The definative on Bristleworms

[cartouche]

I'm just reaching the end in the maturation period in a new 140g tank, I've been out the hobby for a while so i'm reading lots of books etc.

At the back of a good book I have it states 'Marine Pests' and along with flatworms they also have bristleworms. While initially cleaning some brown algae off of LR I noticed something dart back into a crevice.... I read about the Bristleworms and put 2 and 2 together. On closer inspection in dimmed lights I have seen at least 6 and all small (approx 1 inch).

I'm panicking here, but then reading a lot of threads here a lot of people see them as benificial????

What should I do? Theres even a thread of a guy who wants to buy some????? I intend on having a full reef tank with soft & hard corals. If the general feeling is that there OK why do all the 'books' see them as a pest.... Or have they gotta reach 20ft long and capable of biting your arm off before its worth doing anything about them?

Confussed!!!!!!

[Fat Man]

How old are your books? Our knowledge of invertabrate biology has grown in the last few years. Most consider them quite beneficial, though there are some species that feed on coral. Here's a read for you from our own Reef Keeping Magazine. The Worms Crawl In (http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-05/rs/index.php)

[Sk8r]

You cannot keep sps without them...how's that for controversial? They break down the fish poo into useable size for the sps. And that's good. Just don't put your hand where they are, because they sting.

[Javeo]

For the most part bristleworms are indeed beneficial, The few that do attack coral, bearded fireworms, are not very common but they are recognisable. I have a few that are around 4-5 inches and Ive never seen them do any damage, on the contrary they are great clean-up crew.

[cartouche]

Thanks for the replies guys,

I have no problem leaving them in the tank if I know they are relatively harmless, what concerns me as that they are known to attack small fish that are sleeping in crevices?? Is this fact or fiction...or just plain 'not often', or only large specimens?

Also I don't want them multiplying, a few seem ok but I really don't want swarms of them. What are thier breeding habits? I assume they multiply sexually & asexually.. so it only takes one?

Do they breed easily in an aquarium? or should my numbers stablelise?

TIA :)

[Gary Majchrzak]

There are a lot of different species of polychaetes called "bristleworms". The worm population in any aquarium usually adjusts to food availability and predation.