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Bristle worm round-up


Lee Stearns

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I have many very large bristle worms in my tank, At night they particularly come out in packs- They are not doing much harm as far as I can tell- but would imagine they are competing in some way with other more beneficial organisms such as pods or smaller scavengers that might be real food for fish or corals. I had also wanted to try out chopped bristle as a fish food- maybe I could entice my six line who is fat on what ever he is already picking out or the rocks to develop a taste for younger bristle worm-- Hehe

What ways would one go about rounding up a few of these big guys. Just lift rocks and pick up with rubber gloves? Not easy in a 150 high- I can barely touch the bottom of the tank from a step ladder. Any traps or other suggestions?

Any reasons not to thin out these guys?

Regards,

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Guest mikesroth
I am interested as well.  We saw our first one in the tank 2 nights ago (about 2 - 2.5 inches long) scared the <CENSORED> out of me!!! :p  They are rather creepy looking.
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Guest Tmtplyb

Lee,

 

IME too many aren't good for anything, need to get rid of some to balance out the tank.  I have try the platic trap tube from the store it work for small worm but big one doesn't fit, I have try nylon stock not working. The only thing that I have try and it seem to work for me, find a LR which have a lot of holes, tide a string and bait on it, wait until your light when out in your tank, drop it in and wait for the worm to come, due to the LR has a lot of hole the worm will use it the retrive so at this time you can pick up the rock out from the tank and flush it out.  Good luck!

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Guest clownfish4
All I can say is take them out while you still can.  I know a few people who have removed bristle worms that have been longer than 3 feet; I think the biggest I have seen was 8 feet.  I just watch my tank at night and remove any I see with a pair of chopsticks or tweezers and flush them down the toilet.
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Guest bill33
i to have so many in my 10g reef,   some are bigger then my clowns, i see them and take them out but they seem to grow 2 inchs a day :)
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Ok sounds like manual capture is the way- when they start poking out just grab them - easier said than done in a 28 inch high- but I will post how my bristle worm apetizers go over with the fish.
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Guest clownfish4
If anyone finds one in the three to eight foot range, I want to see a picture out of interest.

There was one close to eight feet on RC.  I will try to find the post and give you a link to the pic.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Ok I was able to get some of the bristle worms- they are only a few inches long and there are plenty where they came form- But the I tried chopping diceing even soaking small peices in selcon- No body wanted to have anything top do with them- I think my fat six line just said "who are you trying to kid- I still see the bristles in there" And the tangs who grab about anything that floats by Said "not enoughh condiments" SO apparently bristle worm either tastes bad or the bristles still sting after being mutilated, but in either case they do not make good fish food. :laugh:
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Do you have a refugium? I like to take mine from the main tank and put them in my refugium to stur up the sand bed. They can't hurt anything there.
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Arrow crabs eat them.

 

I have trapped them with home-made traps.  Take a small plastic yogurt container with a lid.  Cut off the bottom.  Silicone a piece of screen forming an inverted cone shape inside, leaving a small opening at the "tip" of the cone for the wworme to crawl in.  Make sure that there are a couple of inches between the tip of the cone which is in there and the lid (which will now be the bottom of the container). Take off the lid, put a piece of shrimp in there, put the lid back on  and attach fishing line so that you can just lower your container/trap in there.  They crawl through the hole at the tip of the screen cone and get the shrimp but they cannot get back out.  It is the same idea of the purchased tube that you see at the stores.  When youi pull it up you just take the lid off, empty the worms, re-bait the trap and place it back in there.

 

Sound complicated?  It is not.  You can call me.

 

work:202-673-4693

home:703-276-8316

 

Tamie

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