What's the best home made bristle worm trap?

[mfinn]

I've read that arrow crabs eat them.

 

[Bored4ever86]

I've read that arrow crabs eat them.

my sixline has a taste for the small ones its fun to watch him just after lights on, he searches all over for em and when he finds one its like a little kid with spaghetti

 

[brandyrb]

Well the arrow crab was sounding good until I read they're opportunistic omnivores and small fish would be at risk with them. I have a baby tailspot blenny and a baby randall's shrimp goby in the tank. I also plan on adding a couple dragonface pipefish and bangaii cardinal pair, so the six line is out too.

Here's some of the info on WWM about arrow crabs. Read the "...Not compatible with much thread".
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/arrowcrabfaqs.htm

 

[Ellylove]

Did you have any luck catching the bws? If so, what method worked for you?

 

[PCFishman]

I think there are a lot of myths about bristleworms.... Bristleworms are scavengers so if you have an exploding population, its probably because of there is excess food in the tank to support it... The worms inherently do not present any threats to the tank or coral. In fact if you have deep sand beds they can help to keep the substrate aerated. Just my two cents..

 

[Holygral]

I have a large Arrow Crab and he doesn't seem to bother anyone. He has thinned out the Bristol Worm population.

 

[Rudolf]

I have a big BW population. I don't think they are bothering anything, but if there were some fish or invertibrate appropriate for my 10 gal BioCube that would enjoy hunting them, I'd get one. There would be plenty of food for it.

 

[alki]

I had a small piece of liverock that had one concave side, I used it to glue an acan frag to on the other side. I put this in the tank and not even knowing it created a perfect briste worm trap. I dont even have to put food in there to get them to end up there. I havent been activly trying to get them out though.

Basically anything with some type of dark hole/cave/gathering place will catch them. Large snail shells I agree would be great. I am sure you can find something that can accomplish this without buying the trap.

I also had a large clam shell once and when I pulled it up there were about 10 in there, but I let them crawl back into a new place as I wasnt trying to catch them.

I agree they are good to have as scavengers, but I also agree that 1. they are gross looking, especially when they get big. and 2. If I pick up a rock and get a dozen tiny bristles in me I will quickly change my opinion of them.