Lurker Posted January 19, 2008 Share Posted January 19, 2008 I've been reading alot about these scary little creatures however in the last 4 minutes i have spotted over 60 large bristleworms in this tank (im talking some are way over 6inches), I also noticed every time one of my turbos fall and is upside down a bristle worm (one of the large ones) seems to jump all over it. Out of the 20 turbos i had I am down to 5, I've checked my water and the only thing I noticed is my salinty was low (1.020) and did a 10% water change and got it back to normal. I have a small pvc tube w/ holes in it, capped at both ends (i've dropped krill in the tube) and dropped the trap down into the tank. I've been able to get about 20 worms (large ones) out a night for the last week, however is there anything else i can do to get these larger ones to come out? So far my record catch is 14in shrunk up...and I know there is larger ones in the tank. Any suggestions or anyone want to come over and collect some worms :-). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Entropy Posted January 19, 2008 Share Posted January 19, 2008 A sixline wrasse will eliminate the small ones (or close to it), so if you keep up your current trapping, sooner or later you would be down to only small hidden worms. Not sure if that is an option for you, but that is one of the first fish I put in any new tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Bmwaaron Posted January 20, 2008 Share Posted January 20, 2008 Arrow crabs will eat them even the big ones and they are easy to catch after you have gotten your bristle worm population down. Arrow crabs will eat other desirable things also but like I said they are easy to catch once they have eaten your bristle worms Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
classclownfish Posted January 20, 2008 Share Posted January 20, 2008 There not all scary. In fact I ususally order some online to add to my tank to keep my sand mixed up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lurker Posted January 20, 2008 Author Share Posted January 20, 2008 There not all scary. In fact I ususally order some online to add to my tank to keep my sand mixed up. It's bad when you walk up to a tank and the first thing you notice is all the bristleworms...i have a seabade anenome the size of a grapefruit when its closed...and unfortantly ppl first ask hey what is this worm sticking his head out of the rock? If you are really ordering worms for you tank you can allways let me know how many you would like....i can drop whatever i trap in a smaller tank and let you swing by to pick some up. I look into the arrow crabs to help bring down the overwhelming amount of them in my tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SirReal63 Posted January 20, 2008 Share Posted January 20, 2008 If you catch some that are 6" or smaller let me know, I will come get them. Bristles are the best part of a good cleanup crew. If yours are that large then there is more than enough food for them as their populations and size are self limiting. Loads of food and you will have loads of them and they can grow large. When the available food is limited their numbers reduce. From what I have read...their mouth structure is not adapted to eating living tissue but decaying tissue. I have never seen them eat anything alive and in my old 125 I had one that in his constricted size was about 16" (got him in a shipment of rock) and I never saw it eating anything alive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4R00P3R Posted January 21, 2008 Share Posted January 21, 2008 Bristle worm is a general term used for many different worms. There are good species and bad. See this link for a short beginner's lesson. http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/msubpestb.../a/aa102198.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lurker Posted January 21, 2008 Author Share Posted January 21, 2008 Bristle worm is a general term used for many different worms. There are good species and bad. See this link for a short beginner's lesson.http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/msubpestb.../a/aa102198.htm thank you for the link, now Im sitting here at 4am trying to identify the worms...so far I have 2 differnt colored worms, I hope someone will chime in. one is gray (these are my longest ones in the tank...and a pita to catch...) so far looking around I see Hawaiian Orange Fireworm as the match for these guys... This is what I seem to be catching ALOT, today I saw one that is so far going to be my record if I can catch it, stretched 16in long...and moved like there was no tomorrow. The other woms are more redish pink kinda like i found on another site... I will be adding a wrasse and arrow crab by sat...if anyone wants worms feel free to pm me and I will be more than happy to let you go worm hunting in my tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SirReal63 Posted January 21, 2008 Share Posted January 21, 2008 The bad type are very rare in aquaria. You should also know that the article is very old, it was written in 1998 and our knowledge of these creatures has increased greatly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jynxgirl Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 I would deffinatly suggest doing a little reading about that six line. There are other wrasses that are not as territorial. If you are about done adding fish and not going to add any pseudochromis or those type of slim long fish, then it wont be such a issue. I added mine to get rid of a very similar problem I was pulling out bristles that were eight cm wide and over 12 inches long, on a regular basis! Once they get past the size that a wrasses will eat, they just keep growing and growing. The six line did take care of the problem, but then killed a purple pseudochromis and a another wrasses that I attempted to add later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GKarshens Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 And in my opinion Six-lines are the least attractive of the wrasses. I would look into an Ornate Wrasse, or some of it's relatives like the Hoeven's Wrasse or yellow Coris Wrasse. They will get a little bigger than the Six-Line but are more peaceful and prettier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iflytoohigh Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 i have a wicked infestation of bristleworms. it is all my fault though. i have no natural predators in my tank and I feed my lps liberally twice a week. those crazy worms have been living the high life until 2 days ago. i got an arrow crab. i did a slow acclimation over a few hours. and within another few hours he had a bristleworm in his claw. now that crab is demolishing any worm he sees. he battled with a particularly big worm for 6 hours yesterday. i saw him when he first yanked it out of the rock and was astounded that such a scrawny looking crab could manhandle a wriggly, fat, pokey worm. it took him a while, but he finally shoved the whole thing in his mouth. all the while that worm was wriggling away getting eaten alive. i almost felt bad for that worm. but not quite Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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