Things that eat bristleworms?

[harmonic]

I'd like to get a list started here of things that eat bristleworms, fish or other inverts. Please post if you know, thanks!

[Strandedthinker]

sixline wrasse

[GinaSofia]

My Psuedochromis (neon dottyback) took care of my over abundance of bristles.

[ATJ]

Banded coral shrimp, Stenopus hispidus.

[hanifrez]

Not sure about bristles, but my Butterflyfish recently killed my featherduster :(

Ray

[despot101]

Peppermint shrimp.

[Diehl]

Arrow Crabs and Peppermint shrimp:)

[Pod]

I second the banded coral shrimp
I have none left.

[dgin]

I used to see bristleworms coming out of the rock all of the time when I fed. After I added a peppermint shrimp, I see them on rare occassions now.

[Radcast2]

Does anyone feel that a Blood red fire shrimp, skunk cleaner shrimp, would leave a peppermint shrimp alone?

[Tarkin]

I've never seen my peppermint's or banded eat them but I've seen my Arrow Crab two fisting them before!

Later
Tarkin

[skippy2]

I have seen my emarld crab try to eat a bw not once but twice!!!

[koj11]

Originally posted by Radcast2
Does anyone feel that a Blood red fire shrimp, skunk cleaner shrimp, would leave a peppermint shrimp alone?

I've kept a cleaner and peppermint together without incident.

[lowbudgetreefkeeper]

if you have a way to getting the bristleworms.. .why not sell them? im pretty sure there are some reefers out that who would pay a pretty penny for some

[the Undone guy]

I heard that if you take some shrimp and wrap it up in some panty hose, then put it at the bottom of your tank the next morning you will have bristleworms stuck in it. Just pull the pantyhose out and wala, instant bristleworm removal. i guess their bristles get caught in the pantyhose trying to eat the shrimp.

[harmonic]

The pantyhose sounds like it might work. Selling sure would be better overall than just killing them, I know they are benificial. The tank is a 15g, with no fish right now, but I'm not sure it's big enough for one 6-line.

The tank is on my desktop, very well lit, and I see a whole lot of it. (I mean as in a lot of viewing time.) And I just hate looking at bristleworms. There's so many in there you can see them even during the day.

[Sphyraena]

Purple reef lobster, eats bristle worms bigger than itself.
Amazing to watch.

[dlh5150]

I have a blood red cleaner, two skunk cleaners and a peppermint shrimp. They all get along fine. The peppermint only comes out at night.

I didn't think I had a bristleworm until I removed some LR while trying to rid myself of some unwanted macro algae. That damn bristleworm scared the hell out of me! If peppermint shrimps eat them, mine hasn't been doing his job!

dlh

[sherm71tank]

I had a fox face rabbit fish that ate bristleworms.

[ofblong]

my pseudochromis springeri dottyback eats bristleworms. 2 minutes after introduction into my tank it had one in its mouth. My peppermint shrimp have never touched one that I have seen.

[skippy2]

I have never seen my pepp eat a bw but I sure don't have as many as I used to. Maybe they die off and come back when needed (over feeding)

[siren]

dude worms are good

[skippy2]

Originally posted by siren
dude worms are good


Siren: dude, I like my bw!!!!:rolleye1:

[ofblong]

Originally posted by siren
dude worms are good

that is an incorrect statement. instead of worms are good you should say most worms are good. I am speaking from experience that not all bristleworms are good. I lost some zoos and almost lost some mushrooms(they are still healing) because of a fireworm(bristleworm).

[coyoteseven]

Since I got my spotted hawkfish (http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?siteid=21&pCatId=204) , I've not seen a single bristleworm.

Either it ate them all or the worms are too afraid to come out now... even at night. :lmao:

[MattandJenCook]

I have an arrow crab and had at least 50 to 75 bw's now I only have around 10 bws. it is an estimate though but I did have alot I got some LR with a huge number of BWs in it. not now though

[AEALOVESHERGIRLS]

how do you know a good bristle from a bad, I thought all bristle worms were good.

[ATJ]

Amanda,
There are very few polychaetes (AKA "bristleworms") that will feed on corals so generally you do not have to worry about them.

There are some that will give you a painful bite (e.g. Eunice sp.) and others than inject toxins with their hairs that can cause a painfil and/or alergic reaction, but if you leave your hands out of the tank you should be fine.

[LizardWorks]

I've seen my green brittlestar eat bristleworms. Not in any kind of quantity to be of a detriment, just a snack when he catches one.

[ofblong]

Originally posted by AEALOVESHERGIRLS
how do you know a good bristle from a bad, I thought all bristle worms were good.

well if its about 6" to over a foot long and is 1/2" to 3/4" wide then its a bad bristleworm. pretty much if your corals are getting ate its something bad. the bristleworm I had in my tank is very very rare to find. the post about the worm I found is

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=263498&highlight=fireworm

pretty much i found it came in on some rock I got from the carribean. my peps never touched it nor did anything else I had in the tank. Like i stated it ate some of my zoos and some of my mushrooms. did not touch anything else though. I have a feeling that this also killed and ate the open brain I had.

I would also like to say that probably 99% of known bristleworms are good.

[xxaquanutxx]

How about a harlequem shrimp?? I know they eat starfish.. so why not bristle worms?? :)

[DgenR8]

I have a pair of Haelequins in my 'fuge, and literally thousands of bristle worms in there too. Maybe I keep my shrimp well fed, and they have no interest in the bristle worms, but I think they just aren't something Harlequins eat.