BlackWorm....FAIL.

[Whiterabbitrage]

So I was reading how great blackworms are. So nutrient rich and tasty. They get fish into breeding condition. They are fresh water, so easy to culture and do not transfer disease to saltwater. Great!
So I got some and started culturing away. So excited to see fishes go into ecstatic feeding frenzy mode.
Except they didn't. They just stared at the wriggling worms.
The wrasse tried one bite and spat it out. They waited for for food, but ignored the worms. The next day I figured the fish would be more used to the worms. And they were. They did not bother staring at the worms and the wrasse did not bother tasting them. The fish just waited by the feeding station for their regular food. Fresh salmon.
Spoiled brats.

 

[LukFox]

You could try holding off on the food a bit more, or feed lightly and just keep trying (not so much to pollute your water though, and if you can remove the uneaten ones that is best). Some of my fish took months to catch on, but as long as one fish was brave enough to be the first, the others followed. Sorry to hear your fish aren't making it easy on you!

 

[ciodavid]

The fish just waited by the feeding station for their regular food. Fresh salmon.
Spoiled brats.

Lol so your not the only one that your fish have you wrapped around their fin?

 

[Gogandantess]

You're not the only one. Only my Naso Tang would eat them. I gave up on them.

 

[triggreef]

Sometimes it takes a while. I posted this a couple times now, but I have a leopard wrasse that wouldn't touch them for months, despite my trying due to others in his tank eating them. Then one day he caught on. Months, not days.

I also have a butterfly that refused to eat anything for over 3 weeks. Nothing. Thought for sure he was a goner. Out of now where he started eating the worms. For a long time the worms were his only diet. Now he eats all frozen, flakes, pellets, everything. He went from being the shyest and most scared fish ever, to almost eating out of my hand.

That I owe to the black worms. Now a couple days in to feeding them to my several tanks worth of many types of fish, with the same results you posted.... I had the same attitude. Don't give up it will be worth it. I haven't lost a fish since I started feeding the worms. Aside from a few leopards that didnt get through QT but that was inevitable.

Now I have a huge flat with a sump with bio balls that I use to propagate the worms in my garage. It uses one small pump. and I have to go grab worms once a month or so to replenish, which costs me $6 at the local fish store.

 

[SDguy]

Yup, as others have said, just give it some time. Funny this thread pops up now... I haven't fed LBW for a while, and happen to be at a LFS that carries them, so I bought some and fed them to my fish last night. Holy crp, I'm genuinely concerned at the girth of some of my fish! :eek2:

 

[dixiedog]

My fish were scared of blackworms when they first saw them.

 

[Dmorty217]

I wouldn't expect all of the current members of the tank that obviously have taken to prepared frozen foods to suddenly devour something they have never seen before, whether its alive or not. It took several weeks of me putting nori in my tank to get my tangs to take to it, now it doesn't last 3 mins in my tank. Point is dont give up so quickly

 

[Spyderturbo007]

It took several weeks of me putting nori in my tank to get my tangs to take to it, now it doesn't last 3 mins in my tank.

My Tang was deathly afraid of the lettuce clip the first time I put it in the tank with some Nori. Now I can barely get my hand out of the tank before he's all over it ripping pieces off.

 

[Fish Biscuit]

Given a choice of salmon or worms, I'd be going for the salmon too.

 

[flyhigh123]

sometimes the first time you see something big and black and wiggling, you get scared...

 

[Squidmotron]

lol. I had the exact same experience. I think my fish are a bit set in their ways..

 

[triggreef]

sometimes the first time you see something big and black and wiggling, you get scared...

lol. I had the exact same experience.

You mean with something big, black, and wiggly? :eek2: :lol:

 

[dotcommer]

been reading about them, definitely want to give them a try.

 

[Dmorty217]

been reading about them, definitely want to give them a try.

Feed them sparingly until the fish take to them, the die almost immidiately after being put in saltwater. Some place them in a container in their tanks so they aren't blown around and sucked into the filter immediately