Bristle Worms are Amazing!

[travis_]

I tried to post already but somehow lost my post. So if this is a duplicate I apologize.

I love my bristle worms. They are hands down the best scavengers I have. As you see in the pic, I have some pretty big ones. These two live in my sump. The other day I put a bunch of oyster shells in my sump and many shells still had some meat attached (hard to remove muscle). The next morning I looked in and was amazed to see every shell was totally cleaned by my worms. The ate every last little bit of food off of the shells.

I then decided I wanted more worms, so I took my longest and chopped him up into 4 pieces and released back into my tank. Even the one missing its head and tail was able to swim to the sand and quickly burrow himself under the sand. Now I am curious how many segments I could cut one up and have the segments all live.

In the past people feared bristle worms and did all they could to rid their systems of them. Yes, some are bad and can be predatory, but most, like mine, are harmless scavengers. I feel that more people fear them due to their appearance rather than their actions. I think these attitudes are changing and more and more people understand that these guys are GREAT to have in your system. LONG LIVE THE BRISTLE WORM!

 

[sgwill122]

If you ever stop by for another frag you can help yourself to all of mine. I do not mind them except when I see them stealing food out of the anemones mouth.

 

[travis_]

If you ever stop by for another frag you can help yourself to all of mine. I do not mind them except when I see them stealing food out of the anemones mouth.

I prefer to keep mine in the refugium so that I don't run into any problems of them stealing food. But I would like to stop by again when you have some mroe frags and I will take you up on your offer.

Travis

 

[lizardarm]

I do not mind them except when I see them stealing food out of the anemones mouth.

You've seen this happen? Wow! The bristle worms in my tank only come out at night (the larger ones anyway).
I've always agreed though that the majority of them are beneficial.

 

[luisse25]

when i started my tank somebody gave me a handful of chaeto..guy said put it in the back chamber of my nano and will help lower nitrate..i open the ziplock and grab the chaeto and there i found lots of bristle worms,,i got scared and threw the bag of chaeto in the trash.. now ive learned that these scary creatures are beneficial in the tank..

 

[lizardarm]

When I got started in the hobby the popular opinion was that they were mostly all bad. I never listened, mainly because I was lucky enough not to have any "bad" ones in my tank and the ones that I had never seemed to be hurting anything. There are definitely some that are detrimental bastards, not to mention dangerous to us; but it seems that the vast majority are fairly harmless. Saw an article recently about some public aquarium somewhere (Australia?) that had a four foot long coral killer worm in their display.

 

[lizardarm]

Actually it was in the UK-
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...rium-staff-mysterious-attacks-coral-reef.html

 

[Bosco83]

How can you tell if they are good or bad ones? I have a lot of them but they don't look like yours. Mine don't look so slimey and they are reddish pink and just look kinda fuzzy.

Brian

 

[lizardarm]

The majority on the ones I have are small little guys, either pinkish/orangeish or that color on the ends with black in the middle. Observation is one way of telling, but before someone jumps on here and slams me for saying that, alot of critters are opertunists, or may change their behavior as the get bigger. You can also find lots of info on different hitchiker worms online with pics and whatnot that give general "good" or "bad" "ratings".

 

[brandyrb]

Ah, do you pet them? Your fingers are awfully close to one of them.

I noticed that when irritated, touched, they curl up into a ball and stick out their bristles. My problem with bristle worms is I know they can sting me. Haven't been stung yet though.

I usually wear gloves when I'm working with LR. If I see a bristle worm next to my hand I have a tendancy to jump and drop the rock, lol. I could break a tank or a light.

 

[travis_]

How can you tell if they are good or bad ones? I have a lot of them but they don't look like yours. Mine don't look so slimey and they are reddish pink and just look kinda fuzzy.

Brian

these guys don't look anywhere near as slimy when under water, and they also are a lot fuzzier under water. And they are reddish pink. They sound the same, just out of the water they look different. And as long as they are not being bad, then they must be good.

 

[travis_]

Yes, these guys curl up and stick out their bristles as well when bothered, however I have always touched them, picked they up and even torn them into 2 pieces with my bare hands and never been "stung". I think my skin on my hands is thick enough that the bristles don't bother me, but if I had more sensitive skin then maybe.

Ah, do you pet them? Your fingers are awfully close to one of them.

I noticed that when irritated, touched, they curl up into a ball and stick out their bristles. My problem with bristle worms is I know they can sting me. Haven't been stung yet though.

I usually wear gloves when I'm working with LR. If I see a bristle worm next to my hand I have a tendancy to jump and drop the rock, lol. I could break a tank or a light.