wanted - bristleworm eater

[Frankysreef]

Do you know of fish that will consume bristleworms greedily?

But not bother my current inhabitants...

3 lyretail anthias
1 halichoeres wrasse ( fat from eating bristleworms )
1 BIG blue tang
1 BIG rabbitfish
1 maroon clownfish
1 longnose butterfly

All my fish seem to get along real well... but the worm thing is kinda disgusting..

Thanks

Frank

[yoh]

please dont get ANYTHING to eat them...they are GOOD and BENEFITIAL(i cant spell). They eat detrus and dying animals. Why then would you want to get rid of them???

[Frankysreef]

Is too much of anything a good thing. You should have seen how many I had before I got my halichoeres wrasse.

I have an extremely healthy tank.

I probly wont add any more fish anyway, but I am curious to see what else eats em

[Anthony Calfo]

while these errantiate polychaetes are indeed largely helpful for substrate health and general scavenging, their presence in excess clearly would indicate a nutrient problem (typically overfeeding and/or poor water flow which allows solids to settle too soon before filter feeders, skimmers, etc can handle them better).

That said, a predator on them is treating the symptom and not the problem.

But if you still want a good fish to help control them, the Red Sea pseudochromids are outstanding in this regard. And there are species that range in behavior from seahorse safe to downright pugnacious to fit almost any reef community tank you might have. I like fridmani and sankei for peaceful shoaling species.... and I like the neon Arabian species for tough as nails and the attitude to back it up FWIW

kindly, Anthony :)

[Red Reefet]

I second the pseudochromids. They're great bristle worm eaters and seem to be very hardy. Mine survived ich, with very little treatment.

[racrumrine]

As an alternative, I've seen my Skunk Cleaner Shrimp pull a bristle worm out of a rock and eat it right before my very eyes.

Best of luck,

Roy

[jwalters103]

also try arrow crabs. anyone who thinks bristleworms belong in an aquaria should watch mine eat my zoos, and steal food from my corals

[Frankysreef]

What happened to make my bristleworms explode was a little accident with the kalkwasser. The container I was using broke, and everything dumped into the sump. sending the PH levels soaring and before I got it under control again, I had dead fish and dead corals.. It was a hell of an experience, but I then had ammonia levels skyrocket which led to more death, and lo and behold the bristleworm population skyrocketd.

I used to have tons of isopods rolling around all over the place, but now I have bristleworms.

The fish and corals dont seem to care, and worms eat algae off the rock, but they are damn ugly.

You think those dottybacks will get along with my other fish?

thanks

[Anthony Calfo]

depends on what pseudo you pick... as mentioned above, they run the gamut from very peaceful to very territorial. But do stick with the Red Sea species (more than a few are available as tank raised). Fridmani and Sankei are arguably the most peaceful and will even tolerate each other (rare among pseudos).

Anthony

[jango]

IME If all of your issue's are solved (ph, dead fish,ammonia) and you are not over feeding the tank the population should dwindle until they stabilize at where they were before...

if you are in a reef club you could trap some and give them out in the club...

[Anthony Calfo]

yes... very good points jango, danke :)

the populations will indeed always and only live in numbers supported by available food (or not).

And sharing these useful polychaetes with other reef aquarists with natural substrates/systems is a fine idea.

kindly,

Anthony

[Frankysreef]

classic mathematical problem, I studied this in college, predator prey relationships...

I used to see em in the day, now I only see em at night.

Pistol shrimp and cb shrimp gettin fat, along with my wrasse.

Frank

[Rueg]

I saw my copperband butterfly pull a bristle worm out of a rock tonight. He started to eat it and then the sailfin tang was picking at it and then it floated into an anemone and that was the end of the fun. I wiped out most of my bristtle worms when I treated with flatworm exit. Whether it was the medication or the toxins from the flatworms I am not sure. Now my copperband attacks all worms it can find.

[Frankysreef]

I wonder if my longnose butterfly is eating them too? He hunts all night just like my wrasse. You should see his belly.. He is FAT, he has a nice beak and little bits of rock/sand come up when he goes after the worms... But he LOVES em...
Some one on reef central told me that they relish em, so I got one and they were right.
Halichoeres rainbow wrasse... awesome fish.. doesnt bother anybody else also.

Frank