To Bristle Or Not To Bristle

zoso · Aug 2, 2018

Hey Folks , I know this question has been asked a zillion times but I am new and need advice .
My tank is a Bio Cube 16 with 16.8 lbs of live rock. I have many corals of various types , Paly`s , LPS Candy Cane, Softy Discosoma Mushroom, LPS Polyp WYSIWYG. One Emerald Crab, One Goby Firetail (small) , One Clown Fish (small) , One Peppermint Shrimp , Three Mexican Turbo Snails(small) , One Hermit Crab (small) . The tank is in its third week and doing very well with all the numbers, salinity Ect.
So a week ago I bought a coral and found a Bristle Worm on it so I did not add it to the tank. I have been feeding it and its doing well isolated in a bowl . My question is should I add it to the tank or do I have enough of a Clean up Crew ?
I ask because I have been reading the forums and its very mixed with whether to keep this guy or keep it OUT of my tank ? Currently I have no hitchhikers , well none that are large and noticeable.
Again please excuse this thread if it is an annoying repeat but with so many views and being new I do not know what I should do.
Thank you for any and all opinions and or advice

Brew12 · Aug 2, 2018

zoso said:
Hey Folks , I know this question has been asked a zillion times but I am new and need advice .
My tank is a Bio Cube 16 with 16.8 lbs of live rock. I have many corals of various types , Paly`s , LPS Candy Cane, Softy Discosoma Mushroom, LPS Polyp WYSIWYG. One Emerald Crab, One Goby Firetail (small) , One Clown Fish (small) , One Peppermint Shrimp , Three Mexican Turbo Snails(small) , One Hermit Crab (small) . The tank is in its third week and doing very well with all the numbers, salinity Ect.
So a week ago I bought a coral and found a Bristle Worm on it so I did not add it to the tank. I have been feeding it and its doing well isolated in a bowl . My question is should I add it to the tank or do I have enough of a Clean up Crew ?
I ask because I have been reading the forums and its very mixed with whether to keep this guy or keep it OUT of my tank ? Currently I have no hitchhikers , well none that are large and noticeable.
Again please excuse this thread if it is an annoying repeat but with so many views and being new I do not know what I should do.
Thank you for any and all opinions and or advice

I purposely added them to my tank and have no regrets. If you start getting large numbers of them it is a good sign you need to improve your husbandry. Otherwise, some fish will eat them (especially the small ones) and they do a great job cleaning deep inside the rock.

Crabs McJones · Aug 2, 2018

zoso said:
Hey Folks , I know this question has been asked a zillion times but I am new and need advice .
My tank is a Bio Cube 16 with 16.8 lbs of live rock. I have many corals of various types , Paly`s , LPS Candy Cane, Softy Discosoma Mushroom, LPS Polyp WYSIWYG. One Emerald Crab, One Goby Firetail (small) , One Clown Fish (small) , One Peppermint Shrimp , Three Mexican Turbo Snails(small) , One Hermit Crab (small) . The tank is in its third week and doing very well with all the numbers, salinity Ect.
So a week ago I bought a coral and found a Bristle Worm on it so I did not add it to the tank. I have been feeding it and its doing well isolated in a bowl . My question is should I add it to the tank or do I have enough of a Clean up Crew ?
I ask because I have been reading the forums and its very mixed with whether to keep this guy or keep it OUT of my tank ? Currently I have no hitchhikers , well none that are large and noticeable.
Again please excuse this thread if it is an annoying repeat but with so many views and being new I do not know what I should do.
Thank you for any and all opinions and or advice

I vote put em in

bristles are a great part of your clean up crew and unless you're overfeeding the tank, their numbers generally dont get out of control.

zoso · Aug 2, 2018

With only one Bristle , it should not repopulate ? Are they sexed male and female and if so how do you determine which is which ?

Crabs McJones · Aug 2, 2018

zoso said:
With only one Bristle , it should not repopulate ? Are they sexed male and female and if so how do you determine which is which ?

Where the is one, there is more

Palyzoa · Aug 2, 2018

Diversify your clean up crew and add the little guy.

Cment · Aug 2, 2018

I hate them and they gross me out but I still add them to my remote fuge. The more diversity, the better I feel

KJ · Aug 2, 2018

Add it good CUC

Fishnut · Aug 2, 2018

Add it. A hard working member of the clean up crew.

Holy_makerel · Aug 2, 2018

Never had any issues with bristle worms. I like having them

Dancingmad · Aug 2, 2018

Bristle worms for the win - they help get all the nooks and crannies your other CUC can't get to.

I had a macro tank for a while that basically had just worms and ceriths.

Behold, and tremble in fear - it is Gigantor, king of the bristle worms!

kirstyflash · Aug 2, 2018

Some can reproduce asexually by budding

Maritimer · Aug 2, 2018

Dancingmad said:
Behold, and tremble in fear - it is Gigantor, king of the bristle worms!

Gigantor!

Shades of Saturday morning TV memories - _there's_ a name I've not heard in many a year!

~Bruce

zoso · Aug 3, 2018

Ok , I wondered about that .

kajam said:
Some can reproduce asexually by budding

zoso · Aug 3, 2018

So even though I have a clean up crew the addition of this little bristle will not over load the amount of clean up crew I now have ?

sfin52 · Aug 3, 2018

I vote add to tank .
Man I lost all my bristle worms in a dino outbreak. Been looking to add them to my tank. So far no luck with hitchhiking.

Greybeard · Aug 3, 2018

I ordered some (along with spaghetti worms) from IPSF, and paid to ship from Hawaii

Used to buy them from Inland Aquatics, before they went belly up. You could always count on a small worm or two in a package of Garf Grunge, too.

I can't imagine keeping a reef without bristle worms. Without a doubt, the best clean-up critter you can have. Trying to keep them out of a tank is probably pointless anyway... small bristle worms will hide in cracks and crevices of frag plugs. I don't believe I've ever seen a mature reef without bristle worms.

Murraydar · Aug 3, 2018

Add. Bristle worms are like little janitors.

Besides, half the fun of owning a reef tank is getting to see all creepy crawlies!

mta_morrow · Aug 3, 2018

I am actually planning on buying cuc pack that includes 5 bristle worms and brittle stars.

Keep the water centipede!

Stonekeg · Aug 3, 2018

Well, there's my motivation to always have gloves on hand. (I <3 puns)

I had planned on avoiding these guys at all cost, but hearing the good reviews about their CUC support and the fact you cant keep them out makes me think I won't even bother trying to dodge em. Maybe more contact will make it so they don't freak me out so much. ;Dead