Bristleworm Poll

I voted Of course I like them....they are part of my clean up crew.

I dont feel they are the prettiest thing in the tank and would rather look at other things besides any type of worm. It doesnt bother me for them to be in the tank and as far as looking at or touching them because they are gross I have seen and touched a lot of things that are nastier than a bristle worm.....LOL.

 

I know what I'm going to try to do today at work.

 

:LolLolLol;D

 

Why am I not surprised?

 

Nice topic Inwall – thank’s for posting it !

I guess with many things in life you need to take the good with the bad. The good being Bristle Worms are harmless beneficial scavengers – the bad being the unsightly eyesore that we don’t care to see.

There are the horror stories about the 12” monster Bristle devouring corals – as this is true (I know it first hand) its actually rare. From what I have read the variety of bristle that grows to these lengths is not known to reproduce in captivity. However, the smaller reef beneficial, albeit ugly, kind does – and when they do replicate the larva is free floating and becomes part of our food chain for the filter feeders.

But for those that simply want to fight the winless fight and attempt to eradicate them from your reef’s – some idea’s:

First, when adding live rock to a tank place it in a bin and cover it with wet newspaper for a couple of hours, keep is quiet too. This will lore the hitchhikers out of the rock – quickly remove the papers and flick crab’s and shrimp away – the worms are obviously slower and easily removed.

In the established tank – get some nylons and put a piece of raw seafood in it, make a lose ball around it and secure it with some fishing line and something to make sure it can sink. With the lights off drop it in the tank for 30-60 minutes then pull it out. You should have some decent success.

 

Yikes! now that was a bristle worms that would scare the bajivers out of any aquariumist....LOL

 

This guy can charge an entrance fee to view the tank....LOl

Thanks for sharing inwall75

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I purposely added bristle worms to my fuge and DT. I like have a lot of diversity in the tank, especially in the sand bed. I think the tunnels they make are pretty cool too.

 

Plus, very little NNR (Natural Nitrate Reduction) occurs without bioturbation. I.e. the bristleworms and other critters turning over the sand. If one wants that, they cannot rely on diffusion alone.

 

Just saw mine for the first time last night, he is at least 6-7" long in a 14g..Looks nasty as hell though haha