Worm Traps

tronicsdr

tronicsdr

Member
I am going to be getting an arrow crab as well as a coral banded but they will never be able to weed out as many worms as I have. I would say I have atleast a thousand 1 inchers.. I was debating on trapping some of them out.. Anyone ever tried this? also any specific brand recommendations good or bad would be appreciated...
 
thegrog

thegrog

Active Member
The only one I have tried worked fine. Pretty much any one on the market will work.
I like the wrasse idea. A 6-line wrass will do the job nicely too.
 
tronicsdr

tronicsdr

Member
Werd. Good Idea on the wrasse. I am not much for burrowers as I have quite a DSB but I could go with the 6line. less chance he would burrow than the yellow, Right??? :notsure:
 
buzzword

buzzword

Member
Tronics, here is my bristle worm eatting machine Radiant Wrasse, peaceful and pretty too. He eats all the small ones he finds.
 
wax32

wax32

Active Member
They all burrow some. I haven't personally observed mine burrowing, but I can't figure out where he sleeps, so he is likely in the sand.
The Radiant is a nice wrasse also, same genus as the Canary with similar needs and wants. I kinda wanted one, but no LFS around here ever gets them. Plus the Canary was only 12 bucks.
 
27mtaylor

27mtaylor

Member
I actually used a homemade trap. Take a 20 oz. coke bottle and drill a 1/8" hole in the top. Take some shrimp and put in the bottle as bait. The next morning you should have a few worms in the bottle...It worked for me. After leaving the bottle in the tank for a 2 nights, I caught about 10 worms. Of course when I did my water change, I sifted through my gravel with the siphon and pulled out literally hundreds of half inch worms.
 
dburr

dburr

Active Member
Those tiny worms are an important part of your clean up crew. If you feel you have to many, maybe you are over feeding? Just a thought.
The #'s will very in your tank depending on how much food is available to eat.
 
mudplayerx

mudplayerx

Active Member
Why get rid of bristleworms at all? Nothing bad is going to happen if you get rid of them really, but nothing really good will come of it either.
 
tronicsdr

tronicsdr

Member
I suppose I don't have to get rid of them. I just have soooo many. Maybe I do overfeed... Hmm... I guess I just don't want them all to get big. I have at least a few good size ones that I have seen 4 and 5 inches.. I just don't want them to get too out of control. I figured I would try and curb them just a bit... I am really leaning towards the wrasse idea... I really like that pic of the radiant. Great looking fish :joy: I guess I don't really need to trap them out..
I am sitting up spot feeding my suns... fun in my house the sun usually comes out at night!!
 
dburr

dburr

Active Member
OH, their are different types of bristle worms and they are all different sizes. Most stay tiny but a few get big. Some may be fire worms, those you don't want(or I should say I wouldn't want them.)
 
lyza

lyza

New Member
I just posted about the same thing, THOUSANDS of bristle worms all sizes in my 29 gal. reef tank. I successfully trap 5-10 a trap evry two or three days. Not sure of the brand of traps but they are a bright/vivid green. I bait mine with frozen baby brine shrimp. Just be sure when you put the bait in the little cavity that you pack it tight or it will just float out. And once the bait is gone the worms will escape, they aren't really "trapped" in my experience. Just dump them out every 2-3 days. I have four traps going all the time. At least until I get their population down.
 
pondy

pondy

Member
I have a six line wrasse that is feeding all the time on pods, tiny serfent stars, and bristle worms when he can find them. To my knowledge six lines dont bury or dig in the sand. At night they usually find a hole in the live rock and build a cocoon looking thing to protect them and then sleep. Mine sleeps in the exact same spot and position night in and night out. He has never bothered the sand at all. Very active also. always ducking in and out of rocks and swim throughs.
 
N

nereef

Guest
I read an article saying that lined wrasses will occasionally eat cleaner shrimp. wax, grog, buzz, have you guys heard of this?
 
wax32

wax32

Active Member
IF you add a small shrimp after the wrasse, he might consider it food and take a bite. But usually well fed 6 lines aren't a threat to most inverts.
 
N

nereef

Guest
thanks. that is logical. wet web said something like "lined wrasses have a taste for shrimp... you've been warned."
i was thinking about getting one but a cleaner shrimp is a must. six lined wrasses stay pretty small and less aggressive right?
 
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