help with identifying worm

[Arjun Tandon]

Thanks Rajiv and Romi

[aquascapist]

thanks Romi for the headsup... definitely would not handle this guy with bare ...i think probably came with the plants i got from LFS recently.

[Romi]

Bro Aditya, how is your pet the Bristleworm? Did u decide to keep it?

[aquascapist]

yea i found out there was one more so he has company. tried to remove it with pluckers but he senses them the moment i touch the soil surface.. so i decided to let them be...they're cool with fishes n shrimps

[Romi]

yea i found out there was one more so he has company. tried to remove it with pluckers but he senses them the moment i touch the soil surface.. so i decided to let them be...they're cool with fishes n shrimps

That is cool. People should respect any creature that is:
1. Interesting on its own
2. Does no damage that they are sure about.
3. Helps clean up after itself.

The Earth is a wonderful place. Often in looking for what we think we want, we find something that is even more worth having..

Can i take this opportunity to request you to let me know if they breed and the babies make it. I am wondering if they might like to eat malayan trumpet snails.. My assassin snails have so far made little impact. .....Who knows ?

[aquascapist]

well said Romi!! Initailly i was a bit scared about his presence and if he may be harmful to the other inhabitants.. but now over the past month i barely notice his presence. Infact I've never seen him above the substrate. He has grown a bit in size though...his markings are more clear now..ill try to get a pic if he obliges . I have also never seen him eating MTS not even the babies.. MTS population in my tank is pretty stong. Why do u want to rid your tank of MTS?.. they don't harm the plants and are not visible during lighting hours..I scared my mom when i turned on the light at night..there might have been hundreds of them on glass Told her its a magic trick..u wont see any by morning.

[Romi]

The MTS are fine until you have a nocturnal fish. You have to leave extra food after lights out for the nightdweller (i have a Talking Catfish now). But before the fish can eat, the snails come. You leave more so that the fish gets its share, and then the snails quietly..... explode! If i buy enough assassin snails to dent their population, they would cost me the price of a car. .. plus the assassin snails don't like my godforsaken water, their eggs don't hatch it seems.

That is my sad story.

[Arjun Tandon]

Yes...I agree
Just like seed shrimps, MTS, euglena, daphnia, copepods, mosquito larva, and many more things were considered as pests.
But when people learned to realize their importance, people started culturing them
This is the essence of our hobby
We are lucky that a lot has been discovered and a lot is yet to be discovered
Who knows these bristle worms could do the work of MTS with a much greater efficiency!

[aquascapist]

@Romi did you try making a trap for them?

[Romi]

@Romi did you try making a trap for them?

i remove hundreds of them every 2-3 days. they suddenly appear on the walls. But it doesnt really dent the population.