Live BlackWorms: Best Fish and LPS Food Ever?

[Stuart60611]

check out this article...

http://www.simplydiscus.com/library/foods_nutritions/livefood_cultures/blackworms_cultures.shtml

i read somewhere that you can use bio balls but its hard to get worms out of them if they get in 'em. they recommended eggcrate.

this article says that if your worms smell, that its bad...

Ya, thanks, I have read that article before. I hear you on the worms geting stuck in bioballs. I would choose a large biomedia, whether bioballs or or perhaps ceramic disks, etc. with the intent of not creating lots of places for the worms to get stuck. Ceramic fluval media may be a good choice because they are pretty solid and do not provide a lot of areas for the worms to hide. Also, I could use the jar method described above to catch them if necessary so geting them harvested from the biomedia may not be a problem. Do not want to go the bag or paper route in terms of feeding them because I have read it is real hard to separate the worms from the resulting mush, and worms do just fine on pellets so that problem can be avoided. Curious what you and others think of my approach as a viable way to keep the worms in mass.

 

[vaporize]

I think those maybe bloodworms? AFAIK blackworms don't freeze well (I've accidentally tried ).

blood worm is insect larve, so unless you are in asia, you don't typically buy those live

black worm need to be in cold water and some people suggested the toilet bowl culturing method

 

[thatguy559]

just found this site
http://www.aquaticfoods.com/intros.html

 

[twelvejewelz]

Live blackworms are a great food to invoke a feeding response from hard to feed fish. I have a fish that didnt eat for about 11 days from the day i got him(paracentropyge multifasciata). I tried about 25 different things from frozen, to flake, to pellet to freeze dried everything and he wouldnt even mouth the foods. I figured id give the blackworms a shot because if he didnt eat now he probably wouldnt survive. Well sure enough the second they hit the water ALL of the fish including both of the multibar's tore into the blackworms like they never ate in their lives. Live blackworms bought me time to ween the fish onto other foods. I keep them on a counter in a few plastic cups with an inch of water in each one and change out the water once a day. They usually live about 3 weeks for me at room temperature with no food. +1 for live blackworms

 

[Paul B]

If you keep worms in a tank with bioballs it will be difficult to harvest the worms and seperate them from blackworm poop which will build up all over those bioballs.
If you keep them in a trough with running water, the worms stay clean in the trough and the poop goes into the tank below where it could be easily sucked out when you change the water.
But you can keep them in a tank, it is just harder. I have been using them all my life, and I'm old. :beachbum:

 

[snorvich]

Curious what you and others think of my approach as a viable way to keep the worms in mass.

Well Paul B has been doing it a long time and his approach works well; I am in progess getting started with this as he does it. Your approach is theoretical. Why reinvent when you can copy?

 

[SDguy]

I just got some H2O 50/50 mix in that has brine, mysis and black worms in it

blood worm is insect larvae, so unless you are in Asia, you don't typically buy those live

Pretty sure "H2O brand 50/50 mix" means frozen food... not really sure how you'd mix all that together as live food. Maybe I'm wrong though

 

[snorvich]

Pretty sure "H2O brand 50/50 mix" means frozen food... not really sure how you'd mix all that together as live food. Maybe I'm wrong though

Yes, that brand is frozen (which probably precludes black worms). Don't you sleep?

 

[SDguy]

Yes, that brand is frozen (which probably precludes black worms). Don't you sleep?

:lol: Best thing about my schedule is I finish work at 3pm.

And I will be buying blackworms today right after that, since the LFS here gets them in today. Nice fresh, fat, and squirmy!

 

[snorvich]

I have been using them all my life, and I'm old. :beachbum:

Ah, be careful about using pejoratives such as "old". What WE are is "experienced". :beer: :celeb1:

 

[snorvich]

:lol: Best thing about my schedule is I finish work at 3pm.

And I will be buying blackworms today right after that, since the LFS here gets them in today. Nice fresh, fat, and squirmy!

Ah, I finish work right after I fix breakfast!! And who are you calling "Nice fresh, fat, and squirmy!"? :spin2:

 

[Bret61081]

I tried them in my reef tank a few years back when I was having trouble getting a Venusus to eat....nothing in my tank touched them! Just the bristle worms came out for them. Havent tried in years but my fish are kinda spoiled with the spectrum 3 times a day and PE once!

 

[SDguy]

I tried them in my reef tank a few years back when I was having trouble getting a Venustus to eat....nothing in my tank touched them! Just the bristle worms came out for them. Haven't tried in years but my fish are kinda spoiled with the spectrum 3 times a day and PE once!

IME fish are often kind of spooked by them. They don't really look like anything we normally feed. But once they try them once, they are usually hooked.

 

[Quis]

I have been telling people about these for 40 years. I use them every day and invented a worm keeper to keep them alive in. I don't like to put them in the fridge

 

[Paul B]

What WE are is "experienced".

Ah yes, that is what I meant. (but I have amphipods older than most members here) :eek2:

 

[jmaneyapanda]

Does anyone know the nutritional value of them?

 

[Stuart60611]

Well Paul B has been doing it a long time and his approach works well; I am in progess getting started with this as he does it. Your approach is theoretical. Why reinvent when you can copy?

My idea is not something that I completely came up with, but it is rather something I got from postings on the web from others who have kept the worms this way with gravel. My only change would be instead of using gravel I would use bioballs or other biomedia so as to provide biofiltration. The only reason I would go my route is it seems a bit easier to make than having a trought and a pump going to feed the trough. As far as harvesting difficulties, I would think the jar approach I posted could solve that issue. I like Paul's way of doing it, I just like an easier approach than having to design the trought and return. Also, unlike Paul, I will not be doing this in a garage or the like, but I will be keeping these worms in a spare bedroom inside. As such, I want an approach that is not going to be messy with water spashing, etc.

 

[SDguy]

Does anyone know the nutritional value of them?

I scoured various FW boards and discus forums, but never found any hard numbers...

 

[Paul B]

Does anyone know the nutritional value of them?

I have no idea but I do know they are full of the correct oil that fish need. All of the fish I have ever gotten to breed including my still breeding gobies and fireclowns were conditioned with blackworms. I also got blue devils to spawn in 1972 using blackworms.
My fish keep in breeding condition with the addition of blackworms almost every day.

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

I scoured various FW boards and discus forums, but never found any hard numbers...

I'm wondering if it depends on the "freshness" and what they're fed before/after purchase by a hobbyist. In other words, can you "gut load" them by feeding something nutritional before adding to your tank?

Though, Paul's obvious success feeding them on paper towels kind of throws that theory out the window. :lol: