Bristle Worms

[zeldanlink]

First of all - I have been reading this forum for days and have found tons of valuable info - THANKS!!
Here is my question~ After reading these boards I get the impression that Bristle worms are ok - maybe even "wanted". However, ALL the material that I read (and I have read a ton of books) say that these guys are problems and to remove them immediately with traps, etc. Kind of like the dreaded Anemone no one wants (have one of them too).
So which is it? Good or Bad? I have one right now about 2" that I have only seen a few times, but I am not sure if I should try to dispose of him or embrace him~
Thanks - yet again~:help:

 

[tizzo]

They're good. They don't do anything wrong. It was the old belief that they were bad, and some people refuse the new info. But they're good.

 

[sebae0]

yes agreed they are good, the perception was that they ate corals or fish but basically they get there after the coral or fish has died and help clean it up.

 

[zeldanlink]

WoW! You guys are REALLY fast! Thanks so much for the info. The little guy thanks you for sparing his life~
Now onto disposing of the dreaded anemone...

 

[jeffro8332]

i think they are good for a number of reasons
1. they add life to the tank
2. they eat any extra food
3. if a fish dies and you can't find it they take care of them for you
and the list goes on
although some claim they eat coral i personally have had no evidence of such
imo
jeff

 

[gkp]

There are many, many types of bristled worms, the ones most often found are good however there are some that eat corals and one that even gets about 5 feet and will come out at night and eat your fish, but these ones are quite rare. There are some websites that identifie them but the rule of thumb is if your worms are nocturnal they are ok. If you see them about all day they are of bad type.

 

[belothsurf]

Oh man!!! are they good? ....throw a couple in a pan, sautee them in a nice garlic, white wine butter sauce......throw in a few nass and turbo snails and.....( dang, wrong site ...again ).... :jumping: About the only bristleworm you don't want, is the Fireworm, because it eats corals. All others are good. They love leftover food. :happyfish

 

[fmelindy]

GKP is right. Bristle worms belong to the class of polychaete worms in the phylum annelida (the same as terrestrial earthworms, incidentally). There are many types of polychaetes (even the feather duster is a type of polychaete if I undertand correctly). These worms can range in size from millimeters to meters and generally speaking, the bigger they are the more harmful they will be to the other lifeforms in your aquarium. The smaller ones tend to be detritivores and scavengers while the big ones (while they can be excellent scavengers as well) tend to be more predatory or opportunistic in nature. As said in a previous post, some of them can even prey on fish and will definitely try to eat your inverts. But there's no general rule that they're "all bad" or "all good". You need to keep your eyes on the larger ones and remove them if they're getting too big (provided you can still find them). The predatory ones tend to have a fairly obvious set of very powerful looking mandibles. Like seen in the diagram below:

 

[barry cuda]

Damn, that's almost as scary as the giant cirolanid. I like the extending mouthparts...I wonder if Ripley & Newt are around here anywhere?

 

[oceanjumper]

I sure have them (those good ones). Got a painful reminder when I grabbed under a rock --covered with polyps-- to move it... ah well, who is ever going to wear rubber gloves while working in their tank?

 

[jeepboy]

I saw one in my tank the other day, 3 inches were sticking out of rock. Does it only tank one to reproduce or do they need a m & f to have offspring?

 

[oceanjumper]

Never cared much about breeding them so I wouldn't know... But, garanteed you will have more than just one...
I believe Bang Guy -with his 3000 gl refuge- was a big fan of worms. I am sure he would know...