How much food does a giant bristleworm need?

DJC · Jan 21, 2024

Tired said:
Right, I know they're scavengers, and this one was definitely getting enough to eat. Thing is, I'm adjusting the auto-feeder, so it won't be dropping excess food by the worm's home. If I do keep this, I don't want to starve it, so I'm trying to figure out how much food it would need.

Believe it or not, I don't actually (appear to) have a lot of smaller ones. I have about three smaller ones that I've seen, and that's at peak extension of everything reaching out of the rock for food. None under the rockwork except this one, I know that much. I also have at least three reticulated brittle stars, which, though not very large, are probably eating some of the food that would otherwise be turned into more bristleworms.

I'm not sure freezing is a humane way to kill these. If you don't have any clove oil to use as an alternative (and, IMO, clove oil should be in everyone's fishkeeping cabinet, for moribund fish if nothing else), refrigerating them for a few hours first, to try to render them less aware or entirely unaware first, is probably a good idea.

What does the clove oil do or used for ?

Miami Reef · Jan 21, 2024

DJC said:
What does the clove oil do or used for ?

Euthanizing fish.

Tired · Jan 22, 2024

Yep. It's an anesthetic. Add it very slowly to a container of water with a fish or other gill-having animal (slowly because it's an irritant in large amounts), and the animal in question will slowly fall asleep, go unconscious, and die without suffering. I always keep some on hand for fish that are sick or badly injured enough that euthanasia is the only kind thing to do, and I use it for some pests as well.