Hi I just picked up a 30 gallon tank with live rock & live sand seems to be a lot of bristle worms ? Is it a good thing to add to my main tank ? I have soft corals, Anemones, shrimp & fish also a small cleaning crew... Good or bad ???
bristle worms ???
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N1Husker
RF Staff
I also have bristleworms in my tank. I pick out the large ones to keep the population down but I don't think I will ever get them all. I remove what I can but they live under the rocks and don't seem to bother anything. I have read that they will destroy corals, but I haven't had any of this happening. All they do is stick out and search the substrate then zip right back in and then I don't see them for a while. I have also read that they are harmless and to consider them as part of the clean up crew as they will eat uneaten food and detrius (fish poop). That's all mine seem to do, they have never bothered my corals. I do take them out when I can, because my wife doesn't like them, plus it controls the population. They can get large and so these are the ones I pull out. You will get hundreds of differemt opinions from they are akin to the devil, to they are perfectly fine. I would say watch them, remove the bigger ones, just to control the numbers. If they start causing problems with your corals then you have your answer, but if they don't cause trouble, let them eat the poop. You will never get them all. Orchid Dottybacks (psuedochromis fridmani) also eat them.
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like Chichas said - they are a great part of your clean up crew.. just remember they are in there when you are grabbing rocks, cuz a bristle worm sting hurts like none other!! haha
I love my bristleworms. When I feed small pellets to my clowns in my nano the worms all swarm out. There are dozens and dozens and some are quite large. Its fun to watch the worms race the copepods and amphopods to the food. The pods grab the pellets and jump all around the worms trying to get the pellets away and most always succeed. Very entertaining (I guess I need to get a life.)
They have never been any problem with any of my corals (in my nano and 250 g) and I have heard that they will quit reproducing and die if they don't get enough food.
I say embrace and celebrate the worms!!!
They have never been any problem with any of my corals (in my nano and 250 g) and I have heard that they will quit reproducing and die if they don't get enough food.
I say embrace and celebrate the worms!!!
As said previously, Bristle Worms are definately a benifit to your system and will help clean up the deitrus
N1Husker
RF Staff
Yes, I have never had any problem with my bristleworms but they freak out my wife. I think she was talking to someone on one of her forums and a guy said that bristleworms will devastate an aquarium. I don't think he know's what he was talking about because mine have been model citizens. I don't like killing any living creatures, except fly's and mosquitoes. If they don't bother you, leave them alone and let them eat. I had one grab a piece of shrimp pellet and start dragging it under a rock and my cleaner shrimp was trying to grab the pellet too. The worm finally won. They are kind of cool I think.
Okay, I had to go back to this thread because I realize now that I was naive and have had a huge awaking!!!
Tonight we were turning off lights etc for bedtime and I did my final Nano check.
I had been sitting at my desk an hour before and everything was fine but NOW it was completely cloudy! I mean it was opaque and the clowns were freaking out. So was I!!! So my husband brought up some water for a major water change and as we were starting we could see that the clouds were being spewed from under one of the rocks. We picked up the rock and there were about 15 HUGE bristleworms squirming around. They were spawning in the tank and it wasn't pretty. So we scooped them out and they went down the toilet.
I knew there were some bristleworms and a few are good for the tank as they are major detrivores but I didn't know that too many, especially in a small system could pollute it so much. Leaving the spawn in could be bad for the tank. Everything probably would have been okay but... Now when I see the worms they will have to go.
Just part of my education I guess.
Tonight we were turning off lights etc for bedtime and I did my final Nano check.
I had been sitting at my desk an hour before and everything was fine but NOW it was completely cloudy! I mean it was opaque and the clowns were freaking out. So was I!!! So my husband brought up some water for a major water change and as we were starting we could see that the clouds were being spewed from under one of the rocks. We picked up the rock and there were about 15 HUGE bristleworms squirming around. They were spawning in the tank and it wasn't pretty. So we scooped them out and they went down the toilet.
I knew there were some bristleworms and a few are good for the tank as they are major detrivores but I didn't know that too many, especially in a small system could pollute it so much. Leaving the spawn in could be bad for the tank. Everything probably would have been okay but... Now when I see the worms they will have to go.
Just part of my education I guess.
N1Husker
RF Staff
Yeah, I was the one with the original post. I haven't seen the bristleworms lately, but I know that they are still there. I seem to catch the little ones in the trap, and once in a while I get a bigger one, but I know that there are bigger ones in there. If they poke their head
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