# Friend or enemy?



## jamie1985 (Oct 11, 2012)

Hey everyone i have quite a few of these centipede looking things in my tank and im just wondering if they are pests or not?

Thanks!










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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

http://www.extreme-aquatics.com/707/saltwater/how-to-indentify-worms-in-your-reef-aquarium/

Google is your friend!
And it's a bristle worm


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## Taipan (Feb 12, 2012)

I'll answer you this way...."Frienemy".....depends on size....and that's my opinion.


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## jamie1985 (Oct 11, 2012)

Hey guys thanks! Yea the largest one is about 1.5 inches long....wont they keep growing though? And how the hell would i catch one to remove it? 

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## Taipan (Feb 12, 2012)

They will get bigger. They are a great part of your clean up crew. They will multiply.

You can purchase a complimenting fish/predator (ie. wrasse) of worms to control the population/growth and also feed less. Lower detritus; lower worms.

Catching it is an whole new can of worms....pun intended. Most people don't mind them. Keep in mind your "mental limit" of size that you will tolerate...once you find one that reaches that mental limit....toss the entire rock it's living in (easiest way). My mental limit was about 10". After that size...i couldn't deal with it. Tossed the live rock.

Remember...it's an opportunistic feeder and in general won't go after living items.



jamie1985 said:


> .....Yea the largest one is about 1.5 inches long....wont they keep growing though? And how the hell would i catch one to remove it? .....


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## thmh (Mar 17, 2011)

you could also get a wrasse they will hunt these guys down.


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## Ryan.Wilton (Dec 12, 2012)

Why toss the rock? Just remove it, let it dry out and shake the rock til the dead wormy comes out. If it doesn't come out, throw it then.


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## jamie1985 (Oct 11, 2012)

Hey everyone thanks thats excellent information...i will keep an eye on the size of them...just a regular wrasse right? Not a cleaner wrasse?

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## Emperor_Angel (Nov 2, 2010)

can you take a closer picture of it?


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## jamie1985 (Oct 11, 2012)

Hey there...it is a possitive ID on bristle worms...i sucked a couple up when i did a water change yesterday 

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## Emperor_Angel (Nov 2, 2010)

Good to hear. I thought they kinda looked like eunicids since that's what the one in my tank looked like before I caught him and sent back to hell lol.

With bristle worms the larger ones do kill snails from my experience, just so u know.


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## Pointy (Oct 1, 2012)

Arrow Crabs are said to eat them aswell


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## wildexpressions (May 3, 2010)

Pointy said:


> Arrow Crabs are said to eat them aswell


Yeah, I've seen arrow crabs eat them on many occasions. It is kind of neat to watch cause they just squat down and hold the bristle worm in one claw and remove pieces of it with the other. They take their time and just sit there and munch away.

Some species of bristle worm get big enough they have a face. That is when you name it and start feeding it like its a pet


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## jamie1985 (Oct 11, 2012)

Haha...well i picked up a sixline wrasse today so we will see how it goes!

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## wildexpressions (May 3, 2010)

Personally love bristle worms and do nothing to discourage their population. The rise and fall of their population pretty much follows that rise and fall of available food in your aquarium so their are one of the family of critters that you can use to help benchmark your aquariums operation.

They are wonderful scavengers and they have no issues getting into snail shells to eat dead/dying snails which is some thing not much else can do nearly as well. Snails, especially large ones, are nasty when they die.

Here are the two biggest I've seen. Obviously different species but the term Bristle worms is a generic term covering a big family.

This first one was incredibly long. Fully stretched it was well over 3 ft and honestly I remember it being closer to 4 ft. I know it does not look that long in the picture but it was very delicate and in the picture it had broke into pieces and contracted it body like an earthworm does. You can see the three pieces that broke off. Basically it couldn't support its own weight out of water and would just break in two. 









And the next one grew a face and we named him Harry. He was cool and we treated him like the shop mascot for a while.


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## jxu225 (May 3, 2012)

Exactly what I had to do when my 30G got infested by a good few of them, picked them out one by one with small tongs and recycled all the rocks.


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