Originally Posted by MonaLisa
Yeah, I was hoping to come up with something in the way of cleaning crew to help mop those things out of there. I was originally thinking of going with just a variety of snails for that tank, but it looks like I may need to rethink that, hmmmm...
Lisa :happyfish
well in all honesty if you can stand it, the arrow crab will definitely make short work of bristleworms. And the cool thing about them, is they're pretty large and easy to remove when you're done with him. Unless you keep it, but I have no idea of how they'd be with seahorses.
here's a bit i read up on:
Bristleworm Predators
There are several predators that can be employed to help prevent bristleworms from overtaking a tank. However, controlling the proliferation of these pests is much easier than eliminating an already existing population.
The most commonly used means of biological control are the arrow crab (Stenorhynchus seticornis) and the coral banded shrimp (Stenopus hispidus). These crustaceans have been known to grab bristleworms with their claws and tear them into bite-size pieces. Unfortunately, they only eat the occasional polychaete.
There are certain fish species that do a more effective job at bristleworm eradication. For example, many wrasses of the genus Halichoeres readily dine on them. One of my favorite bristleworm predators is the tailspot wrasse (H. melanurus). There are other polyphagous (having a varied diet) wrasses from other genera that eat them, including the bird wrasse (Gomphosus varius), the snotty Maori wrasse (Cheilinus oxycephalus) and the sunset wrasse (Thalassoma lutescens).
There are many dottybacks that will eat bristleworms as well. These include Springer's dottyback (Pseudochromis springeri), the neon Arabian dottyback (P. aldabraensis) and the sunrise dottyback (P. flavivertex).
Some sand perches (Pinguipedidae) also love to eat these worms. For example, the speckled sand perch (Parapercis hexophttalma) and the cylindrical sand perch (P. cylindrica) are known to dine on them. However, one of the most popular sand perches in the aquarium trade, the lyretail sand perch (P. schuinslandi), feeds mainly on zooplankton, not polychaete worms.
Here's an idea for retailers. Place a polychaete-eating sand perch in each of your rock tanks to help reduce worm numbers on the rock before you sell it to your customers.
Goatfishes, grunts, hawkfishes, sleeper gobies, dragonets and triggerfishes occasionally feed on these noxious worms as well. One drawback to keeping most of these fish in the reef aquarium is that they will eat desirable worms (e.g., fan worms, Christmas tree worms), and sometimes other inverterbates (e.g., crustaceans).
One final note. Small polychaete worms can be very beneficial in the reef aquarium. They are great scavengers, ingesting uneaten foods and feces, and their burrowing activities help to aerate the sand or crushed coral substrate.
