I have had a 150 planted running for about 10 months now. It houses a Blackbelt Cichlid (11") and a 8" Pleco, and it has just been too difficult to keep things looking tidy in this tank with such a territorial (he thinks he's an interior decorator! ) cichlid, so I wanted to remove pretty much all the plants.
While I was pulling up the Vals and Swords, I noticed several red (bloodworm colored) miniature "earthworm-looking" babies, some of which are up to 4" or so wrapped up tightly in the rootball. They are living and doing fine, and I've discovered at least 30 or so in all my roots.
I assume they are earthworms because I have found earthworms while gardening and have brought them in a few occasions to feed to my cichlid, which he appreciates very much, but somehow one must have escaped. Another possibility is that a segment of one regenerated (which they do) and found safety and was able to multiply.
They questions I have are:
1) Are they a problem to have growing in the substrate and in general in the aquarium? I can't see why, but maybe they can be.
2) Are they possibly eating my plant roots or just enjoying living next to the most oxygen rich part of the substrate?
3) Is it possible for them to overpopulate an aquarium? Especially since I'm wanting to move these plants to a smaller tank with smaller, less aggressive fish which probably won't be able to eat even a smaller earthworm. I cannot detach them without destroying the rootball almost entirely. If it could be a problem, I may just toss these plants.
4) Could they actually be a highly productive and helpful addition to aquariums? I use roughly a 50/50 mix of playsand and Flourite, and the worms seem to move quite readily through this substrate. They could even help to loosen the soil and aid in oxygenation. Not to mention that they would probably be excellent at breaking down uneaten food and such into more processed "castings" for bacteria and plants to use. Is this simply a more bio-diverse tank now, and as such, more stable?
I think I'm going to add this to the Cichlid forum as well, since more often people add earthworms to tanks with larger cichlids, so they might have some decent input!
Thanks for your time and input!
While I was pulling up the Vals and Swords, I noticed several red (bloodworm colored) miniature "earthworm-looking" babies, some of which are up to 4" or so wrapped up tightly in the rootball. They are living and doing fine, and I've discovered at least 30 or so in all my roots.
I assume they are earthworms because I have found earthworms while gardening and have brought them in a few occasions to feed to my cichlid, which he appreciates very much, but somehow one must have escaped. Another possibility is that a segment of one regenerated (which they do) and found safety and was able to multiply.
They questions I have are:
1) Are they a problem to have growing in the substrate and in general in the aquarium? I can't see why, but maybe they can be.
2) Are they possibly eating my plant roots or just enjoying living next to the most oxygen rich part of the substrate?
3) Is it possible for them to overpopulate an aquarium? Especially since I'm wanting to move these plants to a smaller tank with smaller, less aggressive fish which probably won't be able to eat even a smaller earthworm. I cannot detach them without destroying the rootball almost entirely. If it could be a problem, I may just toss these plants.
4) Could they actually be a highly productive and helpful addition to aquariums? I use roughly a 50/50 mix of playsand and Flourite, and the worms seem to move quite readily through this substrate. They could even help to loosen the soil and aid in oxygenation. Not to mention that they would probably be excellent at breaking down uneaten food and such into more processed "castings" for bacteria and plants to use. Is this simply a more bio-diverse tank now, and as such, more stable?
I think I'm going to add this to the Cichlid forum as well, since more often people add earthworms to tanks with larger cichlids, so they might have some decent input!
Thanks for your time and input!
