Chaeto

My husband bought some cheato for my tank today and there are bristle worms in the bag. If I remove them is there still a possibility that there are eggs in the cheato. I really don't won't bristle worms in my tank.All of the worms were very small.

 

most fish stores have any number of things in their cheato, ranging from pods, to mini brittle stars and even aipstasia, the worms are for the most part beneficial and will not harm your tank mates, but yes in a sense you can tweezar them out but there's no guarantee you can get them all.

 

I feel like it's the same with acclimating fish/corals/inverts. You chunk the chaeto into the sump and forget about it. Some of the living things on it are freaking out & dieing, just like fish/corals/inverts do when you just take them and chunk them in the tank without acclimating. I'd take the chance with a few bristles. They're good for cleaning deep in the sand and the chances of an attack are not that good and you can always trap them.

 

I have heard that they can benefit the tank,I also heard they multiply quickly. I think they are creepy looking and I hope not to get them in my tank.

 

I have a bunch of bristleworms in my fuge. I have read there beneficial.

 

Good or Bad?:
This is a tough one. Historically, bristleworms were all considered to be bad. Most literature warns that they can attack and eat clams, anemones, corals and even fish.

Recently, most hobbyists have come to the conclusion that small bristle worms pose no threat to other tank inhabitants and are in fact good scavengers and add to the biodiversity of the tank. You can even buy bristleworms from some sources.

Even large bristleworms are starting to be better understood. Although it appears that some large bristleworms can be aggressive predators, these seem to be in the minority. Many large bristleworms seem to fall into the harmless scavenger category. The one in the picture above has been in one of my tanks for several years. It is about 1/3" across and at least 12" long although I have only seen about 6" of it. It lives next to a group of clams and has never shown any interest in bothering the other creatures in the tank. He is a very impressive looking specimen in his own right.

http://www.reefcorner.com/SpecimenSheets/bristleworm.htm

 

They're out in my books! Anything that will actively bite me is out My fish bite me, but only when i've got them cornered while moving rock. I'm sure there are some in my tank, so i wear gloves. If i can see them they're too big

 

reef4girl,

Try as you might, you will have them. So...welcome them for the good that they do and beware when moving rocks.

 

They are part of having a tank and as far as I am concerned a very important part. They clean up excess food that would otherwise pollute the tank. I say pickthem off if you don't like them and put it in your fuge.