Originally Posted by skipperdz
have a 12g nano cube that i just started up almost 2 months ago.
i had a scooter blenny in there last week and was eating live brine shrimp readily. bought a pair of clowns and put them in the tank, the next morning the blenny was dead and the smaller of the 2 clowns was hiding from the other one. took both clowns back and fished out the blenny. im pretty sure the bigger clown killed the blenny and wasnt taking to the other clown.
yesterday i found 3-4 bristleworms about 2-3 inch in length but very thin. all i have in the tank at the moment are 2 turbos and a nassarus snail. is there anything that can go in a nano that will eat bristle worms?
They are not bad when they are in the 2-3 inch size at their STRETCHED out length. When they get bigger (Up to 18 inches) they will seek out new food...crustations and small fish and such. Arrow Crabs will eat the small ones. I do agree that if you only see one or two there are most likly 20 or something hiding around in there. You can set a trap for them.
I had this same problem and am in the process of removal also. Good luck. Here is my process!!!!
To make the trap, use a small plastic food container that has a lid. The container should be opaque not transparent. You do not want the animal you want to catch to be able to see the food inside. You want it to have to crawl to the top of the container and then in the container to get to the food. The smell of the food is what should attract it and make it do so. When the right kind of food is used, the animal will.
Shrimp meat (cooked)
Scallop meat (raw)
Fish roe (raw)
Mussel meat (raw)
Clam meat (raw)
Pieces of edible fish such as fish for human consumption (raw)
All these items are bought at a fish market, not at a pet store
You can, of course, place several kinds of food in the container (trap).
I do not favor brine shrimp. They do not seem to attract the worms and shrimp or other animals you want to get out of the tank.
Frozen fish foods, bought at pet stores, do not seem to produce too good results either. What I am referring to is the commercially available frozen foods that you use to feed your fish.
Stick with the ones listed above and your chances for success will be greatly enhanced. All fish markets carry that kind of food stuff. Fish roe may be a little harder to get but you can order it and ask the owner to keep it for you rather than throw it away, which is what they often do.
Use a kitchen type container or a used food container made out of plastic. Make sure you have lid for the container. The container needs to be opaque. I have outlined this before. After you have added the food to the trap, lower the container in the water and let it fill with water.
Place it in the area where you think the bristle worm or whatever else you need to trap resides or hides.
Before doing this though you need to prepare the trap:
In the lid make an X shaped cut with a razor blade.
The size of the X should be just smaller than the thickness of the worm, or Mantis shrimp, or whatever else you are trying to catch.
Gauge the thickness carefully as the size of the opening in the lid needs to be slightly smaller than the size of the animal you are trying to trap. This is probably the only difficult part in the whole process. Remember that worms can make themselves real thin.
Push the four pieces of plastic that are loose as a result of the X cut inwards, at about a 45 degree angle. You can do this with your fingers or a tool. They should remain in that position. This is important (see below).
This allows the animal you want to trap to get in easily, but makes it hard for the animal to get back out. As it tries to get out, the pieces you pushed in will want to come back up as a result of the pressure the animal exerts on them. That is what makes it hard for the animal to get back out of the trap.
Now all you need is patience.
Remember that you may not catch anything the first day and that you need to persevere.
Keep at it and you will catch what you are after even if it takes longer than you expected. The key is not to give up.
