Feeding earthworms?

[mjryan]

have read and heard some people feed them. just curious if you do. mine are still babies right now so i would have to chop them into smaller pieces i presume correct? and if i did that, whouldnt the blood or "poop" that comes out of them be bad.
also, im not talking big ol night crawlers, but when the ground gets wet we get some nice skinny ones crawling on the pavement.

besides that, what do you serve as an occasional treat? mine currently eat EVERYTHING from FD bllodworms, FD brine shrimp, they'll get into the algea wafers and sinking pellets etc... anything that could be used as a "treat" for these guys

 

[beblondie]

'' right now so i would have to chop them into smaller pieces i presume correct? and if i did that, whouldnt the blood or "poop" that comes out of them be bad'' No worse then when they get torn apart in the water-Anne

 

[FishSkins]

i look at feeding live foods ( not like feeder gold fish and many othe raised feeders)..anyway i look at it like this do they eat it in the wild ..is the enviroment that you live in CLEAN .... ..yes i would feed them in this case

 

[FishSkins]

LOL ANNE that to

 

[Keeper of the Ropes]

I feed nightcrawlers every other day and highly recommend them. Have seen great growth rates when I combine the nightcrawlers with the silversides. Also, you can get them @ SuperWalmart for very cheap without having to find a bait shop.

 

[StiffMeister]

i feed mine a lot of earthworms. i can get them cheap so its easy but they are a great food and like KotR said, they provide good growthrate.

 

[Tongue33]

i feed mine a lot of earthworms. i can get them cheap & easy they provide good growthrate.

But on a serious note ... I love the dramatic color changes and bold colors I get as well as the raveness attitude mY fish have while feeding on Nightcrawlers They Hold their BVold colors for ever when i feed these

 

[big E]

Well I just came back from the 24 hour Walmart and bought some "small" nightcrawlers to feed my fish , I hear good things about it from you guys so I tried them out, I rinsed all the "packing" off of them and threw one in. The tanks went crazy!!! MY albino senegal devoured it ! I gave one to my puffer and he disgustingly chomped it to pieces, I fed some pieces to a bumblebee cat and a spotted cetenapoma too even some congo tetras attacked them like pirahna. I hope that my bichir gets good growth rate from these too! I do have some questions though, first what exactly is that wet gray stuff packed in with the bait nightcrawlers? Will it harm my fish if they ingest any of it? Also I threw the first Ncrawler in without chopping it up and my little albino slurped the whole thing up!! I thought he was gonna choke, is eating it whole bad for it? The worm was like 6inches and the bichir is about 5 inches. Since you guys use these as food too, I am looking forward to similar results !!!

 

[robroy]

I remember an article by Anne saying how high in protein they were so they're ideal. Once they latch onto one they have no choice but to eat it. Should be more than an occasional treat.
ROB

 

[elbeatch]

Earthworms definitely a good choice! I break some worms up but try to keep the guts in, helps connect the food chain. Tonnes of nutrients and minerals in the dirt in there, also the grit helps move digestion along, like us eating metamusil for fibre. My clownknife and redfin pleco also go crazy for then, i dangle a big nightcrawler in there and the clown knife grabs it. Also, once in awhile I let a big one go to the polys, let them tear it up, chase each other around.