Would you buy clean up crew out of a tank that has bristle worms in it?

[JSully_94]

So I’m at an LFS looking to purchase some trochus snails, but the tank they’re being housed in has bristle worms crawling all over the place. Over rocks, in and out of shells, on the sand...

What would you do?

 

[WV Reefer]

So I’m at an LFS looking to purchase some trochus snails, but the tank they’re being housed in has bristle worms crawling all over the place. Over rocks, in and out of shells, on the sand...

What would you do?

Buy ‘em all!
Bristleworms are good guys.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Yes- Place them in a bucket and pick out the snails leaving the bristleworms in bucket. If you miss a couple- No biggie as they do not ruin a tank, I just dislike their presence

 

[Mr_Knightley]

I would not worry at all, in fact I say you'd be getting free CUC. Bristleworms are not harmful unless you directly grab them, I would say most horror stories of killer worms are actually cases of the worms finding the corpse before you.
All in all I would say go for it!

 

[gabrielw94106]

If im not wrong arent bristle worms technically not a bad thing as they are a good CUC member? I know they’re not the best if you have specific inhabitants but i dont mind bristle worms they look kinda cool too

 

[LiamPM]

Why wouldn’t you? Almost every tank has them, they aren’t a problem when numbers are controlled and they are generally controlled by excess food levels.

Not sure I follow why you wouldn’t to be honest

 

[Zoe’s Reef]

Pretty much all tanks have them from coming in as hitch hikers, and they're beneficial detritus eaters. It's just whether you can look at them or not ;Yuck

 

[andrewkw]

Only if the bristleworms were included.

 

[JSully_94]

Gotcha! I’m trying to avoid them for as long as possible, just because long slithery things give me the creeps, but if you all don’t see a problem with them in a tank you’d buy livestock from then I’ll trust you haha

 

[ScubaFish802]

You’ll end up with them if it’s from their tank or someone else’s unfortunately/fortunately? Haha

 

[virtual reality]

At least you know whatever they were feeding in that aquarium it got enough food.

 

[ru4serious]

I have caught them and transplanted them to new tanks on purpose

 

[harley32907]

Yes

 

[vetteguy53081]

If im not wrong arent bristle worms technically not a bad thing as they are a good CUC member? I know they’re not the best if you have specific inhabitants but i dont mind bristle worms they look kinda cool too

Correct

 

[xxkenny90xx]

Gotcha! I’m trying to avoid them for as long as possible, just because long slithery things give me the creeps, but if you all don’t see a problem with them in a tank you’d buy livestock from then I’ll trust you haha

Just be careful, bristleworms are known to slither out of tanks and end up on your pillow by morning. That's just undisputed fact (thanks for the trust)!

 

[Roosterjack]

I don’t mind them until they get big (6”+). Those have to go.

Arrow crabs eat them, as I recall...

 

[j.falk]

Loves me some bristle worms!

 

[MabuyaQ]

Ask if you can get the bristleworms for free with the rest....

 

[Vette67]

I’ve gone one step further and actually paid for bristle worms, shipped direct from Hawaii.

 

[Biglew11]

No problems with bristle worms. Some of Mine always come out when I feed the tank. Actually I dont think they're that creepy until they get to big 5-6 inches, then they gotta go.