is it safe to feed nightcrawlers?

[Modest_Man]

I've been feeding all sorts of cichlids bait shop earthworms for years with no issues.

For an added bonus, you can put them into a bowl of oatmeal with liquid vitamins for a few days before feeding to clean out their guy of dirt and hopefully gut load them with something more beneficial.

 

[peathenster]

Many thanks for all the responses

Modest_Man - that's some extreme cleansing! No wonder your fish look so good

The nightcrawlers are mostly for a psittacus pair, and it's supposed to induce spawning. I guess I'll do it for a few days per month when needed....fingers crossed

 

[phillydog1958]

i prefer farm raised due to the farm-raised type are cleaner than the earthworm in my back yard. farm-raised do not mess up your tank as much as those out in the wild of nature.

my lfs sells nightcrawlers. i'm just wondering if fish bait shops and local lfs's sell the same worms or are they coming from different sources. i sort of think they might be getting them from the same sources. any ideas?

 

[lateraldisposition]

same thing pay double at a petstore buy walmart save money

 

[DISCIPLE]

also i walk outside and grab grasshoppers as they are plentiful and juicy this time of year. all my fish go nuts for them. i throw in 30 and they are gone in minutes. it needs to rain here so the worms come closer to the surface. idig my own but have used the ones your referring to from wallys. they are fine. just stay away from nitro worms as they are rasied in a bacteria infested mud harmful to us. nitro worms are 12" long and sold in bait shops in pairs as a bloodworm alternative.

 

[peathenster]

also i walk outside and grab grasshoppers as they are plentiful and juicy this time of year. all my fish go nuts for them. i throw in 30 and they are gone in minutes. it needs to rain here so the worms come closer to the surface. idig my own but have used the ones your referring to from wallys. they are fine. just stay away from nitro worms as they are rasied in a bacteria infested mud harmful to us. nitro worms are 12" long and sold in bait shops in pairs as a bloodworm alternative.

Dang! 30 grasshoppers? How long does it take you to round them up?

and thanks for the info on nitro worms

 

[pcfriedrich]

I've fed the canadian night crawlers to my oscar and my jack dempsey. Probably about 3 times, I've bought a tub and fed him one a day 'til they ran out. its been about 6 months since I've fed them the worms, though. haven't seen any adverse effects. fish are still alive and growing, anyway. Incidentally, I did catch a gecko in my house recently. tried to feed him to my Oscar. oscar spit him out, unharmed. must not have tasted very good.

 

[Maduro]

I get canadian night crawlers...place them in a container with some soil mixed with flake food...fish love it

 

[peathenster]

I've fed the canadian night crawlers to my oscar and my jack dempsey. Probably about 3 times, I've bought a tub and fed him one a day 'til they ran out. its been about 6 months since I've fed them the worms, though. haven't seen any adverse effects. fish are still alive and growing, anyway. Incidentally, I did catch a gecko in my house recently. tried to feed him to my Oscar. oscar spit him out, unharmed. must not have tasted very good.

What happened to the gecko in the end?

I get canadian night crawlers...place them in a container with some soil mixed with flake food...fish love it

I didn't understand....did you mean flake fish food? and you fed fish the mix?

 

[pcfriedrich]

I let the gecko out the front door. that dude was hell to catch, camouflaged with the carpet. it was like trying to catch a three inch ghost. I'd've let it be, but my girlfriend couldn't relax until she knew it was out of the house. maybe with a gecko or two around the house, there would be less spider webs coming from the lamp shades every morning... florida sucks. if its not bugs, its lizards. there are about a thousand caribean anoles outside my front door at any given moment. the geckos are a little more rare.