What Do Bristle Worms Eat?

[dilbert]

Hi all,

I was wondering what bristle worms do eat.

I know already that they feed on detritus and left over food.

But would they eat also other invertebrates when they get larger?

Or would they scare off a tubeworm, for example?

 

[tat2life]

i wouldnt think they eat inverts, i got a few pretty long bristle worms and a few inverts. the bristle worms never go of the rock in my tank, iv never seen them on the sand unless there body was attatched to the rock lol. my tube worm/feather duster just closes itself as soon as anything goes near it so i wouldnt think a bristle worm would try and eat it and deffinatly not succeed even if it did try

 

[xxBarneyxx]

I was reading through one of my books then other day which said that bristle worms will go after small/slow moving fish!

I have never heard of this happening though and this book is not too great (think its mostly out of date). I have seen bristle worms eat stands of algae though (something else I have never heard of them doing).

Personally I would think that most things will be pretty safe from them.

 

[dilbert]

It seems difficult to find a definitive answer as there are reports of larger bristle worms attacking and consuming otherwise healthy starfish and so on.

It is often mentioned different species and overall different sizes. If the bristle worm is smaller than a few inches it doesn't seem to attack nothing and no one.

The only question to me still is how those large bristle worms have evolved into their size. At least people mentioning problems with bristle worms and having hunted down worms of 20 inches and larger mentioned that they couldn't intervene to save the victim of a bristle worm due to a large amount of live rock or they needed eight hours to clear the tank of all contents and put it back again.

Well, shouldn't be a problem with my 15 gallons tank. A pair of gloves and pliers and I lift every rock as none is on top of another and I should get the culprit in a few minutes. Putting things back maybe half an hour.

 

[xxBarneyxx]

It seems difficult to find a definitive answer as there are reports of larger bristle worms attacking and consuming otherwise healthy starfish and so on.

It is often mentioned different species and overall different sizes. If the bristle worm is smaller than a few inches it doesn't seem to attack nothing and no one.

The only question to me still is how those large bristle worms have evolved into their size. At least people mentioning problems with bristle worms and having hunted down worms of 20 inches and larger mentioned that they couldn't intervene to save the victim of a bristle worm due to a large amount of live rock or they needed eight hours to clear the tank of all contents and put it back again.

Well, shouldn't be a problem with my 15 gallons tank. A pair of gloves and pliers and I lift every rock as none is on top of another and I should get the culprit in a few minutes. Putting things back maybe half an hour.

Easier way would be to take a small bottle, drill a small hole in the lid, put some "bait" in the bottle and leave it submersed with the lid side near your LR overnight. you will get a lot of Bristle worms that can get in the hole but cant get back out again. To make it more effective cut the top of the bottle off and secure it back into the bottle the wrong way round so that it forms a "funnel".

Never tried this myself but apprently works really well.

 

[rhysiboy]

Without a tight fitting lid they will crawl out and eat YOU!!!!!

 

[chrissaysyes]

Hah, leave the little buggers alone They wont eat your fish. I have a tank that has been running fishless for a while now to rid it of crypto and the bristles have totally taken over. I'm thinking of adding a coral beauty shrimp and letting him have a field day. I have never seen or heard of them attacking fish...the only negative thing I've ever heard about them is them stinging people, and even then I've only heard of that happening maybe once...the things are affraid of things like motion and light, just zap him with a lazer pointer if he gives you any lip

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Without a tight fitting lid they will crawl out and eat YOU!!!!!

lol! One of the crabs in my nano actually crawls up into the hood of the tank quite often so I always have to double check when I lift it up that he isn't sitting there waiting to do a runner

 

[chrissaysyes]

glue a piece of fishing string to his shell, glue the other end to the bottom of the tank...then put a little toy dog house over the side of the string thats glue to the bottom..be sure to write "Spot" on the dog house as most crabs like being called spot...tada crab on a leash.

 

[xxBarneyxx]

lol we already decided on calling him crabicus mysterio though...

 

[chrissaysyes]

Lol

 

[Donya]

I was reading through one of my books then other day which said that bristle worms will go after small/slow moving fish!

Depends on the species; some are quite aggressive. Although I've never had trouble with them going after fish, the large ones in my tanks are bothersomely attracted to hands, and I've had a couple crawl over and plant a good bite on me when I've been messing around with macro algae and couldn't see them. The first bite burned like heck, wouldn't heal for ages, and gave me a rash that lasted for several weeks, the second time wasn't so bad because it was from a smaller worm. So, if there was some injured fish that couldn't swim so well...

Anyway, decaying stuff is their main food source. I've also seen my bristleworms snack on macro algae when they're hungry.