why keep bristleworms: the reasons - Page 2

Sk8r · 06/21/2006, 09:38 PM

Try dropping some sinking pellets: that should draw them out if you have any. Mine come thundering out of the rocks like a worm ambush---poor things are always too slow to outrace my fish, but they get just a few pellets now and again. Someone was offering to sell a few, if someone is in want of worms. Your lfs may part with a couple---and I would bet the farm that there's no need to match genders on bristleworms. I think if you have two reasonably fed worms [and no worm-eating fish or arrow crabs] you're reasonably sure of having more soon. I think I remember reading that their young can look like white threads stuck to the glass, but I could be wrong.

doox00 · 06/21/2006, 09:46 PM

Quote:

I think I remember reading that their young can look like white threads stuck to the glass, but I could be wrong.

hmmm, I see quite a few white thread looking things hanging off my live rock alot, always wondered what that was, wonder if its more bristleworms.

markvanderwoude · 06/21/2006, 10:17 PM

Are the worms red..because I rec. some nano rubble via mail order and i was going through lr before i cured it and they were all over every rock they were only aprox one inch long??

Sk8r · 06/21/2006, 10:46 PM

Yes...they can be red, sometimes blackish in a section [probably a full gut, like earthworms]---the larger ones get paler as they grow. I have them ranging from pale pink to pretty reddish; the most common ones will be small, I suspect because not so many live to be big. The big ones take a lot of food, and live in the bigger rocks in my tanks. The littlest ones colonize small places, like remote shells out on the sand, which may be in hopes of getting food out there, or possibly that there is some bristleworm predation on the smallest. I've never caught them at it, but who knows what goes on in those tunnels in the deep rock?

NeilPearson · 06/22/2006, 12:28 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by E-A-G-L-E-S
thats not true...he said it was a common worm that grew that size over many years......

....sk8r, you've been doing alot of these write-ups....how come?

... not true.

I am familiar with this story and have seen lots of pictures of this worm. While it is a 'bristleworm', it is not the same common species of 'bristleworm' that we normally find in our tanks.

This worm was a rarer species. Your little bristleworms in your tank will most likely not ever get that big.

kevin2000 · 06/22/2006, 01:40 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Sk8r
The only bristleworm I'd probably get rid of would be the near 3-footer somebody in Oregon pulled out of a drain---not that I'm afraid the bristleworm per se would harm anything; but he'd sure block the drain

I suspect your talking about this worm

http://www.oregonreef.com/sub_worm.htm

If so .. not a bristle worm. There are lots of different types of worms .. some good .. some bad. While bristle worms are generally good for the health of the tank ... not all bristle worms are good and sometimes too much of a good thing can be bad.

06/21/2006, 09:38 PM	#26
Sk8r RC Mod Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Spokane WA Posts: 34,628 Blog Entries: 55	Try dropping some sinking pellets: that should draw them out if you have any. Mine come thundering out of the rocks like a worm ambush---poor things are always too slow to outrace my fish, but they get just a few pellets now and again. Someone was offering to sell a few, if someone is in want of worms. Your lfs may part with a couple---and I would bet the farm that there's no need to match genders on bristleworms. I think if you have two reasonably fed worms [and no worm-eating fish or arrow crabs] you're reasonably sure of having more soon. I think I remember reading that their young can look like white threads stuck to the glass, but I could be wrong. __________________ Sk8r Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low. Current Tank Info: 105g AquaVim wedge, yellow tang, sailfin blenny,royal gramma, ocellaris clown pair, yellow watchman, 100 microceriths, 25 tiny hermits, a 4" conch, 1" nassarius, recovering from 2 year hiatus with daily water change of 10%.

06/21/2006, 10:46 PM	#29
Sk8r RC Mod Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Spokane WA Posts: 34,628 Blog Entries: 55	Yes...they can be red, sometimes blackish in a section [probably a full gut, like earthworms]---the larger ones get paler as they grow. I have them ranging from pale pink to pretty reddish; the most common ones will be small, I suspect because not so many live to be big. The big ones take a lot of food, and live in the bigger rocks in my tanks. The littlest ones colonize small places, like remote shells out on the sand, which may be in hopes of getting food out there, or possibly that there is some bristleworm predation on the smallest. I've never caught them at it, but who knows what goes on in those tunnels in the deep rock? __________________ Sk8r Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low. Current Tank Info: 105g AquaVim wedge, yellow tang, sailfin blenny,royal gramma, ocellaris clown pair, yellow watchman, 100 microceriths, 25 tiny hermits, a 4" conch, 1" nassarius, recovering from 2 year hiatus with daily water change of 10%.

06/21/2006, 10:17 PM	#28
markvanderwoude Premium Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Riverside, Ca Posts: 211	Are the worms red..because I rec. some nano rubble via mail order and i was going through lr before i cured it and they were all over every rock they were only aprox one inch long??