Earthworms as Food

[Paul B]

I have been using Earthworms as food for all sorts of animals since the fifties. (yes that was last century and the earth was here then) Frogs, turtles, snakes and a variety of other animals love worms and they form a large part of the diet of many animals.

For some reason we as aquarists rarely use or even discuss this great and "free" food and IMO one of the best and healthiest foods out there.
Besides worms having the proper nutrients. They also contain soil and soil is full of bacteria. I feel this bacteria is sorely needed in this hobby because the vast majority of food we use is commercially packaged and sold as food. There is "almost" nothing wrong with commercial fish food, I use commercial frozen food myself but commercial food may have one huge problem. It usually has no live gut bacteria and gut bacteria is what makes almost 100% the immunity of fish. Yes, many commercial foods contain Pro Biotics and that is for another thread.

If you read any of my threads (no, you don't have to) I am very big on gut bacteria and how it is vital to immunity. I believe that is also why this week my reef made it to 53 years old and nothing in my tank has ever been quarantined or medicated for at least the last 45 years.

Just two days ago I took my morning walk in the rain. There were worms all over the place which is unusual for the wintertime in New York, but it was warm. I collected 5 or 6 worms. I have 3 Red Waspfish and they are finicky eaters and many times are just to slow to get any food. They are predators and can eat large food so don't have to be fed every day but they do have to eat.



I chopped up a worm into half inch pieces shown below.
Using one of these, I shot a worm near my Waspfish and he immediately "woke up" and sucked up the worm. Normally I have to hit him on the head with a piece of clam multiple times to let him know it is feeding time, but earthworms, blackworms or I imagine, any worm makes them go crazy. The biggest problem is keeping the other fish away but using that "baster" that I made, I can just about put the food in the fishes mouth.



Earthworms are also excellent food for anemones and crabs. I can't think of an aquatic animal besides pipefish and seahorses that won't eat worms.
I can and always have depended on worms for hard to feed creatures and they are almost always available and large amounts of them can be collected and kept for long periods of time as long as they are kept damp


Quote:

Abstract​

Earthworms have been a traditional medicine in China for at least 2300 years. Because of medicine food homology in China, people have been using earthworms as a food for several centuries. Earthworms are rich in protein and various amino acids; the protein content of earthworm meal was 54.6–59.4% on dry weight. Their protein content and amino acid composition are better than those of fish meal, cow milk and soybean meal. The crude fat content of earthworm meal was 7.34%. Earthworm protein is easily hydrolyzed into free amino acids. The hydrolyzed body fluids contain 9.34% protein and 78.73 mg of free amino acids per liter of raw fluid and are rich in vitamins and minerals. By the fast development of molecular biological techniques, more Verm pharmaceuticals and functional components were isolated from earthworms. An antibacterial peptide and a functional earthworm powder were introduced in this paper. In short, based on its nutrient content and functional components, earthworms could be an excellent raw material source as homology of medicine and food for human use, especially as functional food in the future.

 

[TX_REEF]

That waspfish is super cool looking. never even heard of them before.

Might have to go digging in the yard after work...

 

[Paul B]

They are cool, I have 3 of them and want more but they are not often seen.

 

[grumpyguppy]

What an amazing idea!!!! Thanks for passing it forward. Many of us could learn plenty from someone who has a 53yr old reef tank.

 

[Totroc3]

After reading the post earlier today I went outside and got about 10 worms off the wet driveway and my fish went crazy for them. Next time I’ll need far more since they were gobbled up in about 2 seconds. Thanks for the tip Paul!

 

[Brian Smith]

Are you concerned at all with pesticide contamination? How about weed killers?

 

[vdubers]

Congratulations on the 53 years of the reef tank! Thats an impressive feat! I loved your book btw and routinely feed mussels that I gather fresh from the Cornish coast and have just started a white worm culture. Might give these earthworms a try!

 

[Katrina71]

Are you concerned at all with pesticide contamination? How about weed killers?

I had the same concern, so I sourced mine from a hilltop area in the woods.

 

[Dmmz]

I am not sure about the worms but that fish is nice

 

[Paul B]

Are you concerned at all with pesticide contamination? How about weed killers?

I am surrounded by farms and golf courses so pesticides and weed killer is a problem.

I take them as far from those places as I can and if I see weeds, I know there is no weed killer. I have been feeding earthworms all my life so how bad can it be. I assume if the worm is alive, there can't be to much bug killer in it.

 

[ralquist]

Very interesting, thanks for the tip! Just ordered your book, can't wait to check it out!

 

[Manpeckz]

Patiently waiting for next rainfall.

I should’ve maybe thrown in more than a test piece. These things could cause a fight!!

Thanks for this Paul!

 

[Eric81]

I started doing this recently. My Copperband Loves them!

 

[Clem75]

I've used redworms from my indoor compost bins that I chop up a few times a week and my fish love them. Worms are an amazing sorce of food for my fish,composting for my garden and fertilizer for my plants. Nice write up on the benefits.

 

[exnisstech]

My fresh water fish loved worms but the fish I keep now won't touch them.

 

[drblank1]

That may be a great food source. But I only will give my fish what they would eat in the wild. If it works, then cool for you.

 

[McPuff]

I haven't tried worms yet but my triggers really enjoy when I give them some vermetid snails to slurp out of the shell! :0) They LOOK like worms.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Coffee grounds on a paper plate in yard = nightcrawler bonanza. Grandma's fishing worm collection method. Also had two metal rods with wooden handles... that plugged into 120V. Suff them into the ground and the little buggers come top the surface to get away from the tingle.... the "safe" things that used to be sold in the 20's through the 60's or so.

Like this

 

[Paul B]

Bean I used t do that when I fished a lot.

Drblank1 I also feed what they get in the sea. Clams and salt water mysis normally. These 3 Waspfish I have are difficult to feed unless I give them earthworms because they wiggle and the waspfish bites the baster until the worms come out.

 

[Celestion]

Night crawlers. Kinda dirty full sand and gravel sticks wood , kinda moldy smell , decent food , taKe the time to clean , a good scissors small and container for rinse , fish will get sick of them lol