My Shrimp Is Eating A Big Worm.. I Hope????

[jbhumphreys]

I just bought some live rock and as soon as I put it in there my shrimp were all over it. Well, I looked in there a few minutes ago and I see that my Cleaner Shrimp as a some kind of worm hanging out of it's mouth. I guess it is it's mouth. The worm is still moving. Does anyone know if there are any worms that could harm my shrimp?

 

[deucey]

What color was the worm and did it have a bristle lke appearence? It was most likely a bristle worm, they are harmles to the shrimp....but I have seen my peperment shimp eating them....he just probably found himself a nice little trean in your rock!!

 

[jbhumphreys]

Looks like that is the case. Continued to watch and saw him take it out and then put it back into it's mouth. It is taking forever for it to eat it.. only about halfway finished. The worm is still moving! It does look to have bristles. This is the first time I have had live rock. I just got 5 pounds to start with today. Will continue to add for a few months. Am I in for any other suprises? What else might be hiding in these rocks?

 

[jbhumphreys]

The worm is clear on the outside with bristles and has a dark inside.

 

[deucey]

well if it looks like a worm its probably a bristle worm and not aptasia, aptasia anemomes appear attached to the rock....kinda like a coral...they will retract but they will not totaly diappear! I haven't known a cleaner shimp to eat aptasias either...could be wrong but I have never heard of it...only peperments shimp! I wouldn't worry about too many other creatures being in the rock...most of the time cured rock from a pet store doesn't have anything thing more than aptasias or bristle worms.....and technically if you don't have corals bristle worms and aptasias probably will not hurt a thing!

 

[cyn]

With live rock, you get many hitchhikers. You can get things like baby star fish, small corals, bacteria, worms, sponges, algies and the like. My experience is all with the LFS and my rock has all been teeming with life.
Your worm sounds like a bristle worm to me too. I would not worry about it. I have alot of them in my tank with many species of coral.
Half of the joy of live rock is the goodies that come with it!
HTH,
cyn

 

[reeferx]

Hey it could be worse, you could have gotten mantis shrimp!
Matt Rogers
<a href="http://www.threestepstoareefaquarium.com" target="_blank">http://www.threestepstoareefaquarium.com</a>