Breeding black worms in your community tank

[swervo513]

Was not sure where to post this so I thought the DIY forum was most appropriate. Long ago when I was a wee lad I had a 29 gallon tank. So one day I went to the store and bought black worms. Well, I dumped in a whole portion of black worms and realized there were to many to be eaten. So, I tried with much futility to scoop them up and put them back in the fridge, thinking that they would all rot to death. I could not get a single worm. So, I gave up. Weeks later when I went to siphon the gravel there were millions of black worms under the substrate and had successfully formed a stable colony.

Now I am a bit more experienced.

I bought a fire eel yesterday for my 180 gallon. He loves the black sand. I just recently bought two portions of black worms to reform a colony. So that there was a constant food source for my fish. I am not sure if it will work. The sand may be too fine for them to burrow. Any way I wanted to let you know I am trying this and I will tell you how it works out in the following weeks. It would be wonderful to have a food source that was constantly renewing itself. Only thing is I am afraid my eel and earth eaters will get to them before they can breed. They seem to be gobbling up alot of them. I know this can work but it depends on the amount of predation and accesibility of the worms.

Ill let you know how my project works out.

Larry

 

[B_IN_SD]

Keep an eye on your water parameters when adding a lot of food.

 

[swervo513]

should I be worrying about an added bio-load?

 

[WarrendaFish]

I feed black worms to several tanks in my collection... I dont know about the sand and wouldnt worry about the biomass created by the worms. I find though with live black worms there are little leach-like parasites that sometimes come with them... I've spoken with many LFS owners on the subject and it seems to be quite normal in the trade but can be deadly to your fish if ingested... Sometimes you will find them all white (dead) and other times they will be suctioned to the side of their container...

The most effective way to 86 them...
When I bring home live black worms I put them into plastic pint containers, rinse them thouroghly with cold water until the water looks clean... Then I add 2-3 drops of garlic extract... The garlic will help to kill the parasites and also pushes them out to the edge of the mass of worms, usually finding them (like I said) suctioned to the sides and bottom of my plastic pint containers..

In order for the garlic to work best it the worms need to sit in the garlic/water solution for at least 12 hrs (overnight).. I let mine sit for 24 hrs or more.. And then you can pick out the parasites by hand... They become easily visible once you empty out some water and tilt the container revealing them stuck to the side.

As for breeding the black worms
They will definitely reproduce inside your aquarium, but how fast must depend on many factors as you've said... Substrate, number of earth-moving predators, water parameters, etc.. As lons as the worms can hide (under rocks, etc) they will continue to make offspring.

But I dont think it would be a sustainable amount of food or varied diet to feed only the black worms...

 

[swervo513]

thanks for your post warrenda. thats exactly what I was looking for. It seems that the fish are getting to them way to fast. I don't beleive the sand is a suitable substrate for them to hide. my best option may be to put them under a large flat rock. I tried puttng them under several small rocks but the fish still found a way to move them and get to the worms.

 

[Calihawk]

No more live food for me, only frozen and pellets. I notice that feces look dif and fishes die after awhile of live food. I notice this because I hardly ever feed live.

 

[WarrendaFish]

No more live food for me, only frozen and pellets. I notice that feces look dif and fishes die after awhile of live food. I notice this because I hardly ever feed live.

Absolutely. I do not feed any live foods with the black worms being the only exception.. i feed mostly frozen foods, but dry foods and veggies are incorporated a few times a week. the chances of introducing parasites with live food is too great for me