you the bad news, though. More often
than not Christmas tree worms will starve
to death in aquariums. They rely on a
steady supply of tiny foods to stay healthy,
and there just isn’t enough of the right
stuff in most aquariums, small ones in
particular. While I have no reference to
any studies or such, I can tell you from my
experience, and that of numerous fellow
reefers, that these worms in particular are
far, far from hardy.
Some types of fan worms seem to be pretty
much bulletproof in large reef aquariums,
and many will show up on live rock and
such and thrive, but not the Christmas
trees. Instead, they usually disappear one
by one over a period of weeks to months,
apparently due to a lack of appropriate
food. Again, I have no proof, but my
assumption is that they are pickier about
what they keep to eat than many other fan
worms are. I’ve seen other species of fan
worm actually reproduce in various tanks,
and watched a Porites coral head grow well,
while the Christmas trees simultaneously
died off. And again, I’ve known of quite a
few other hobbyists that have experienced
the same thing.
So, I will withhold any recommendation
that you should try these, despite their
appearance, especially in any small to
medium-size tanks where particulate foods
are in even shorter supply. If you must try,
I would highly recommend that you try
using a high-quality phytoplankton product
that contains a mixture of species, as such
products are generally helpful when trying
to maintain picky filter feeders.
Sometimes rocks and coral heads can be
densely populated by Christmas tree worms,
which can vary greatly in appearance.
Some Parting Advice
With that said, I’ll wrap things up by
saying that if you do decide to try them
anyway, be sure to maintain excellent water
quality. Salinity, pH, calcium, etc. should be
kept at levels acceptable for reef aquaria.
You should also attempt to purposely startle
a prospective purchase—healthy Christmas
tree worms should retreat into their tubes
and close their opercula very quickly if a
shadow passes close overhead, or if they are
touched with a rod or finger. Of course, any
specimen should be avoided if they don’t
react to such stimuli accordingly. D
