Live blackworm keeper

[Paul B]

I have always fed my fish live blackworms and consider them to be the best possable food for fish, especially to get them into spawning condition. These should not be the only things fed or your fish will eat nothing else.
They are also the Ideal food for copperband and longnose butterflies.
I have gotten many different types of fish to spawn by feeding these.
Most people keep them in the refrigerator and you can unless you are married to my wife.
I have found that by keeping them in shallow water with current, they live for many weeks and can be fed to keep them healthy.
I have had many designs to keep them but this one has been working for a couple of years and I never lose a worm.
The shallow 12" tray (found in a supermarket for $2.00) has two tubes coming out of the bottom. Their is an air line in the larger, left tube. The water goes down the right tube and enters the left tube where it goes back up and flows across the worms.
There is a few pieces of window screen formed into a loop with a gluegun. The worms love window screen and hang out on it. I swirl the screens in some fresh water to remove the worms.
Simple.

 

[ILikeFish]

very nice! do the worms reproduce in their too?

 

[NYreefNoob]

i just picked some up, my clowns ignored them wrasse's didnt notice them and tang ran from them lol but the lantern basslet loves them

 

[Paul B]

NYreefNoob, You got to be kidding me, I never saw a fish that diden't love them.
The worms re produce but they are so cheap that I don't count on that.
Live blackworms are very common on the counter of any pet shop in NY. I do understand they are not available in other parts of the country. I have been buying them since the sixtees. You can get them on line but you have to buy a lot of them.
Worms are the best thing you can feed to fish because you are feeding the entire animal with it's internal organs. Worms, even freshwater worms are high in Omega 3 oils essential to fish.
Most freshwater animals are not good to feed to saltwater fish, worms are the exception. I get most of my gobies to spawn using these worms and I have bred clowns, blue devils, dominoes, and Bangai cardinals using them.
The worms arwe cheap and maybe you can get your LFS to carry them. They sell for about $1.50 a portion which is a clump of them as large as a ping pong ball. That lasts me a week or two as I don't feed too many at a time.
A small fish like a clown gobi can get by with one worm a day

__________________

 

[jejton]

Omega-3's are great for humans too.

 

[NYreefNoob]

i think it freaks them out, now most of the fish will eat them, but i think the wiggle in their mouth freaks them out, cause they will spit them back out and grab again

 

[sjlesq]

where do you get the black worms? I am in deer park and have not seen any. My copperband would probably love some.

Sal

 

[Paul B]

Sal, I don't know the pet shop in Deer Park but I don't think I ever saw a pet shop in NY that did not carry them. I am in new Hyde Park, we have New Hyde Park pets, Pet Barn, and petco that have them. (I am not sure about Petco as I don't go in there)

 

[spacenyc]

blackworm story

many years ago i had arrowanas and would feed them blackworms. when i moved out of my parents house i left the tank dry at their house for many years. when i met my wife i set up a turtle tank using the former arrowana tank which had been dry for at least 7 years in her house as a gift. one day she came home to a house full of blackworrm flys. the eggs had been dormant and when i set it up they all hatched.

 

[Paul B]

Does David Copperfield live there?
Wierd

 

[spacenyc]

assume they were in gravel

assume they were in the gravel waiting for the water and the heat. took me a few weeks to figure out where they came from, still have nt told her where they came from

 

[ecvernon]

i used to buy live black worms and live brine shrimp from petland discounts all over brooklyn. never tried feeding in my tank though. i was kind scared because in my frsh water tank if frd too much they would reproduce under the substrate and and rocks

 

[KathyC]

Most Petland Discount stores carry them and you can buy a 'portion' at a time.
Just keep in mind that they will die and add to pollution in a SW tank, so feed only as many as your fish will immediately eat and store the remainder.
If you keep them in the fridge, you need to frequently change the water which should either be distilled or aged, or tap that is treated to remove chlorine.

No way I am keeping worms in my fridge again Paul...lol Back when I had my FW fish spawing I did..but they are so disgusting...ewwww..lol Definitely agree that they are an outstanding food source when you are trying to spawn!

 

[jejton]

Blackworms ( aka California blackworms ) are annelids, related to tubifex worms but better. Unlike tubifex, they are raised in cold-water trout ponds. Tubifex are harvested from polluted water with high nutrient content but also lots of parasites. Bloodworms are midge larvae. The blackworms need cold water with good flow to really survive and reproduce and they need access to air as thats how they get oxygen, which is why they are kept in shallow water. The high flow probably helps with the oxygen as well as circulate nutrients to and waste from the worms. Keeping them in the fridge, in a shallow container with just a little water over them is great way. Once in a while crumble some fish food in it or even layer the bottom with brown paper towel. It will be colonized by microorganisms and the blackworms will feed on them. If you feed them to a tropical FW tank, they will survive briefly, which is why they are great as they dont pollute the tank, but will eventually die as the water is too deep and warm. However the fish usually eat them before that point. I've had some short term reproduction in some of my tanks but eventually they die because of the abovestated reasons. The one exception was my fire-bellied toad tank as they survived in the very shallow muddy section.

NYReefNOOB- The wiggling is probably what entices your fish to grab them. The taste might be what's causing them to spit it out. I had the same issue with my fish but after a few tastes, they started chomping them down. Make sure not too feed too much at one shot as they will die and pollute your tank.
Spacenyc - Blackworms ( annelids, related to earthworms, tubeworms and bristleworms - http://www.eeob.iastate.edu/faculty/DrewesC/htdocs/Lvfacts.PDF for more info on blackworms ) are not fly larvae so either you are confusing them with bloodworms (the ones commonly sold in the aquarium trade as frozen, but also sometimes live, food are midge larvae http://members.optushome.com.au/chelmon/Bloodworm.htm ) or the infestation was from another source.

 

[Killerdrgn]

Actually I don't think black worms are very particular on where they live. I dropped some into my mom's 75 gallon Parrot tank (warm deep environment), and some survived. Now the entire layer of gravel is full of black worms. Same thing in my turtle tank, (unheated shallow environment) the sand and bricks i hat in there are full of black worms.

 

[Paul B]

Killer ,I also remember when I had fresh water tanks the worms would survive forever but if you try to keep a decent amount of them like that, they would not do so well.
You could keep them in a tank with fresh water and gravel but they would be all over the place and you could not collect them in any quantity to feed to anything.

 

[Killerdrgn]

Yeah they're really all over the place, but very spread out. I was just saying that I don't think they were very particular on how you keep them. I used to keep them in a 10 gallon tank that had no flow and the water reached the top of the tank, and they did very well. Until i moved and forgot about them long enough for all the water to evaporate.

 

[Arati]

I just tried some in my reef, and the fish gave them an A+ . Thanks for the tip Paul.

 

[sjlesq]

Thanks so much for the tip. I went to Petland and bought some blackworms. My copperband loves them. i was so worried that he would not get enough to eat just from the live rocks. My foxface and chromis suck them up also. Great tip!!!!!!!