Sand Worms Clean Up Saltwater Tank
The little guys totaly cover my sand bed. I do not know what they are. I do know that each cluster of spaghetti like arms come from one main body. The only life in this tank came in on the live rock. The tank is about 4 years old and only the SG and temp are kept in check. Lights are limited at best.
10 Responses to Sand Worms Clean Up Saltwater Tank
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I see one of your comments says that you are occasionally feeding the tank, these little guys will help keep the extra food from building up and may also help stir the sand bed a little bit, in my eyes that is completely beneficial. Plus if you do decide to get some fish down the road, these live critters will be eaten and they are a great live food source for fish, especially finicky fish that may not take dried or frozen food right away.
trondsbr
June 28, 2012 at 10:02 am
Thanks man. I knew they looked like spaghetti LOL. I dont have anything in this tank to keep them in check. Its only a 20gal Long and I dont have the heart to put any fish in there.
fincloser1230
June 28, 2012 at 10:14 am
spaghetti worms, my copperband buttterfly love to eat them and they are good detrivors.
trondsbr
June 28, 2012 at 11:01 am
alright well thank you for the responce
riderinblack57
June 28, 2012 at 11:45 am
I am sure some people would say they are bad for the tank, but I see no problem with them. I dont mind bristle worms either.They clean up all scraps on the sandbed and the copepods feed out of there tenticles without any issues. If there is a down side to them I have not noticed.
fincloser1230
June 28, 2012 at 12:07 pm
hey i noticed in my tank there are a few of these now ive been pulling them out or moving them towards my power head as i heard they are bad for fish and invertebrates is this true?
riderinblack57
June 28, 2012 at 12:13 pm
its not just feeding the critters as you say its feeding the live rock/sand if you dont want all your bacteria to die feed your tank what you used to feed your fish everyother day if you dont it will be useless when trying to put fish back in they will all just die
riderinblack57
June 28, 2012 at 1:12 pm
About once a week I put some Formula One flake food in the tank. They love it.
fincloser1230
June 28, 2012 at 1:37 pm
This tank was loaded with large Bristle Worms at one time. Now these guys rule the worm population. The Copepods rule this tank.
fincloser1230
June 28, 2012 at 2:35 pm
There has to a food source for them, what is it?
My only tank is empty from fish or other visible type of life, it only has bristleworms (that I’ve seen) and I feed the little critters flakes every other day, really when I care to remember. Just keeping my sandbed for whenever I finally decide to put something back in there at last (my last fish died 2 months ago).
cpcomarhernandez
June 28, 2012 at 3:24 pm