i'm a fan of bristle worms...but how many is too many?
- Thread starter loyalty
- Start date
I don't think they'll grow without food: if you have that many worms, take a look at the food supply. You may be supporting more worms than you need to. Note you're a zoo tank: have you got fish in there perhaps living a bit rich? I ask this, because I had trouble because of too rich an environment, and had lush lps growth, trouble with the acroporas and way too many worms in my last tank. Am vowed to keep things a bit leaner in the next.
Angela Short
New member
My 5 was saturated with them and baby brittle stars. It was like night of the living worm when I would put food in! Creepy. They never seemed to bother any coral or fish though and I had a good mix of stuff.
waynesworld
Premium Member
You may want to get a small arrow crab.
Keep a balance in the tank
Keep a balance in the tank
mamagoose45
Member
I'll agree with Angela on the 5.5 - mine has a TON of bristles in it. I hate them (mainly because they creep me out and I don't want to grab one by accident) but they don't seem to do any real damage to anything. If I see a super huge one I snag him with some tweezers and he meets an untimely death. For the most part they only come cruising out when I feed the tank.
On the arrow crab recommendation - for some reason I remember hearing that they are not reef safe. Am I off the mark on that one?
On the arrow crab recommendation - for some reason I remember hearing that they are not reef safe. Am I off the mark on that one?
pitbullpooch
Member
I have also heard they are not reef safe and read some horror stories about them in a reef. I almost got one but read up on them first and found out they can eat your corals and when there bigger they can eat your fish but maybe wayne hasnt had trouble with them since i have read that they can be hit or miss but ive always read mostly bad things about them so i just would rather not chance it.
I also have had huge amounts of bristle worms in my nanos and what i do and others have done is put a 20 ounce plastic bottle or something like that in the tank with some shrimp pellets in it and in the morning there will be a ton in it so i either flush them or give them to someone but i only had to do that when there was so many they made people freak when they looked at my tank lol. ive never had a problem with them eating coral or fish or anything bad like that.
pitbullpooch
Member
ive read that the six lines will eat them
I have a few in my aquapod and my 120... They're kept in check by my fridmani in the aquapod... I don't trust the buggers... I don't mind having the few I do, but if I ever saw any above 2", I'd get them out of there... Seems whenever I have a zoa frag thats irritated, I always find a little bristle underneath... Maybe its just paranoia...
mamagoose45
Member
So here's a question about trapping them with the shrimp pellets idea ...I have 4 or so sexy shrimp in my nano that are always ready to rumble over some food. Anytime we have tried to trap anything in the other tanks, the only thing we've ended up snagging were shrimp... Would the shrimp be in any "danger" if they got stuck in a small confined space like a trap over night with some big honkin' bristle worms? I have no doubt a few of the worms I've seen in my tank could take on a tiny little sexy shrimp...
Angela Short
New member
I would do the pany hose trick Moriah. I wouldn't think they would stand a chance against a worm in a slick bottle. I NEVER see any in the 270. I think the fridmaini keeps them in check. I worry about all the food that blows back behind the rocks and in unable to reach places for most scavengers and with over 300 lbs of rock there are tons of inaccecable places! I bet there are worms hiding out back there away from the fridmaini though.
Similar threads
