Brisstleworms

[willcon]

hey i have a bunch of brisstle worms in my new system and i was wondering if they have any natural predators. do any of you know a good reef species that will help control the population of worms??

 

[hurt]

Yep-sixline wrasse, fourline wrasse, arrow crab, and I believe some butterfly fish may. But, why do you want to get rid of them?

 

[fishieness]

of the thousands of bristleworm species, only a few are predetory. They are just benificial detrius eaters for your tank. part of your cleanup crew. I see my LFS selling some sometimes if they find a big one in one of the tanks. But if you realy dont like them, a coral banded shrimp would do the trick too.

 

[willcon]

hmm i guess they arnt that big of a deal then. :jumping:
i tried lookin around online and this one place said to try to and get rid of them becuase they can irritate corals and fishes but i guess thats a bunch of bull

Thanks for the info

 

[reef-addict]

It's not a bunch of bull, if they get out of hand they WILL start chomping on coral. I had an explosion of them and could see damage from them affectin my soft corals. If you see a random one, don't panic, but like everyone else is saying, it's good to have a predator in your tank to keep them in check :happyfish

 

[larrynews]

i have a bunch, and i have never notice or seen them bother my corals....tht

 

[fishieness]

as long as you dont overfeed your fish, they will not get out of hand.

 

[diane4]

I have a rock that has a ton of bristleworms in it. They come out and steal food right out of the closed up mouth of my rhodactis - stealing their dinner from the spot feeding.