Anything eat bristleworms

[seadoo14]

Is there a natural way to thin the herd of bristle worms. I think they are nasty but important my wife thinks they are just disgusting. Is there any fish that eat them?

 

[nces519]

six line wrasse

 

[seadoo14]

Would a six line wrasse be safe in a reef tank that is mostly LPS, Zoos and mushrooms?

 

[ReefWreak]

Neon Dottybacks I've heard will eat them. I don't think 6line wrasses eat them. I don't know if there are any wrasses that would eat them.

 

[ReefWreak]

And yes, a six line wrasse is safe in a reef tank, just be aware that some individuals can be very aggressive. I had a sixline who was very docile, however lots of other people have had aggressive ones.

 

[FFmike]

I put two small arrow crabs in my 75 just because i caught them locally, within an hour i came back and one had a bristleworm in its claw. Almost every time i look in the tank one of the two of them is munching on one.

 

[jedimpt]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15201894#post15201894 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ReefWreak
And yes, a six line wrasse is safe in a reef tank, just be aware that some individuals can be very aggressive. I had a sixline who was very docile, however lots of other people have had aggressive ones.

I agree on them being somewhat of a bully. and they will eventually clean u out of all your pods. mine did. I never actually saw him eat them but my coral banded shrimp did.

 

[ReefWreak]

I've heard of the arrow crabs eating them as well, but I'll never put another crab, especially a decorator-family crab in one of my tanks again. I had a decorator that would come out at night and pull the polyps off my acros and stick them to his back. Maybe the arrow crab won't do that, but mine did, so YMMV.

 

[JeF4y]

Just curious, why do you want to remove them? Sure, they're creepy, but unless you have a million of them, they're a good thing to have.. And if you do have way too many of them, you might want to examine how much you are feeding.

(and yes, I've pulled 2 big ones (7+ inchers) from our 29, but the rest can stay)

 

[catfisher]

My old coral banded shrimp would eat them but his replacement shows no interest. Might be worth a shot.

 

[seadoo14]

I have a good amount of the bristleworms now. I am now feeding the tank a lot less than before. I am actually feeding it on average 2 out of 3 days. The food (that is visible) is all gone with the tang and clown eating it within a minute or two.

My wife HATES them. I don't want her to get to disgusted with the tank or "funding" for the tank gets that much harder to obtain (I just want to thin the amount).

 

[JeF4y]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15203124#post15203124 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by seadoo14
My wife HATES them. I don't want her to get to disgusted with the tank or "funding" for the tank gets that much harder to obtain (I just want to thin the amount).

Oh brother... I hear you there. My wife FLIPPED when we saw the first one. Like a creepy alien. Took a month but I convinced her that they are a good thing.

When all else fails, start naming them for your ugly relatives that she hates. That works wonders...

 

[IslandCrow]

I know I don't want to see a bunch of bristle worms crawling around my tank either. As long as you're not allowing detritus to build up in your tank, you should seldom see a bristle worm during the day. Good flow and not feeding your fish more than they can eat before it settles on the sand and rocks is the best way to prevent detritus buildup. As stated, 6-line wrasses are indeed good bristle worm predators, so they certainly are an option.

 

[seadoo14]

Islandcrow, love the B-1B on afterburner must be REAL loud!, so a 6 line wrasse will eat the bristleworms? I am trying to reduce the detritus as my first option. In my prop / refugium tank I had them real bad. I didn't feed that for about a month and it worked wonders