Annelids In Aquaria?

[Kevin_D]

I know most people who keep Fish and other aquatic animals dont like worms in their tanks, and most are seen as a pest, but are there any species thats either kept or worth keeping in their own right as aquarium animals? either in freshwater or brackish water conditions?

 

[three-fingers]

Depends what you class as worth keeping, there aren't any you can buy in shops becuase the large ones are often parasitic and unlike their marine counterparts they are very drab.
I like to keep some small non-parasitic flatworms and ring worms whatever those big white worms are in my triops tanks as I feel this makes it more natural and more of a complete ecosystem. They clean up un-eaten or mouldy food and the triops like to eat them.
But the largest of the flatworm I've had was been like 1cm...and it did 'attack' an old triops that was dying, so they are probably not 100% safe aquarium inhabitants.

 

[Kevin_D]

Depends what you class as worth keeping, there aren't any you can buy in shops becuase the large ones are often parasitic and unlike their marine counterparts they are very drab.
I like to keep some small non-parasitic flatworms in my triops tanks as I feel this makes it more natural and more of a complete ecosystem. They clean up un-eaten or mouldy food and the triops like to eat them.
But the largest of the ones I've had have been like 1cm...and it did 'attack' an old triops that was dying, so they are probably not 100% safe aquarium inhabitants.

I dont mind drab species, any that are large would be impressive in my opinion, by parasitic do you mean they would only feed off living animals? like Leaches? I'd thought of Leaches, but decided against trying to keep them because of their eating habits.

 

[three-fingers]

Go out to you local pond and dredge the bottom with a net or something. You can get aquatic earthworm-looking things, though I'm not too sure of the species.
Problem is it's quite hard to tell the difference between the aquatic ones, and the terrestrial ones that have fallen in.

By parasitic, yes that's pretty much what I mean, but I'm sure you could keep leeches without a living animal, I think they feed them other things to keep them alive in hospitals.

And not all leeches are parasitic anyway.

 

[Invader Xan]

Annelids... I'm afraid I don't know a lot about worm taxonomy... But some kinds of worm are more or less inevitable -- flat worms and nematodes, amongst others. I've had nematodes and planaria worms in my tanks a fair bit. They're quite common anywhere there's an excess of detritus built up. Actually, my triops tank had a planaria infestation.

Drab species are one thing, but you do realise you won't see them very much, don't you? The non-parasitic ones will live in your substrate.

If that's not a problem, I'd personally go for brackish water. I used to dig up rag worms, cat worms, lug worms and all sorts of other interesting things on estuary beaches. Just take a bucket and spade and look for a little pile of worm-shaped sand (worm poo), usually accompanied by a little crater. This means there's a worm just under the ground. Dig and shake into a bucket of water (collect it from the estuary). You can find some interesting things that way.
Probably a few sandhoppers, too...

 

[eschaton]

While most planaria are white, I've occasionally seen an attractive red one in my tanks. Of course, they aren't annelids.

There are a number of freshwater Oligochaetes. From what I understand, the largest species are maybe 7.5 cm in length. Almost all of them burrow so you won't see them frequently. Your best bet is to try and introduce live tubifex into your tank.

Freshwater Polychaetes are far more rare. I think there are around 200 species worldwide, but you aren't going to find them just dredging through the mud at a pond.

 

[Kevin_D]

I realise they would be burried a lot, I dont mind that, I keep millipedes and some species of those bury themselves most of the time, thanks for your suggestions.

I only mentioned Annelids, as I thought nematodes and planaria were mainly tiny, and mostly parasitic.

What about ragworm that is sold as bait? can they be kept in a brackish water aquarium?

 

[nmonks]

Yes, the common ragworm Hediste diversicolor is a brackish water animal. Very common in estuaries. Said to tolerate down to 0.5 ppt (normal seawater is 35 ppt) but for long term care probably around 50% seawater (SG 1.012, 16 ppt) is in order. Hardy, omnivorous, and potentially predatory so mix with tankmates of appropriate size.

Distinct from the "king" ragworm or sandworm, Nereis virens, which is a more marine animal.

Cheers, Neale

What about ragworm that is sold as bait? can they be kept in a brackish water aquarium?

 

[Kevin_D]

Yes, the common ragworm Hediste diversicolor is a brackish water animal. Very common in estuaries. Said to tolerate down to 0.5 ppt (normal seawater is 35 ppt) but for long term care probably around 50% seawater (SG 1.012, 16 ppt) is in order. Hardy, omnivorous, and potentially predatory so mix with tankmates of appropriate size.

Distinct from the "king" ragworm or sandworm, Nereis virens, which is a more marine animal.

Cheers, Neale

What about ragworm that is sold as bait? can they be kept in a brackish water aquarium?

Thats good that they can be kept in brackish water conditions, I can get them from bait shops, so I'll look into setting up an aquarium just for them and see how they do. What would be best to feed them? maybe chopped mussels and cockles?

 

[nmonks]

I believe they're deposit feeders, taking algae and small invertebrates. So I'd be using catfish pellets, algae pellets, small amounts of minced clam or mussel, bloodworms, etc. A little time on the web doing some research into their biology could be helpful here, I'm not really that expert on these animals.

Cheers, Neale