feeding worms in a planted tank

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themox

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Oct 7, 2011
Messages
193
Location
Sydney, Australia
hey guys,

i'm about to set up my first full planted freshwater tank next week. it'll be a 30litre with hemianthus, frogbit, java fern and moss and perhaps a few more i haven't decided on yet, essentially beginner plants even though i have quite sufficient lighting for the size of the tank.

fish i have at the moment, and are looking to potentially replace with local aussie fish are guppies, bristlenose, and some shrimp and an apple snail.

i've been reading about using worms, either cut up or live to feed certain fish and wanted to know:

1. money is a factor so what would be the best worms to feed them? earthworms if I can find some to breed? don't mind a bit of DIY if need be and growing and maintaining them myself
2. can worms live in a planted tank, in substrate etc? and is this harmful/beneficial?
3. the fish i'd ideally be keeping would be smaller rainbow fish or those no bigger than about 2,3,4cm. do worms need to be chopped to be fed to them? or just live younger baby worms?
4. does any left over chopped up worm harm the planted tank - or would this be helpful to plants?

if i can think of more i'll write them in subsequent posts. thanks in advance! any info would be helpful
 
i've been feeding live black worms for about 2 years. my tank is planted with many low light plants. my fish love these worms and it brings out their color so much. i haven't had any negative impact on my aquarium from this practice. i would however hesitate to chop up the worms before feeding. that might foul up your tank since i don't know if the worms can live after getting chopped up so whatever the fish miss will rot in the tank. one thing i will say that is very important and that is to keep the worms in pristine condition. that means rinsing the worms every day with conditioned water. also look for any worms that might be dead. (they will lose their color and look white) NEVER feed your fish worms that aren't active and have good color. although they are called black worms, they are more brown in color. they must be kept in the refrigerator to sustain them. i use a tweezers to pick up a small amount of the worms and then add them to the aquarium
. the fish will go crazy when they see the worms. i watch and make sure if any worms get on the gravel i wait to add more until the fish have picked up most off the floor. i feed every other day with the worms and the next day a balanced pellet food. my fish are gbrs, platys, dwarf gouramis,tetras,dwarf flag cichlid, and i have some glass shrimp. even the shrimp love the worms. it's fun to watch them sneak up on a worm and grab it.
36993-albums1744-picture13193.jpg

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/members/36993-albums1744-picture13191.jpg
i think you can see the beautiful color my rams have even though the pics are a bit blurry. :)
 
thanks mate, appreciate your response.

i was looking online and saw many people using and breeding earthworms. for small fish in that case i'd have to make sure i feed them smaller ones, unless i chop them up and add them, but i'm not sure that would work?

can the worms you've mentioned be kept in dirt (or are they not those kinds of worms?). i'd like to end up and hopefully keep my own supply if possible to save on costs.
 
my worms are california black worms (google california black worms). they live in the container you choose with just enough water to cover them. as far as i know they aren't kept in soil. my local fish store (again you can google "that fish place/that pet place") sells them in small batches that usually last me about a month. again they do take some care to keep them alive and healthy to feed to your fish. i really don't know anything about earth worms although someone might see this post and have experience with that. as far as chopping them up and adding to the tank personally i wouldn't do that because i think that would kill the worm (?) and than if the fish don't eat all of them that might foul your tank although again i have no personal experience with that. the california black worms are grown under ideal conditions and i think that is the safest thing for the fish as you might introduce disease with earth worms?
 
my worms are california black worms (google california black worms). they live in the container you choose with just enough water to cover them. as far as i know they aren't kept in soil. my local fish store (again you can google "that fish place/that pet place") sells them in small batches that usually last me about a month. again they do take some care to keep them alive and healthy to feed to your fish. i really don't know anything about earth worms although someone might see this post and have experience with that. as far as chopping them up and adding to the tank personally i wouldn't do that because i think that would kill the worm (?) and than if the fish don't eat all of them that might foul your tank although again i have no personal experience with that. the california black worms are grown under ideal conditions and i think that is the safest thing for the fish as you might introduce disease with earth worms?

silly question...i'm guessing california black worms aren't available in australia. EDIT: i think there's australian black worms...i'll investigate :
 
I have actually fed my fish some earthworms a few times (after rinsing them off really well) and my fish loved them. I had to chop them up pretty small but my fish gobbled them up and they ate most of the leftovers that went to the bottom and if they didnt eat them within an hour or so I vacuum them out. But they never had any negative impacts on my fish that I was aware of. I actually read a bit about it before I fed them any to make sure it was safe.
 
themox said:
sure...how? these are the things i'm wanting to know

Oh, I'm sorry, I've only seen a video on YouTube about it and I'm not too sure about what to do. I believe the video is called "how to culture micro worms" and try "how to raise micro worms"
 
Yep they gobbled them up gladly! Kind of the same idea as frozen or freeze dried foods
 
Austin.b said:
Oh, I'm sorry, I've only seen a video on YouTube about it and I'm not too sure about what to do. I believe the video is called "how to culture micro worms" and try "how to raise micro worms"

sweet! I'll check it out. don't apologise (I'm sorry, what I wrote sounded rude).
 
brunettebaby4571 said:
Yep they gobbled them up gladly! Kind of the same idea as frozen or freeze dried foods

thanks! I'll have a look at that. might be what I can do. my fish aren't sick but I think they're just well over the flakes I give them so I'd like to mix up their diet a bit
 
themox said:
sweet! I'll check it out. don't apologise (I'm sorry, what I wrote sounded rude).

Haha don't worry. have you thought about culturing daphnia? ( if your fish are small) its pretty easy and they will reproduce readily:)
 
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