Bristleworm

[WillBattle]

Bristleworms range in size from 1" to up to 20". Most of the small ones are orange in color or two-toned like the above bristleworm. As the bristlworrm grows it tends to take on an iridescent color along the length of its body.

Smaller bristleworms have been found to be a beneficial addition to a reef tank. They tend to burrow in the substrate which helps to aerate the substrate. They also are wonderful scavengers, cleaning up any leftover food or dead organisms. There is however the debate as to whether this type of bristleworm is good or bad. It has been documented that as the bristleworm grows it can become a nuisance, and will eat soft corals and can attack small bottom dwelling fish, and then consume them. Generally though, the smaller 2"-3" bristleworms add much needed biodiversity to your tank.

Note: Picture above is not a photo taken by myself. Videos below are.

Here are a few videos of one of the "larger" ones in my home aquarium.

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One getting hand fed last night lol - sorry for being bad with the camera hard to shoot the vid and feed him at the same time

[ame="http://s302.photobucket.com/albums/nn88/Wbattle88/?action=view&current=VIDEO0021-0.mp4"]VIDEO0021-0.mp4 video by Wbattle88 - Photobucket@@AMEPARAM@@http://vid302.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid302.photobucket.com/albums/nn88/Wbattle88/VIDEO0021-0.mp4@@AMEPARAM@@vid302@@AMEPARAM@@302@@AMEPARAM@@ nn88/Wbattle88/VIDEO0021-0@@AMEPARAM@@mp4[/ame]

[creefer]

Wow...that's a big worm, Will. I have a few in my tank, but the largest that I've seen is about half the size of those in your video.

[MyNemesis]

That bad boy in the first video is a giant! Have you ever gotten stung or do you need to be super careful when you put your hands in the tank?

[WillBattle]

Wow...that's a big worm, Will. I have a few in my tank, but the largest that I've seen is about half the size of those in your video.

Yeah he is pretty big! My copperbanded and wrasses seem to take out the little ones but no one messes with this one! Lol

Sent from my PH44100 using Tapatalk

[WillBattle]

That bad boy in the first video is a giant! Have you ever gotten stung or do you need to be super careful when you put your hands in the tank?

Yeah he's a big one, its actually the same worm. I know a lot of people really don'treally like these guys so my hand feeding this guy is probably questionable haha but I'm not really scared of him much, a few times a week he comes out quickly after the lights go out, and doesn't seem very scared of me like the other ones. But then again, he's the only getting handfed whole krill

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[MizTanks]

That is just to dang creepy! Yet cool too! Lol Nice video Will

[kosai1111]

Bristleworms range in size from 1" to up to 20". Most of the small ones are orange in color or two-toned like the above bristleworm. As the bristlworrm grows it tends to take on an iridescent color along the length of its body.

Smaller bristleworms have been found to be a beneficial addition to a reef tank. They tend to burrow in the substrate which helps to aerate the substrate. They also are wonderful scavengers, cleaning up any leftover food or dead organisms. There is however the debate as to whether this type of bristleworm is good or bad. It has been documented that as the bristleworm grows it can become a nuisance, and will eat soft corals and can attack small bottom dwelling fish, and then consume them. Generally though, the smaller 2"-3" bristleworms add much needed biodiversity to your tank.

Note: Picture above is not a photo taken by myself. Videos below are.

Here are a few videos of one of the "larger" ones in my home aquarium.

[ame="http://s302.photobucket.com/albums/nn88/Wbattle88/?action=view&current=VIDEO0020.mp4"]VIDEO0020.mp4 video by Wbattle88 - Photobucket@@AMEPARAM@@http://vid302...8/VIDEO0020.mp4@@AMEPARAM@@vid302@@AMEPARAM@@302@@AMEPARAM@@nn88/Wbattle88/VIDEO0020@@AMEPARAM@@mp4[/ame]

One getting hand fed last night lol - sorry for being bad with the camera hard to shoot the vid and feed him at the same time

[ame="http://s302.photobucket.com/albums/nn88/Wbattle88/?action=view&current=VIDEO0021-0.mp4"]VIDEO0021-0.mp4 video by Wbattle88 - Photobucket@@AMEPARAM@@http://vid302...VIDEO0021-0.mp4@@AMEPARAM@@vid302@@AMEPARAM@@302@@AMEPARAM@@nn88/Wbattle88/VIDEO0021-0@@AMEPARAM@@mp4[/ame]

I find the aquarium worms very exotic. There are fish species that are considered exotic, but they are still fish. You'll not have often the opportunity to see worms in a fish tank. They are mainly bought by the one that have a lot of aquarium experience. Worms could destroy the fauna of your aquarium or might be beneficial for the aquarium, depending on what you buy and you take care of them. Most of them are predators (which is bad for the aquarium) while others feed on bacteria and help even clean the aquarium, so knowing what you buy is very important. A review about them is on https://arcreef.com/bristle-worms/bristle-worms-fireworms/, for the unordinary aquarium owners.