water quality: bring the bag water to your tank's water slowly.
Setup: the worm lives in the coral colony, usually a Porites, and its long-term survival depends on its host. It can survive if the coral dies, but must then compete with algae overgrowing the skeleton, which it cannot do. Keeping that coral requires enough light, good water movement, adequate calcium and alkalinity, and low phosphate: the small colonies collected come from shallow, brightly lit zones with strong currents. Current also helps the worm gather food.
Tankmates: these worms do not sting, do not eat other animals and do not compete with them chemically. The reverse is not true: butterflyfish relish their crowns, some wrasses and hawkfish eat them, as do triggerfish, large puffers, filefish and some angelfish; omnivorous crabs kill them by pinching the tube, and eels or urchins can damage them as they move about.
Crown loss: many feather dusters shed their crown from time to time. Do not remove the tube: the crown grows back within a few weeks. An occasional loss is nothing to worry about; if it happens every couple of months, look for an irritant or a lack of food. A starving worm drops its crown and grows a smaller one each time, so a shrinking crown means it is not getting enough food. Invertebrates do not tolerate copper medications.
Water: aim for 22 to 25.5 °C, a specific gravity of 1.023 to 1.025, pH 8.1 to 8.4 and 8 to 12 dKH.
