Bristleworms

[Matthew5664]

Seen a cople in my tank yesterday and after reading a artical in the Tropicalfish Hobbyest (US) I was wondering what peoples opinions were about these so called 'pests'. I like the look of them personaly and the ones in my tank at the mo look white with white spines and black tails ( ID would be nice). What are your veiws on them?

 

[Aquascaper]

I have thousands

 

[Navarre]

99% are good for your tank. There are many different species but the ones most commonly brought in on liverock are safe in your tank. They have rasping mouths rather than grasping mouths and this means they are only good for eating carrion or algae etc. They are incapable of catching fish with mouths like this.
However, some of these bristleworms can grow to gargantuan proportions even in thesmallest nano tank (7ft or larger!!) If you ever see a worm this size and its safe to remove it then i would do so. Not because your fish are at risk but moreso your corals. Once a bristlewomr gets this large its appetite must be huge. Simply eating waste materials in the tank may not be enough and this is when they go looking for other foods such as corals.

 

[RoyalGrammaPrincessHannah]

I personally have a phobia of worms, so I don't like them, or the thought of my fish that dig [my clarkii, tang, and goby all dig] might get stuck by one. But I guess they are good cleaners. But I remove them whenever I see them. They breed like mad too.