I have had pistol shrimp that came as a hithicker with my live rock about a year ago. I've noticed now for the last 2 weeks that it has begun sharing its burrow witha 7 inch bristle worm that also came with the live rock. The shrimp walks over the worm cleans, etc.. I know that pistol shrimps pair up w/ gobies, but bristleworms, news to me.
Pistol Shrimp & Bristle Worm
- Thread starter bunzaroo
- Start date
I would watch out for that worm -- as soon as the pistol molts, the worm is going to have a very tasty snack.
Basically the worm has gotten big enough to decide that it's now a badass, and has nothing to worry about from anyone else, including the pistol.
I had a bristle worm that used to steal food from a peppermint -- I thought it was cute and funny until the peppermint molted and the I saw the bristle pulling it up into the hole at the top of the rock.
I know that the shrimp didn't die first, because the bristle was pulling it up into the hole at the top of the cave, rather than eating him off the sand. The peppermint would always hang out at the top of the cave, and the bristle would steal his food from a hole right by the place the shrimp hung out. As soon as the pepp was soft and defenseless, the pepp was stolen instead.
Since then I have talked to others about this, including a local reef club member who found a bristle eating an eye off his fish. The guy was able to knock away the worm and save the fish, who lived a long time after with one eye.
Bristles are an awesome cleanup crew when they are small worms -- they have huge appetites and can live for a long time without food, so they don't starve to death but can still do a great cleanup job before something fouls the water.
But when they get bigger, hungrier and bolder, be careful. Wandering the tank in the open looking for food is not a good sign.
Basically the worm has gotten big enough to decide that it's now a badass, and has nothing to worry about from anyone else, including the pistol.
I had a bristle worm that used to steal food from a peppermint -- I thought it was cute and funny until the peppermint molted and the I saw the bristle pulling it up into the hole at the top of the rock.
I know that the shrimp didn't die first, because the bristle was pulling it up into the hole at the top of the cave, rather than eating him off the sand. The peppermint would always hang out at the top of the cave, and the bristle would steal his food from a hole right by the place the shrimp hung out. As soon as the pepp was soft and defenseless, the pepp was stolen instead.
Since then I have talked to others about this, including a local reef club member who found a bristle eating an eye off his fish. The guy was able to knock away the worm and save the fish, who lived a long time after with one eye.
Bristles are an awesome cleanup crew when they are small worms -- they have huge appetites and can live for a long time without food, so they don't starve to death but can still do a great cleanup job before something fouls the water.
But when they get bigger, hungrier and bolder, be careful. Wandering the tank in the open looking for food is not a good sign.
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