Bristleworms, friend or foe?

[joeyswife]

My bristle-worm population is getting too high and I think they are eating my snails. I've noticed the worms are on the glass, sand bed, in empty snail shells, pretty much every where any time of the day. Any one have any ideas for a worm trap or ways to thin the population a bit?

Thanks!

 

[Crystal A]

Feed less. Over feeding enables the population to explode. May take some time but in the long run its the best way to keep the population under control.

 

[Daniel Fishy]

Arrowhead crabs are good at that and cool looking. Do you have a pix to make sure there bristle and not flatworms.

 

[bettaowner]

Arrow crabs do feed on bristle worms but are not the best option for a reef tank.

 

[Daniel Fishy]

Why? Like everything else may eat corals. Never had a problem with them fish or corals.

 

[Crystal A]

I'm not a judge fan of adding livestock to take care of a problem in a tank. In the long run its more a bandaid not a solution and I could be wrong but don't arrow crabs get really big? Lol I would try to manually remove some and feed less over time the population will lessen with out enough food to go around. oh and wear gloves.

 

[mr_X]

An overpopulation of bristle worms is a sure indication that you are overfeeding. Their population will rise and fall with the available food supply.
They (common bristle worms) do not eat healthy snails.

The term is "arrow crab", not arrowhead crab, and I have never seen any bad behavior out of them. they may eat a small worm from time to time, but they are not going to keep them in check if you are feeding so much.

 

[Daniel Fishy]

What if you add because they are beneficial and unique? We add snails for a purpose.

 

[Daniel Fishy]

An overpopulation of bristle worms is a sure indication that you are overfeeding. Their population will rise and fall with the available food supply.
They (common bristle worms) do not eat healthy snails.

The term is "arrow crab", not arrowhead crab, and I have never seen any bad behavior out of them. they may eat a small worm from time to time, but they are not going to keep them in check if you are feeding so much.

We're we live and dive we call them arrowhead crabs. Sorry for the miss info.

 

[mr_X]

I like arrow crabs. If you are directing that towards me, I added 2 of them to my tank and they hung together like buddies, but the sally light foot crabs killed them. Either them or the coral banded shrimp.

 

[mr_X]

We're we live and dive we call them arrowhead crabs. Sorry for the miss info.

I see people say that all the time. No sweat. I also see people saying mandarian instead of mandarin, and korilla, instead of koralia...lol.