Porites w/Christmas Tree Worms?

[flyingarmy]

Does anyone know of any typical reef predators that eat Christmas Tree Worms? I bought a nice piece of porites with an 8 worm colony and this morning one of the larger worms seems to either have gone very deep or something in my tank decieded to taste the new inhabitants! Any ideas?

 

[glxtrix]

what kind of fish you have? I know a Copperband Butterfly fish or a Longnose Butterfly fish will potnetially eat them.

 

[xyzpdq0121]

Alot of creaturs eat sedentary worms, AloT.They really have no means to protect themselves and are easy pickings to a late night snack! To name a few things that are known to eat them if the urge hits them: Wrasses, dwarf angels, tangs, damsels, pseudoshromis, clowns, arthropods, larger hermit crabs. What you got in your tank and who looks like it has a full belly?!?

As a worm lover, I take great care to make sure that my fish know they are not snacks!

 

[glxtrix]

Xyzpdq0121 wrote: As a worm lover, I take great care to make sure that my fish know they are not snacks!

lol, what are you going to do, punish them????

 

[kappaknight]

Xyzpdq0121 wrote: Alot of creaturs eat sedentary worms, AloT.They really have no means to protect themselves and are easy pickings to a late night snack! To name a few things that are known to eat them if the urge hits them: Wrasses, dwarf angels, tangs, damsels, pseudoshromis, clowns, arthropods, larger hermit crabs. What you got in your tank and who looks like it has a full belly?!?

As a worm lover, I take great care to make sure that my fish know they are not snacks!

Mental note, don't get worms. I think I have 8 out of 10 fishes you listed. :unsure:

 

[xyzpdq0121]

Yes I do punish them... They have to sit in the dark corner of the 55G for atleast 24 hours!

I have a Flame Angel, Yellow Tang, two clowns, and two chromis that do not give my worms any problems... But some have been known too. I used to have a 6 line wrass that thought that the little hitch hiker fetherdusters were a tasty snack. The 6 line had to find a new home!

 

[flyingarmy]

I have 2 Black Perculas and a Lawnmower Blenny. I know it's not th blenny, I watched him try to eat one of the worms and he definitely didn't like it and went on. I guess it could be the perculas. What about other worms, bristles or mithrax crabs?

 

[xyzpdq0121]

I would not rule out the Blenny just yet... If he can get his lips around it, he wil eat it. He might of been tasting it for later!

Other worms prob would not touch them.. Cannabolizem is not a trait that is typically exibited from one healthy worm to the next. Same here for the Bristle worms. The like poop more then anything else. I do not want to say they are not the culprits but unlikely.

The emerald crab could be a guilty party but if he is finding food elsewhere, he should leave well enough alone. But just like any other crab, they are opertunistic and will eat anything they have a chance to.

I would bet, if I was in Vegas, that it is the Blenny, Clowns or the Crab. Percula clowns are wimps in the clown family but the black ones are almost and exception to this. Everything else should have not had a radar for a tube worm.

This is, if in fact, the worm is missing and did not just die or go into hiding.

 

[kwl1763]

And my guess is crabs, always a crapshoot. true opportunists.

There is alays a chance the blenny just nipped and it will return or he nipped and killed the one but I wouldn't expect it to continue.