While watching the reef aquarium with A tonight, I watched as the enormous turbo snail padded along the front glass.  He’s grown a lot since he was added to the tank; he’s at least 2.5 inches across.  Then I noticed- there is a small bristle worm living in his shell!  I tried to take a picture that would really show the two, but my stupid camera would not focus on the right spot and by the time I went to read the owner’s manual, the snail had shuffled off elsewhere.  Too bad, or I would have found a cutsie interspecies picture page and posted it.

Hopefully the tank’s not too infested; bristleworms can either be harmless or can grow to be a giant nuisance.  Speaking of infestations, my tank is so full of Aiptasia that I’m considering giving up on keeping any other sessile animals.  The remedies I have tried are either ineffective or they require injecting each anemone.  Anyone with an infestation can tell you that it would take hours to inject all 300+ of them, and who knows if it will work, or just release stinging cells into the water and poison the tank.

Buying a copperband butterfly (Chelmon rostratus) to eat them just seems irresponsible, as the butterflies often die soon after their natural food is gone.  I recently read that the seagrass filefish (Acreichthys tomentosus) is hardier, plus they are such unusual fish.  I can’t find anyone who sells them though.

Does anyone have any bright ideas?