My cleaner shrimp caught a bristle worm!?

[wrassecal]

OK, I walked by the tank and stopped to let all the fishies etc know that the Sooners made it to the final four when I noticed one of my cleaner shrimp had what I believe to be a bristle worm and was trying to eat it and the worm looked kind of like a caterpillar, lots of white spikey things, I think about an inch long, it kept curling up trying to get away. Well the shrimp had it for quite a while struggling with it until it escaped into a crack in a rock so here are the questions. Will it hurt my shrimp? Anyone heard of a cleaner shrimp attacking one? Should I try to catch it? (I did a search and of course lots of contradictory info but also lots of ideas to catch them) Should I just leave it alone? too wierd <img src="graemlins//confused.gif" border="0" alt="[confused]" />

 

[jwalters77]

I bought a bristleworm trp from my Lfs today...I was going to move my tank today, got it all drained and then decided that it looked the best where I had it!! But to make a long story short, as I was removing my LR a d@*$ bristleworm stung my finger...For something so small it sure did hurt a lot.. I am going to set the trap tommorrow night and get as many as I can!!!I have heard that they can really overrun your tank..hope that helps..
Jake

 

[wrassecal]

That must have hurt! I sure won't try to catch it with my hand. I wonder if it will sting my cleaner shrimp?

 

[jbhumphreys]

My Cleaner Shrimp did the same thing. One day I saw it eating this huge bristle worm. Was scared it might have been the other way around at first. That shrimp spent all day eating that worm. Hope it eats all of them. Anyone know if bristles can live in Crushed Coral or do they need sand? I have CC and the only worms I have seen are in the rocks. I have tons of pods though.

 

[josh]

JB,
Hi, well bristle worms are very beneficial for a reef. The eat detrious and generally help keep the rocks clean. Speaking of, they tend to live in the rocks more than the substrate . . or atleast that is my case. And yes they will do fine w/o a dsb, I have tons of these guys and I have CC . .but if you like you can harvest them out and send them to me
Josh

 

[kmart93]

I thought bristle worms were harmful to a tank. Dont they eat through the rock?

 

[rmd8110]

i keep hearing they're good for a tank..then i hear they aren't. i can tell you they're not good to have with fire fish. they killed 2 of mine at night when the fishies were just trying to rest!!!!!!!