Which One To Get?

[Mr.September15]

After figuring out that my reef tank is infested with bristleworms I've decided to get something that will kill them. Now im not sure about which one is reef safe or not but I think one of these shrimp does the job:

[size=-1]Redbanded Cleaning Shrimp

Arrowhead Shrimp

So im thinking of getting one of those 2, my questions are:

-Are they reef safe?
-Will they eat my fish(I heard that one of them traps and eats small fish)?
-And will they eat my bristleworms?
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[Donya]

Hmmm...those names didn't come up on the list I had for bristleworm eaters when I had these troubles. That is, unless the red banded shrimp is a CBS/boxer shrimp. What is in the tank currently? If you have finicky corals or other shrimp or crabs, you will want to stay away from CBS, even though they can be effective (but they will nab small fish). Some fish are active predators of bristleworms as well, wrasses being among them. If you have a big enough tank, a fishy option might be better. My limitation was the fact that I had a 12g tank instead of one in the 20-30g range, which would've allowed me to go the wrasse rout.

 

[Mr.September15]

Yeah I'm worried that the CBS might trap my fish and eat it. I was gonna go with the 6line wrasse, but my LFS never has stock so I need to wait another week until they do get stocked. I've heard that Arrowheads were bristleworm hunters tho.

 

[Donya]

I got mixed reviews on the arrow shrimp. CBS are definitely better, but if you have a fish that's smaller than the shrimp's body length I would stay away from them. Waiting for the wrasse would be ideal, since those are even better than the CBS at worm-hunting.

 

[Mr.September15]

What type of reviews did you get on the arrow shrimp?

 

[Donya]

I was told that although they might pick at a few, it wouldn't make a significant impact on the worm population. I also read that they can also be iffy with some cleanup crew animals. I havn't kept one myself, but the ones I see in the LFS to be honest don't look like they could do much of anything to a large bristleworm.

 

[Mr.September15]

I was told that although they might pick at a few, it wouldn't make a significant impact on the worm population. I also read that they can also be iffy with some cleanup crew animals. I havn't kept one myself, but the ones I see in the LFS to be honest don't look like they could do much of anything to a large bristleworm.

I want to get rid of the small ones atleast so they won't have a chance to get big

 

[Donya]

A wrasse would still be the best bet I think, for any size worm. The worms that are most apparent are the ones that are the best canidates for predation. In the mean time, you could try trapping them. That works on the smaller ones, but the big ones tend to learn and can get out of the traps

 

[Mr.September15]

A wrasse would still be the best bet I think, for any size worm. The worms that are most apparent are the ones that are the best canidates for predation. In the mean time, you could try trapping them. That works on the smaller ones, but the big ones tend to learn and can get out of the traps

Then I'll get both the shrimp and the wrasse

 

[Mr Miagi]

But why would you want to get rid of them?

 

[Mr.September15]

But why would you want to get rid of them?

I dont like them. There ugly and I can get something else to eat my debris and sift my sand. I just know that there going to become a nussiance to my tank.