Feeding blackworms

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brennae

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Jun 28, 2012
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Near Chicago, IN
I have read varying things about which fish should and should not get blackworms. Any thoughts?

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Unless their strict herbivores, such as some African cichlids & plecs they can eat them. Omnivores a bit less, you'll want a balanced diet with them, carnivores a bit more, but as stated, balance is also needed with them.
 
I'm just using them as a treat to supplement and give the fish some excitement. Lol. My rainbows go nuts over them as do the goldies.

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Yes!! I got pygmy corys, killifish and red guppies for my mom along with some dry goods. I was one of the first 20 in the door. It was extremely crowded so I shopped really fast and got out of there.

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I'm the guy that sells blackworms there, Organic Blackworms. I work in Harvey, just west of the Il/In border, maybe a mile north of I80 on Halsted. Hope you're not paying shop price for them! I've got a dozen pounds left out of 50 that I didn't sell, rinsing them as I walk back & forth to the computer. I usually get in 25 pounds at a time, but double up for their swaps, real busy events!
 
Yeah I got them from the Ark in merrillville. I may be hitting you up when I need more.

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Greenwater has an auction coming up Jan 18th, that's a real easy drive from Indiana, closer than the GCCA swap. The next GCCA swap is Jan 25th, that's sure to be a busy one as well. I picked up a couple 300w heaters & 50 little L144's, neat little plecs.
 
Cool. I'll probably hit up both swaps. I've been to GCCA before but not Greenway yet. I know where Alsip is though. Gotta love Swap-o-rama.

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My wife & I hit Swap-o-rama a few times a year when it's nice out. There's some deals to be had there if you know what your looking for. I'm real active with Greenwater, their meetings are 15 minutes from my house. I like working their auctions, get to hang out & shoot the breeze with a whole lot of people, selling at GCCA swaps are way too busy for that!
 
That makes me feel better about going to Greenwater. People were pushing at GCCA. I only stayed in the selling rooms 30 minutes. I shop fast!

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Oh, auction starts at 11am, runs until 5 or 6, usually a little over 600 items for sale. We try to push it as a family event, kids activities & such, food being sold all day, it's a good time! Nowhere near as crazy as a GCCA swap, they've had to let people in early in the past, the outside is so packed it was violating occupancy & fire code. I make better money at the swap, but the auction is more of a play day, even with working it.
 
How often do I rinse the blackworms and change the water? Or am I keeping them wrong?

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They should be rinsed daily. You'll want them in a container large enough to keep them in a layer no more than 1/4" thick. This generally means a sandwich size tupperware container for 1/4 pound, a shoebox size container for a pound.

Once daily fill the container with cold tap water, no need to dechlor. Wait a minute for them to settle to the bottom, pour off as much water as possible, they need access to air as much as water. The biggest problems I see is from people keeping them in too much water, not rinsing daily, or not refrigerating them.

If you don't want to refrigerate them you can keep about 1/4 pound in a 10 gallon tank, no heater needed. Run a sponge filter, you will have to keep the filter off the bottom as they will sneak into the pores of the foam.

To get a visual on it, here's a quick tutorial on another site; Organic Blackworms - Blackworm Care


As far as the auction, my biggest downfall is the giant pizza slices. We hold our events at a park district facility, and have the gymnastic team do concessions, brings in money for their team. They bring in stacks of boxes of pizzas, I'm a real sucker for it, after a couple working the auction slows down for me.
 
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