Bristle worm trap

[Paul B]

I kind of like bristleworms but now I just have too many of them. Whenever I move a rock I notice it is loaded with the little slimers. I recently had a small clam up on the rocks and it fell onto the gravel. The worms sucked it out in no time so now it is war. Over the years I have made dozens of bristleworm traps and just about any design works. You can even put a piece of clam or fish into a piece of stocking and they will be stuck all over it.
This design I made in about 5 minutes and put it in the tank last night with a piece of clam. It netted 5 worms over night. I will use it for a few weeks to reduce the population to manageable levels.
It is just an acrylic tube about 1 1/4" in diameter but any pill case will work. I stuck in a smaller tube about 3/8" in diameter. Any tube will work as long as it is small enough to keep out the crabs and snails. The tube needs to extend into the container a little so the worms can't figure how to get out. Lobster traps work on the same principal. And lobsters are smarter than worms.
The worms have a great sense of smell and will find the bait but the end of the tube should be at sand level. For this model I bent the tube down to hit the sand.
I also have a string on it so I don't have to stick my hands in the water.
Have fun

 

[allabout]

Nice trap! My wife would flip if I pulled something like those from my tank lol!

 

[Paul B]

My wife don't know a bristle worm from a vacuum cleaner. I have not even told her I have a fish tank yet.

 

[fraghunter]

holy crap dude those are some big *ss bristle worms, I never had that issue till a few days ago I noticed one in my tank now here as big as those. Do they sting?

 

[Paul B]

They don't sting, but if you touch them, you get a handful of spines that are too fine to remove

 

[ColaAddict]

Get a wrasse or another fish that would eat the little ones, to control population. also, their population is dependent on the food they get, so if as long as you don't overfeed your tank, they shouldn't multiply too much.

 

[LegoZ81]

They don't sting, but if you touch them, you get a handful of spines that are too fine to remove

Paul, layer 1/16" of rubber cement over the bristles and let it dry well you should be able to carefully pull/roll it off and remove the majority of the spines. That will get most of them out, it may take a few times though. The important part is that the rubber cement is dry clear thru or it won't pull out the spines.

 

[allabout]

My wife don't know a bristle worm from a vacuum cleaner. I have not even told her I have a fish tank yet.

Haha

 

[Paul B]

Get a wrasse or another fish that would eat the little ones, to control population. also, their population is dependent on the food they get, so if as long as you don't overfeed your tank, they shouldn't multiply too much.

They have had 41 years to grow and multiply, some of those worms eat wrasses for lunch. I also do some overfeeding. Kind of a lot because of the spawning fish. I don't mind the worms, but I got more worm livestock than fish.
Lego, I don't have any spines in me but thanks for the tip.

 

[Paul B]

I see the title reads "Bristle Work" OK that was a mistake. I must have been chewing on a bristle worm when I wriote that.

 

[Paul B]

This morning I collected about 20 worms

 

[Paul_N]

I see the title reads "Bristle Work" OK that was a mistake. I must have been chewing on a bristle worm when I wriote that.

Title fixed...:bigsmile:

 

[mixer911]

Nice trap. I have been thinking about making one and will do so myself now :) thanks for the inspiration!

 

[Cole_lol]

Is the tube just air line tubeing? Or did you use a larger size?

Nevermind I read the first post....:crossedlips:

 

[mighty]

Looks great, thanks for sharing.

Anyone think of more common household items, or easily picked up item that would work in place of the acrylic tube? Im a little under the weather at the moment and some ideas would be appreciated!

 

[Paul B]

or easily picked up item that would work in place of the acrylic tube?

You can use a cap from a pen or magic marker, or a piece of flexable tubing from you of your old filters.
It does not have to be clear and it only needs to be about an inch long, most of which should extend into the container

 

[MBG75]

Paul, looks like bait for flounder season.

Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk

 

[Paul B]

Do we still even have a flounder season any more. I haven't seen a flounder in years

 

[Paul B]

Newly designed trap with a water hose feeding it water to keep water in trap fresh