Can bristle worm eat cleaner shrimp?

rongy

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Just found out that there’s a large bristle worm in my tank (5inches). Is it harmful? Wondering if it’s harmful. I got a small (1inch) cleaner shrimp couple weeks ago, and it’s missing for a few days.
Is it possible that the bristle worm killed the shrimp? The shrimp usually stay under the same rock with the worm

Caught a few smaller ones, not sure if I should go and catch the large one
IMG_6853.jpeg
 

vaguelyreeflike

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Bristleworms are harmless to your tank inhabitants for the most part, they are detritivores/scavengers and will eat anything dead or decaying such as dead fish, fish poop etc. If you have lots of them then your tank has too much food available in the form of overfeeding or detritus in the tank.

They definitely would not have hunted a shrimp. The only way they can cause harm is if a fish that isn’t immune to their hairs tries to eat them, but even then it’s rarely deadly and usually just very uncomfortable for the fish.
 
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rongy

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I have biiiiiiiiiiig bristleworms in my tank and all they do is scavenge. the cleaner shrimp is pretty dang fast, while they worms slow and stupid and rarely leave their rocks lol
My shrimp stays in the same cave as the worm, that’s why I’m not too sure about it
 

zoolan70

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Tank tear down and start over!

I hate those things. I’m gonna be sad if they find a way into my tank.
Then you might as well tear down now. They are beneficial detritivores, and you probably do already have them, even if you don't know it. There are zero negatives to them.
 

zoolan70

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Lol, are they really this bad? I was thinking of diy worm trap to catch them.
Not bad at all, in fact they are just the opposite. If you see some big ones, and they freak you out for some reason, you can try to trap them out. Honestly, for every one you see, there are probably 10 more the same size hiding.
 

QuickrdenU

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Then you might as well tear down now. They are beneficial detritivores, and you probably do already have them, even if you don't know it. There are zero negatives to them.
Oh I completely understand. They just give me the creepy crawlies. With dry rock and dipping everything I haven’t spotted any at night yet.
 

robotrash

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Tank tear down and start over!

I hate those things. I’m gonna be sad if they find a way into my tank.
Never this advice. Bristle worms are neutral/beneficial. Fire worms are the big bad but even then a simple worm trap will typically work for those.

Please don't take this as advice.

As ugly as people find them I have found that I quite enjoy seeing which hole they pop out of at night.
 

EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal

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Just found out that there’s a large bristle worm in my tank (5inches). Is it harmful? Wondering if it’s harmful. I got a small (1inch) cleaner shrimp couple weeks ago, and it’s missing for a few days.
Is it possible that the bristle worm killed the shrimp? The shrimp usually stay under the same rock with the worm

Caught a few smaller ones, not sure if I should go and catch the large one
IMG_6853.jpeg
Bristleworms can't "smell" live flesh, so no, they didn't kill your shrimp. They would not recognize it as food.
 

vaguelyreeflike

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Tank tear down and start over!

I hate those things. I’m gonna be sad if they find a way into my tank.
Definitely a massive overreaction. You’re just going to get them again once you restart lol. This is like people tearing their freshwater tanks down because snails are overpopulating due to overfeeding/lack of cleaning lol.
 

QuickrdenU

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Definitely a massive overreaction. You’re just going to get them again once you restart lol. This is like people tearing their freshwater tanks down because snails are overpopulating due to overfeeding/lack of cleaning lol.
If you took my post seriously, I feel sorry for you. C H I L L. O U T. ! ! !
 
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