bristle worms

Hi , what eats bristle worms or are they so beneficial
that i should convince myself they are a good to have in a
a tank ? they remind me of lifting a log in the forest and
watching the centipedes and grubs scatter (when i shine the
flashlight in the tank at night)

 

jimwil22,

Like everything else in this hobby your going to get different opinions on whether or not bristle worms are beneficial so you'll have to make up your own mind. I think they are as long as they are controlled and not allowed to get out of hand. I've read horror stories of them growing to several inches and eating things they aren't supposed to. I think there is a shrimp that eats them but I am drawing a blank right now on the name of it. Go to the search section here and look it up. I would also suggest you invest in a couple of good books, The Concientious Marine Aquarist is a really good one, and read read read. I don't think you can ever learn to much about this hobby. Good luck.

 

Technically they are beneficial. They eat detritus and other gunk like that. But they can also reproduce like crazy, and are a complete pain in the butt to get rid of.

Personally, I didn't like them because A) I had a paid for clean up crew, and that free thing was stealing they're food. B) More of them kept on popping up everywhere.

We bought a trap for them, it caught 2 or so of them. It also caught around 3 baby brittle stars (who are still in the tank, cute little guys), but what really got rid of every bristle worm we had was a 6 line wrasse. Great fish, good personality, pretty colors, energetic swimmer, and the thing eats bristler worms and flat worms like no other. I've seen him eat a bristle, or try to. He at least killed it. That's what I'd recommend to you.

 

I don't like them some will say keep them but there are a bunch of shrimp that eat them like the banded coral shrimp and some people say peppermint shrimp

 

I keep them, they are not causing me any trouble and I find they are beneficial to the clean up crew.

 

It depends on what kind. Technically, there are a lot of different species of bristle worms. The problem is that they are very difficult to ID one from the other. And some will eat coral, even when small. I personally saw a 1" bristle worm munching on a patch of my zoa's before deciding to rid my tank of them. I would recommend getting rid of them. If you want a clean up crew, get a proper group

 

I have a couple that are huge. They have never done me harm other then give me nightmares with their ugly apperence.
I actually have them to thank for eating any fish that have died in the rock works.

 

Different opinons aren't a bad thing but you can see what I mean. Get some good saltwater books and start researching.

 

thanks , mine are still there , the 6 line wrasse sounds ok

 

6 lines are awesome fish. Pretty cheap, and look great.