Live BlackWorms: Best Fish and LPS Food Ever?

[brdl84]

Hi all, found this video on Youtube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7S5TSbc23bs. This guy has come up with a blackworm keeper of his own. He lists a few problems, but I think a few changes, and it could work.

 

[Paul B]

It looks about as complicated as mine, which is also pretty simple. Basically anything that will circulate water over the worms without squishing them in a pump will work. Mine has been running for a couple of years and I never find a dead worm. They do multiply but they don't really grow fast enough to be real useful so I still have to buy them. If I had room to keep them for a month or so to grow before I used them then I would never have to buy them.
You can build these things for practicfally free all you need is a small pump

 

[kendo]

Where do you get your blackworms from?

 

[lhm nole]

Where do you get your blackworms from?

Your local pet store can get it seagrest and sunpets both carry it and that is where most if not all your freshwater fish in your area come from

 

[kendo]

Thank you.

 

[fishyman12]

Nice I think I'm going to make that blackworm tank, thanks for the info

 

[kendo]

I just got my first batch of blackworms, can I keep them at room temp or should I refriderate? Thanks again for the info, my pet store ordered me some and they got here in about a week.

 

[Paul B]

If you don't have anything specifically built for them, you need to refrigerate them or you will have a dead smelly mess in about 2 hours.

 

[jlinzmaier]

What are the thoughts on adding live blackworms to a batch of home made frozen fish food?? Or simply ordering in a pound and freezing them in cubes?? It would likley rupture a lot of cells but I assume you'd still get a lot of nutrition out of them.

If I could freeze them in a batch of food then that would eliminate essentially all the work in keeping them alive and feeding them daily.

Any thoughts??

Jeremy

 

[SDguy]

IME they freeze, and more importantly, thaw horribly.

 

[jlinzmaier]

IME they freeze, and more importantly, thaw horribly.

That sucks!

Thanks for the reply.

Jeremy

 

[Paul B]

IME they freeze, and more importantly, thaw horribly.

I do sometimes freeze them and I just tried a batch of frozen worms. I don't see a problem with them and neither do the fish. I don't think my fish know a live one from a frozen one.
I am taking a trip soon and am having someone feed the fish. I can't ask them to put live worms in the tank so I froze a bunch of them in those small cubes that mysis comes in. I built a vacation feeder which is just a small power head sucktion cupped to the side of the tank near the top. Attached to the output of that powerhead is a small container with 1/4" holes in it. The fish babysitter just takes a film container out of my freezer which containes some frozen worms, frozen baby brine, mysis and some fish oil soaked pellets and she dumps the contents of that in the container attached to the powerhead where it thaws and gets dispersed around the tank.
Normally I feed live worms and live baby brine but I can't ask a fish babysitter to do that so it is all frozen in pre proportioned size meals.

 

[Rybren]

Paul,

Would you mind posting a pic of your film container/frozen food feeder. I remember seeing a pic a while back, but can't seem to find it any more.

Thanks

 

[jlinzmaier]

Froze some blackworms in some old brine shrimp cube packages this afternoon and they seemed to do fine. The fish ate them just as voraciously as normal.

Jeremy

 

[Beenalongtime79]

Did any figure out how to breed these in large amounts?

Also, is this really a better alternative than white worms?

 

[Paul B]

Paul,

Would you mind posting a pic of your film container/frozen food feeder. I remember seeing a pic a while back, but can't seem to find it any more.

I looked but I don't have that picture any more. It is just a small powerhead with a container on the outflow of it that has 1/4" holes in it. The thing hangs on the side of the tank at the top. The food defrosts in the container and gets pushed out the holes to the tank.

 

[Beenalongtime79]

So no one breeding these squirmy buggers in mass quantities?

 

[Beenalongtime79]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lumbriculus_variegatus

I was thinking that it isn't necessary to actually breed these little guys, but maybe just going and halving their bodies every few days to generate a large amount of individuals that will regenerate over time since that seems to be the primary mode of reproduction for this species.

Cheers,
John

 

[Paul B]

So no one breeding these squirmy buggers in mass quantities?

They reproduce but not fast enough for my needs. I could, I would imagine keep them in larger quantities in a larger enclosure but here in NY they are readily available and cheap.

 

[Beenalongtime79]

I agree, they are fairly cheap, I can buy one loaded tablespoon full for about 2 bucks. But I think it would be neat to see if I could have them reproduce fast enough to supply my tank with a three time weekly supply of a tasty and fatty treat!

Cheers,
John