Worms as food

[Paul B]

No you can not. Worms will squeeze through the finest net you can find and if you try a coffee filter, it will clog in ten minutes. The worms know this and don't want to make it to easy for us.

 

[Eckolancer]

Want to start out with saying this sounds like something I may need to try out. I have been in the hobby almost 15 years and have seen and read a lot. One thing I'm wondering about your tank is how does your tank still hold water after all these years? Did you switch tank? Reseal tank? If so how did you do the swap?

 

[Paul B]

My present tank is only about 38 years old. I had a smaller tank in my old home and when I moved here in 1979, I got this 100 gallon tank and I put everything from the 40 gallon into this tank. I just had to add more rocks and gravel which is dolomite.
I never did anything to it to seal it.

 

[Eienna]

Drat. So I have to do the solid tray, then, I guess.

 

[Eckolancer]

You have not had any issues with the seals on the tank being that old?

 

[Paul B]

Not so far.

 

[Reg100]

Hi there sorry to but in I have just ordered some white worms after reading this thread and I was wondering how you all feed them to your fish. I mean do you just drop them in or do you have some kind of feeder. Any help would be appreciated before my culture arrives. Thanks.

 

[Paul B]

I never just drop anything in my tank. I always use one of these.

 

[Reg100]

Thanks. Just ordered a turkey baster do you think this would be ok.

 

[ETORRES477]

Just got my culture today! I placed them in a wicker box with some top soil, made sure it was wet but not too wet, popped them in the basement fridge where I keep my portions of live black worms, and gave em a few milk soaked cheerios. Question Paul, how long do u think I'll have to wait until I have a large enough colony to harvest from, 2-3 weeks?

 

[Reg100]

Hi just got a culture mysef. Is it ok to keep them in the fridge as I'm just new to keeping these worms myself.

 

[Paul B]

how long do u think I'll have to wait until I have a large enough colony to harvest from, 2-3 weeks?

You will wait forever as the refrigerator is to cold for white worms. About 70 degrees is fine. A couple of degrees cooler is nice but I have mine at about 70 and they have been there over a year. They multiply like crazy but can't do subtraction or division very well. It should take a month or so if you feed them before you get enough to harvest, then when there are enough adults, they keep going. I give them instant mashed potatoes or matzo's that I put a little fish oil on but they will eat almost anything.

 

[Reg100]

Thanks for you advise I thought the fridge would be to cold but I wanted to be sure. Thanks again.

 

[ETORRES477]

Yeah thanks for the info Paul. I took them out of the fridge and put them in a styrofoam cooler with an ice pack, my fish room gets a little hot this time of year.

 

[NanaReefer]

Paul- I only have 2 fish. A Royal Gramma & Bi-Colored a Blenny. Found a sight that sells Micro Worm cultures & White Worm cultures. Which size would be best? I've tried the black worms and they were to big and to hard for me to keep. ATM I'm feeding only Reef Frenzy which is loved by both fish.

 

[Paul B]

White worms would be the correct size for those fish but you need to keep them in some wet dirt and feed them as I mentioned. With 2 fish the worms will last you forever but they are very good food. I would suppliment them with some clam or mysis but give some worms every day.

I took them out of the fridge and put them in a styrofoam cooler with an ice pack,

That would be better, put a Readers Digest in there for them to have something to read.

 

[dre7606]

Paul - I know you feed both white and black worms but I can't find any black worms locally. Would you order the black worms or just feed the white worms if you could not purchase the black ones locally?

 

[Paul B]

If I personally could not get black worms locally I would build a worm keeper and cycle it for a month so I would have a continuous supply of blackworms. The fish don't seem to care that you can't get the food that is best for them and they don't have much of a sense of humor. Whiteworms are great but they are a little smaller and kind of hard to separate them from the soil although I am working on a way to do that more easily.
If I could not get any worms, I could not be in this hobby as I find them the most important thing in my arsenal of fish devices.

 

[dre7606]

Thank you sir..that was what I wanted to know...so worms..worms and more worms for me

 

[NanaReefer]

White worms would be the correct size for those fish but you need to keep them in some wet dirt and feed them as I mentioned. With 2 fish the worms will last you forever but they are very good food. I would suppliment them with some clam or mysis but give some worms every day.[Quote


Thanks again Paul. Reef Frenzy has the clams plus shrimp, squid, fish and Pro-Biotics :)