Critter ID?

[bronck83]

Drew a quick sketch of it since I have no camera besides my cell phone. They stay hidden usually when lights are on but come out onto the sand at night. They are obviously much smaller than the pic, they are about a 1" or less in length & much thinner. White on the ends, brownish-red in the middle with a bunch of little legs.

[Kristy]

bristleworm?

[bronck83]

bristleworm?

I see them on the rocks sometimes too...I thought bristleworms stay in the sand? These almost look like little centipedes or something. I think they hide in the rocks when the lights are on.

[Kristy]

If you thought they were little centipedes, then they are probably bristleworms. In our small tank, one of the pieces of live rock has small holes in it. We see them come out of the rock all the time. Having them is not necessarily a bad thing, as they are a good addition to your cleanup crew, but they can sometimes get pretty big. We have pulled some out 2-3 inches long. Creepy when they get that big.

Mike

[Kristy]

Do they come out when you feed? We had a bunch till we got an arrow crab. He went to town on them, so much so we ended up trading him back to the LFS. It was cool to watch him catch one and cut it in half and eat it.

[ErikH]

Read all about it: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/bristlewrmfaqs.htm

I spent a long while reading that. Really good info!

[reeferRob]

If you thought they were little centipedes, then they are probably bristleworms. In our small tank, one of the pieces of live rock has small holes in it. We see them come out of the rock all the time. Having them is not necessarily a bad thing, as they are a good addition to your cleanup crew, but they can sometimes get pretty big. We have pulled some out 2-3 inches long. Creepy when they get that big.

Mike

2-3"?!?!?! I've pulled some from my tank 12-18" and as big around as one of them really fat pencils you used to use in kindergarten

[bronck83]

Found some online pics, they are definitely bristleworms. Haven't fed a thing yet since I just recently setup this tank with rock/sand and there's no livestock in it yet. From what I've read it seems they aren't necessarily bad but I dont really like them, going to the coast this weekend, guess I'll try to catch a few peppermint shrimp to feast on them at the jetties.

[Kristy]

Not sure peppermint shrimp will eat them...

Your bristleworms probably came in with that live rock.

12-18" yikes, those are monsters!

[Kristy]

When they come out, you can sometimes suck them up with a turkey baster.