European Nightcrawlers living in my aquarium

amazontank

Redtail Catfish
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Nov 14, 2010
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I'm getting a shipment from uncle Jim worm farm this week.
So I have to ask how can these worms live underwater for a couple months. I found couple dozen alive and living well from my last batch.
Has anyone ever just let them live in an aquarium until the fish eat them?
 
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Dee eng

Giant Snakehead
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Interesting, I never feed European warms. I guess you could leave them in the tank until their eaten. But if the warms don’t have a hiding place they’d probably get devoured within minutes.
 

esoxlucius

Balaclava Bot Butcher
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Earthworms breathe through their skin and as long as there's dissolved oxygen available then they can survive. There's loads of dissolved oxygen in an aquarium environment, even in the substrate, which is where your worms are thriving.

As long as your oxygen levels remain high enough for them to breathe then they can live for a long long time. If you have any fish that dig then eventually the worms may get picked off in time, unless your substrate is deep, in which case they may live for months.

I'm not sure what the lifespan is for an earthworm but eventually it will die and that is where problems could arise. Some earthworms can get quite large and a decomposing large dead worm hidden in your substrate could result in a spike in parameters.
 

amazontank

Redtail Catfish
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Thanks so much for the information!
It's really amazing to me they can survive under water like that.
I decided not to just let them live in the tank that's a good point about not being able to regulate them.
I have a feeder tank outside so might add some in there to live in the Java moss!
 

fishhead0103666

Alligator Gar
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Hey comrade, reading your posts about these night crawlers inspired me to finally set up a breeding tank for some worms. Thanks to you I now have a little 5 gallon with the rest of my red wigglers to break the cycle of having to buy them over and over. Been meaning to do this for months actually so thank you.
 
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amazontank

Redtail Catfish
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That's awesome bro!
I tried that inside my house once and flies developed and it seems to hot outside for them. Makes me think about ordering some Africa crawlers and starting a worm farm outside.

I still have dozens of earthworms living in my substrate and anubias roots from March! They live with my chaca chaca catfish and seem to be totally thriving.
 
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