Worms

[anarchir]

Natural substrate cleaners, worms go around eating nasty stuff. Has anyone ever tried purposely putting something like this in their tank? What was the result? Other pros/cons? Am I completely daft?

http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/aquatic_worm.htm

 

[joe jaskot]

I've had blackworms living in the gravel of some of my tanks. No harmful effect on the fish. The worms would reproduce. While gravel vacuuming during a water change, they would ball up in the bucket. I then fed them to the fish.

 

[crazysteve]

Bump.

 

[Pyramid_Party]

I don't see a problem with them. I see it as a win-win situation if they are in your tank. I have had some type of detritus worm that was clear/transparent living in my substrate. The fish loved to eat them.

 

[Kaosu]

yup i have black worms in all my tanks! sand and gravel

 

[anarchir]

Thank you for the bump crazysteve, and the posts you guys.

It would be really awesome to have some sort of larger worm. Then larger fish/turtles could eat it while it cleans the substrate. I am definitely going to look into this further. I feel the closer an aquarium gets to a self sustaining ecosystem the better. Both for coolness factors and the health of the animals. Also, its great to not have to rely on outside people to provide supplies for your pets, in a dream situation. We are already relying on bacteria with the fish to help maintain the system, and many are using plants as well. Why not add in many levels of life forms? Worms, waterbugs, etc.

 

[anarchir]

What if you had some setup like this:http://www.flickr.com/photos/merintia/5641006247/

Raise mealworms through their beetle stage, also aquatic parasite worms. Then you can feed both kinds of worms to your fish/reptiles and the beetles will go to the trouble of placing their own bodies in the water without you having to do a thing!

 

[Fat Homer]

Personally i not sure i'd feel comfortable / safe putting a parasitic worm into my tank on purpose...

 

[EarthEaterBob]

Agreed...though it doesn't appear like it would have any harmful effects to fish, you never know...

 

[anarchir]

Sorry, I was referring to the worms in the link which take over insects and force them to run into the water.