red and black worm

[shawn114]

what is this, I have a few of them.

 

[Anonymous]

It appears to be a small bristle worm. A bit hard to make out from the shot. If it looks similar to a centi/milipede then it is a bristle.

 

[shawn114]

It definitally looks like a centipede. A bristle worm it is. Are they ok to have in the tank, what do they like to do. Also I have 3 skeletons of something, I think there mantis shrimp, do they shed as they grow?

 

[Anonymous]

It definitally looks like a centipede. A bristle worm it is. Are they ok to have in the tank, what do they like to do. Also I have 3 skeletons of something, I think there mantis shrimp, do they shed as they grow?

The common bristleworm is pretty much harmless and a great scavenger. If you do see it eating something chances are it was dead or dying.

As for the shells - most all crustaceans molt and they leave the cast off shell out in the open sometimes. I know for a fact that mantis shrimp will often consume the cast off exoskeleton shortly after molting to reabsob some of the minerals in it.