Is it crazy to squeeze feces out of worms?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo

THEcreep

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 30, 2012
233
0
0
North Jersey
Hey all I feed my ray purely nightcrawlers because he unfortunately wont take anything else, well ghost shrimp and tetras excluded. Im working on massivore though. The point is this: am i crazy for squeezing as much of the feces out of the worm as i can? I worry about bacteria and so on. I'm even considering probiotics as well. Your thoughts?


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
 
no need for all that squeezing going on. In the wild nobody squeeze nothing for them.
 
if there was pathogens , squeezing probably won't get rid of all them anyways. I fed my ray chopped worms, then whole worms then on to shrimp and massivore.
 
How much worms do you have to squeeze in a feeding? I remember I use to catch roaches in my yard(not those big ones with wings flying everywhere) to feed my aro because he only liked roaches. I would have to catch them, kill them, snip the tips of there butts and jam a pellet in there. I ended starving the little guy after a month of this.


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
 
Drop them in water to get most of the extra dirt out of their digestive tracts. It purges them much like we do with crawfish here in Louisiana, mmmmmmmm crawfish. Sorry got side tracked. It will keep the mess down. Keep in mind though the minerals, plant matter, and other partially broken down food items in the digestive tracts of the prey items we feed our rays is the only way that they get some of these nutrients. They evolved eating whole prey items and they need everything in them. That is why feeding them fish filets only over time will lead to rays not quite as healthy as those fed a variety of whole items.

I don't know about everyone here, but pellets just don't seem cost effective to me. My fish eat about 9 ounces a day of whole silversides or market shrimp (fresh caught which i can get for about 2.50lb, don't be jealous the crime rate makes up for our cheap ray food. If I was to feed massivore it would cost me $10 a day to feed my fish even if I take into consideration dry weight vs wet weight and equalize the protein values. That is insane to me. I can feed a family of great danes for that. What we really need to do is all set up vermicomposting systems where we use worms to break down our vegetable based food waste. We use the compost to grow our vegetables or sell, whatever works for you, and we feed the worms to our fish. They are always the favorite of all rays, they carry a ton of nutrition, because they are terrestrial there is almost no possibility for disease transmission, and they would be FREE!
 
Drop them in water to get most of the extra dirt out of their digestive tracts. It purges them much like we do with crawfish here in Louisiana, mmmmmmmm crawfish. Sorry got side tracked. It will keep the mess down. Keep in mind though the minerals, plant matter, and other partially broken down food items in the digestive tracts of the prey items we feed our rays is the only way that they get some of these nutrients. They evolved eating whole prey items and they need everything in them. That is why feeding them fish filets only over time will lead to rays not quite as healthy as those fed a variety of whole items.

I don't know about everyone here, but pellets just don't seem cost effective to me. My fish eat about 9 ounces a day of whole silversides or market shrimp (fresh caught which i can get for about 2.50lb, don't be jealous the crime rate makes up for our cheap ray food. If I was to feed massivore it would cost me $10 a day to feed my fish even if I take into consideration dry weight vs wet weight and equalize the protein values. That is insane to me. I can feed a family of great danes for that. What we really need to do is all set up vermicomposting systems where we use worms to break down our vegetable based food waste. We use the compost to grow our vegetables or sell, whatever works for you, and we feed the worms to our fish. They are always the favorite of all rays, they carry a ton of nutrition, because they are terrestrial there is almost no possibility for disease transmission, and they would be FREE!

That's a great point and an awesome idea. Definetly something to try. Reduces quite a bit of trash too.


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
 
MonsterFishKeepers.com