The best bristle worm trap EVER!!!

[Jazmyne]

Okay, I've tried everything I've ever read about to catch these little buggers, short of buying a commercial trap. I had this brilliant idea two days ago and I have caught a total of FOURTEEN meaty little worms in my trap!! WOOT!!!

 

The first night I tried it, I caught five worms. The second night, I caught NINE for a total of 14 worms in the past two nights.

 

Here's what I did:

1) I took a dark, opaque container. I used one of those little plastic black salsa bowls you see in restaurants. A small ceramic container would work too and you wouldn't have to weight it down with a rock.

 

 

2) I took some large-holed mesh. Like the type you'd see for larger aquarium fish or tulle in a dress. I had some extra floating around from last year's Halloween costume. The netting is about 1/4" spacing. Use the large-holed stuff so the worms can easily crawl in.

 

 

4) Put some food in the container. I used slices of frozen scallop. Be a little generous, you want the gluttons to come running, right?

 

 

5) Place the container face down in the middle of the netting and secure it. Rubber band, thread, string, whatever.

 

 

4) Place it face-down on top of the sand. It doesn't have to be buried, nor does it have to be flush on all sides. Mine was slightly propped on a rock so there was a small gap between the container and the sand.

 

 

5) Wait until your lights come on the next day.

 

Check out pics on my photobucket site. I didn't want to modify the pictures to post here.

 

[Barelycuda]

If you can take the rock out of the tank you can make up a mega brine solution and they will literally fall out of the rock. I did that last weekend and about 100 fell out of 3 rocks in about 15 minutes.

[Jazmyne]

That's a great idea too. However, I have too many critters on too many rocks and I don't feel like re-arranging my tank. I'm VERY happy with the results here and the bit of extra time it's taking sure beats the trauma of pulling rock out of the tank. I guess I have more patience than some.

[markdadof2]

Are the bristle worms causing problems for you guys? I find them all the time and just let them be. From what I understand they are great scavengers.

[jackaninny]

Are the bristle worms causing problems for you guys? I find them all the time and just let them be. From what I understand they are great scavengers.

 

I was thinking the same thing.

[ReeFit]

i don't have very many if any in most of my tanks. i saw one in my refugium once.

[Barelycuda]

I have tons of them in the clownhouse. I did want them removed from the rock in the tank with my red scooter dragonets. Other than that i let them be.

[Jazmyne]

They gross me out. They haven't bothered anything yet that I know of, but I want to add a clam and a few more sand critters and I want to get rid of the larger ones before adding new things to the tank, just in case.

[JasonH]

The thing is, I don't you'll ever get rid of them manually - there will always be a few you miss, and then they'll repopulate (frisky little buggers). I'm not aware of any chemical eradicator. The 14 you caught are probably 1% of the population in your tank.

[markdadof2]

I'll trade you some of your bristle worms for my gorilla crab I can't catch / spear (using my trusty BBQ skewer). This will be #5 if I get him....

[JimmyK]

I have many in my system. They have never hurt anything. But I do enjoy watching my cleaner shrimp and sally light foot hunt them down. I was very surprised last night when I saw my hippo tang chowing down on them as well. It was fun to watch....

[luv951]

Why is everyone trying to get rid of them? They are good to have in your system. They eat detritus and provide a natural food source for many fish. If anything, put them in your sump if you don't like the way they look, but to me it just ads to the diversity of life in my tank.

[ReeFit]

Why is everyone trying to get rid of them? They are good to have in your system. They eat detritus and provide a natural food source for many fish. If anything' date=' put them in your sump if you don't like the way they look, but to me it just ads to the diversity of life in my tank.[/quote']

 

i agree, although over population of them probably leads to a tank problem of sorts. I've heard they also can attack sand bed clams.

[luv951]

I used to take the ones I thought were 'too many' and move them to the sump. Living amonst my rubble and chaeto in there the population exploded. My pods did too. My son used to like watching the sump almost as much as the tank itself.

[JimmyK]

Agree as stated by others above, I don't think they hurt anything. They have never bothered my clams, zoos, sps, etc.. Fun to watch adds diversity. Alot of peopl edo notlike and I am unsure why.. Very cool trap though.