Starting a new tank

[Paul B]

I collect so many things with my bristle worm trap that I figured I would start a tiny tank to study them.



I just completed building UG filter for this tank shown here next to the tank. I will use the gravel from my reef and load this with brittle stars, amphipods, coweries, bristle worms and anything else I catch with my traps.

I will just study these animals in this tank and eventually put them back, but not the bristle worms
(the bottle is just to hold it up for the picture because I know someone is going to ask what the bottle is for)

I got loads of these tiny coweries

Here are some of the traps I use.

 

[SteveZ15]

Why do you trap the bristle worms are they bad for reef tank?

 

[Jan]

Very cool, Paul. What are you looking for in your studies on coweries? I really like these critters. I have a couple in my DT.

 

[Jan]

Some folks say yes, and some say no. It's a personal preference, IMO. I have them in my DT. They don't bother me at all. My wrasse keeps them in check. They're scavengers. To me they are part of my CUC.

Why do you trap the bristle worms are they bad for reef tank?

 

[Paul B]

Why do you trap the bristle worms are they bad for reef tank?
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They are not particularly bad but the larger ones attach crustaceans while they are molting.
I don't know what I am looking for in the snails, I just want to get a bunch of them in a small tank to check them out, see what they are doing, get into their head, introduce myself, and then probably throw them back in my reef

 

[SteveZ15]

Can you chop them up and feed them to the fish?

 

[Paul B]

No, most fish will not eat bristleworms because of all the bristles.

 

[vio]

Finally I found you. I know you collect mud, for refreshing bacteria. I would like to come with you when the time is right. To show me the right spots to collect. Thank you. Good luck with the new tank. Keep us posted.

 

[Paul B]

Vio, a couple of times a year I ask people to come collecting. Many say yes and never show up so I stopped doing that. But PM me again when it is warm because I go a couple of times a week. Usually by myself.

 

[Paul B]

I pulled in exactly 25 of them this morning. And one small bristle worm. If I can get this many every night there must be thousands. I added some black worms to their tank last night and they didn't touch them. Tonight I will add a piece of clam and some hair algae.
I have no idea what they are eating but the clam attracts them to the trap as there is nothing else in there. They are definately noctural as I don't see any in my tank no matter what I use to look for them with. I am sure they either burry in the gravel or hang out under rocks, they may even be under the UG filter but there must be a village of them. I am not sure if they are beneficial or detrimental and I want to know before I put them back in the tank. I did lost a clam not long ago after it fell on the gravel and I blamed bristle worms but maybe these guys kill clams. That would be an interesting fact to know don't you think?
I am amazed that so many of these carnivorous things could live in my tank unless they are killing bristle worms as I am finding very few of those. Remember with this same trap I used to get only bristle worms and now I only get snails. If I was a detective I would deduce that the snails are preying on worms and multiplying as there doesn't seem to be any other food source in there.
I love this stuff and get all excited when I find something new and I am not sure what it is doing.
I doubt they came from New York water as I have been collecting here all my life and never saw them before, and I look with a magnifying glass at what I collect here.
Here they are still in the trap

 

[JonnyJ]

Paul, i love the cowries
Here's my
Cypraea annulus, pictured on the clam as a baby and now grown.

They hide in the day, but are voracious at night

 

[Dace]

I love to follow your threads, There always so interesting.

 

[Paul B]

I think mine are marginell something snails and are carnivorous. But they also look like coweries. I went out with my wife for 6 months before I remembered her name, but now me and Clark have been married for 40 years.

 

[vio]

Vio, a couple of times a year I ask people to come collecting. Many say yes and never show up so I stopped doing that. But PM me again when it is warm because I go a couple of times a week. Usually by myself.

I will, Thank You.