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cbayer
Sun, 28th Jan 2007, 03:23 PM
I know bristle worms are beneficial to any reef system but is there a such a thing as to many worms in a tank. I have a forty gallon tank and I have lots of those guys in there maybe 30 or more. I have even seen one that is about a foot long. I just put some snails in my tank and these guys started to attack the snaiils and eating them and got me a little worried. Is this normal? Should I try removing some or just leave it alone.
erick
Sun, 28th Jan 2007, 03:30 PM
try a coral banded shrimp. he should keep em in check!
Louie3
Sun, 28th Jan 2007, 04:06 PM
My 6line wrasse was really good at keeping Bristle worms in check. But when I added my Aus. Lunare wrasse theirs almost no bristle worms
JimD
Sun, 28th Jan 2007, 04:06 PM
30 or so in a 40 isnt too bad. Usualy when theres an abundance of them it can indicate an accumulation of detritus caused by over feeding, infrequent siphoning or lack of flow. Depending on what inabitants you have in your tank, ie. reef, fowlr or fo, you may or may not want to consider a Coral banded shrimp as they can and will munch on some coral polyps and are fully capable hunters of fish.
txstateunivreefer
Sun, 28th Jan 2007, 05:03 PM
when i bought my 72 gallon from a woman in austin it had pretty close to 1 bristle worm to every grain of sand i have a coral banded shrimp and a six line wrasse and almost no bristle worms its really cool also to watch the shrimp ripping a worm in two
Louie3
Sun, 28th Jan 2007, 05:32 PM
yeah forgot to mention arrow crabs, they look awesome when they're tearing apart a bristle worm
cbayer
Sun, 28th Jan 2007, 09:03 PM
Appreciate the input and I am going to get a copper band but I am a little sketchy about getting the coral banded shrimp because I have heard so many bad things about them.
matt
Sun, 28th Jan 2007, 09:52 PM
I would really recommend not adding a coral banded shrimp. Bristleworms are extremely beneficial to most reef tanks.
Louie3
Sun, 28th Jan 2007, 10:31 PM
Yeah but once I got stuck with a finger full of bristles, I wanted then gone :innocent
reeferRob
Mon, 29th Jan 2007, 08:40 PM
Appreciate the input and I am going to get a copper band but I am a little sketchy about getting the coral banded shrimp because I have heard so many bad things about them.

I've had a CB shrimp since I set up my tank and he must be well mannered. He has yet to mess with any corals or fish, and I've never seen him eat any bristleworms. I do have them, just saw one a few minutes ago in fact. :huh

just my $.02