nut. value of earth worms and night crawlers [Archive]

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AikidoGuy

12-12-2002, 12:34 PM

i see alot of people feed your fish worms. whats hte nut. value if i just buy them from a say a bait shop? high protien? how so is it cause of their diet?? which is ?

Wippit Guud

12-12-2002, 1:04 PM

What I could find quickly (about to go for lunch) :

Earthworms are very high in protein (over 70%), low in fat (less than 15%), and high in carbohydrates (around 14%)

Earthworms are high nutritional value but they should never be fed directly to fish. First place them in a box of damp clean sand to allow their digestive system to clean out. They can then be chopped up or fed whole. Earthworms should be kept alive until ready for feeding. They do not freeze well and tend to go mushy

Frameshift

12-12-2002, 1:18 PM

In a post a couple months ago a member said that insead of using sand they used cold oatmeal, to add a bit more nutrition to the worms. The member also added vitamins to the oatmeal, another added bonus for the fish.

I can't vouch for the above, but I can vouch that my fish love earthworms. :D

rjl420

12-12-2002, 1:25 PM

rather than allowing the worms digestive track to clear out, I take a more hands on approach, if your squeemish it may not be the best idea, but I squeeze all the dirt/gunk out of the worm manually. it is possible to "gut load" worms for higher nutritional value, but I really don't want to put out the effort.

oon a side note, I'm building my worm box for composting and raising worms, anyone have any suggestions?

heres a link on worms:
www.worman.com

AikidoGuy

12-12-2002, 1:48 PM

very interesting, thanks

vfrex

12-12-2002, 1:57 PM

Does it matter if the fish eats a little dirt?

OrionGirl

12-12-2002, 2:05 PM

We feed bait worms to our SW tanks as a staple part of their diet. Other than rinsing them off, we dont' worry about 'cleaning' the gut. We've been doing this for over a year, with no adverse effects. The lionfish who moved in 4-5 months ago from our reef (he was getting big enough to threaten small fish) has doubled in size since moving.

The only concerns I would have about feeding the 'dirty' worms to a freshwater tank include parasites--there are a few parasites that live in a worms gut that MIGHT be able to infect aquarium fish...But not enough that I would worry much, and none that are fatal. Most bait dealers sell 'clean' worms--many states have laws about importing bait, to prevent infection in wild fisheries. This protects aquarium fish as well.

The only other problem I have-I occassionally will chop up a worm for my fish (the newts get worm as a staple as well)-is that EVERYONE in my tank loves it, and I have to make sure no big pieces are fed. Small mouthed fish will try and swallow a huge chunk. I had to catch my peacock eel and remove a chunk of worm that he clearly would never be able to swallow.

Anton Wernher

12-12-2002, 2:16 PM

God made dirt so dirt don't hurt :)...
Like Oriongirl I never clean out my worms... Actually I don't even wash them off. I never bothered trying to raise my own as I get them cheap enough at walmart or the gas station.

AikidoGuy

12-12-2002, 2:26 PM

sounds good to me, i wouldnt bother gutting them myself maybe just rinse it off before i tdrop in in the tnak and thats about it.

roper930

12-12-2002, 2:47 PM

European Nightcrawlers are the main diet of my sting ray. I've never heard of gutting them until now....Unfortunately, the little buggers poop all over me anyway when I'm handling them between the fridge and the tank... :eek:

They are nutricious and delicious and my ray comes charging when he sees the little wiggler in my fingers!! My parrots always try and steal a worm, too. They suck 'em right down!

Beth

Tiger15

12-12-2002, 7:17 PM

An alternative to night crawler are red worm, a smaller species of earth worm that cultivate well in worm bin. You can feed them with vegetative kitchen scrap, a great well to recycle. They multiple very fast and can consume their own weight of food in two days. They don't get dirt in the gut and since they are cultivated in bedding material like peat moss and fed under control condition, I have never heard of parasites problem. Feeding them to small fish do have problem and need to be chop down in smaller pieces and it is a time consuming and messy way.

Here is a link of everything you want to know about how to keep Red Worms.

http://www.wormdigest.org/links/webworm1.html

JacksontoKobe

12-12-2002, 7:42 PM

I wash them off and feed them to my fish whole not gutted no adverse effects.

qieter

12-12-2002, 9:13 PM

anybody know anything about superworms? i saw them being sold at an lfs thanx

vic

appaloosatb

12-12-2002, 9:50 PM

I can't tell you much about superworms as food, but I work in a LFS and they bite! (literally, they bite :( ) They also grow into huge beetles if you keep them long enough. May not be helpful, but I had to put in my two yen... I have no problem with taking a dead fish out of a tank with my bare hands, rinsing blackworms, feeding blackworms or other worms, or cleaning up messes from both ends of a dog when they're smeared all over the dog bed, but I can't stand superworms! :o :eek:

Serrateeth_2002

12-13-2002, 2:54 AM

Doesn't the idea of getting earthworms from the soil or redworms from garbage sound disgusting,isn't bloodworms good enough?Anyway,my dad's fren give mealworms fishfood before giving the fish mealworms,he says the fishfood adds to the nutritional value of the worm,apart from all this,worms sound like a good source of food for those who diet.

Faramir

12-13-2002, 5:45 AM

Originally posted by Serrateeth_2002
Doesn't the idea of getting earthworms from the soil or redworms from garbage sound disgusting,

No in the first case, a bit in the second.

isn't bloodworms good enough?

But they're not free.

Anyway,my dad's fren give mealworms fishfood before giving the fish mealworms,he says the fishfood adds to the nutritional value of the worm,apart from all this,worms sound like a good source of food for those who diet.

Why not just feed the flake seperately? Less hassle all round. I can't be arsed with clearing the worms' guts either - a bit of soil'l do no harm. Who cleans out the worms that get eaten in the wild when they fall in the pond, eh?

Stias'

12-15-2002, 2:50 PM

I started 2 worm farms this spring and have been very happy with them. I keep them in my garage so now that it is winter the colder weather slows the reproduction and eating rate way down, the garage is set at 50. Other than that it has been great, my oscar loves the leaf worms and the convicts prefer the smaller red worms. Get this, I even bought a cheap pepper mill from Goodwill and dried some red worms and grind them for my fry for a treat, they go for it really well.

Start a worm bin, you will be glad you did.

Stias'

Nutritional Analysis of Red Worms

Moisture- 84.8%

Fat- 2.0%

Ash-0.7%

protein- 10.5%

From wormman.com

terror

09-25-2003, 1:30 AM

have you tried feeding your arowana earthworm?
also raising some to feed to my arowana, would like to know how your arowana like them? also what changes have you noticed on your arowana?

thanks!!

blitzen25bm

09-25-2003, 2:50 AM

you wernt asking me but i feed my arowana worms mainly nightcrawlers since they are bigger. he likes them and they are high in protien i feed so many diff things i dont know what actually works better but my fish is huge. oh about the earlier posts when you take the worms outta the fridge when they are still cold put them in a dish of warm water and they will do all the cleaning for you.

blitzen25bm

09-25-2003, 2:52 AM

or maybe it was warm worms in cold water sorry i forget but i dont remember keeping my worms warm. i forget just expieriment i know putting them in water works

terror

09-25-2003, 11:30 AM

Originally posted by blitzen25bm
you wernt asking me but i feed my arowana worms mainly nightcrawlers since they are bigger. he likes them and they are high in protien i feed so many diff things i dont know what actually works better but my fish is huge. oh about the earlier posts when you take the worms outta the fridge when they are still cold put them in a dish of warm water and they will do all the cleaning for you.

terror

09-25-2003, 11:31 AM