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.

VIDEO0020.mp4 video by Wbattle88 - Photobucket

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

VIDEO0021-0.mp4 video by Wbattle88 - Photobucket

[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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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

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[WillBattle]

Originally Posted by 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?

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