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coral banded shrimp


big24kid

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Okay, I know people dont like these guys, but I have had one in my tank for over a year and a half and have had no problems. Last night I had just turned the lights off and saw him grabbing and jumping off a rock. I thought to myself "hmmmm, maybe he is about to show me why everybody says dont get one." Then the coolest thing happened. He ripped a bristleworm out of the rock and ate it. I thought only arrow crabs did this. Has anyone ever heard of this before???

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I have a Debelius' Reef Lobster in my 28G Nano and he has been a model citizen so far. Yeah I have heard of them chomping on critters before. Good to see ya got one that has a affection for bristles!!

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But this was back when bristle worms were considered "bad" and I kept trying to remove them from my tank.

 

dsoz

 

So are these bristle worm are actually good for the tank? it's a living creature right? If there are living creature there are life? (scratch)

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Benny,

Back In the Day bristle worms were believed to eat coral. Now, there are some that do, but most just eat poop. They can get really big and be predacious, but that's the exception not the rule. Steve Weast had a monster living in his system ( It was what, 4' or 5' long? ) as some species just get bigger and bigger as time goes on.

 

Mostly though, they dig through the sand for food, and sometimes they spawn and produce gametes, aka fish and coral food. I had that happen in my tank and it was pretty cool. They really do change appearance when that happens. They're also edible at that stage ( ask Bob Fenner about that ).

 

Mostly you just want to leave them alone, and don't touch them as the bristles hurt. They're kind of annoying in your fingertips, but trust me on this, on your wrist/inner arm? Much worse. ( If you do get bristled, I've found the best way to get them out is to use some really sticky tape and pull them off that way. Better yet, Wear Gloves. )

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