Live Blackworms

[Stephen]

Since my puffers love live blackworms I'm wondering if the care instruction I got were correct. The LFS employee told me to keep them in the fridge in enough tank water to cover them and rinse them every few days. Sound good, or is there something else I should be doing to keep them alive?

Anyone know how to raise these things? So I'd have a self renewing supply? What do I need? And how is it done? I couldn't find anything with a Yahoo search. Anyone got a link to share? Or personal experience?

[VoodooChild]

I don't know to much about them, since they're prone to coming in with diseases up here, but the tap water rinse is supposed to be the best way to get rid of the leaches that often come in with them, so that's definantly right. The places around here though that sell them don't refrigerate I think, but if your LFS is doing that and selling them alive then that's what I'd do.

[OrionGirl]

Did you check out the skeptical aquariast? Pretty sure he has some info on raising black worms.

[Slappy*McFish]

Be careful with those things...I used to feed them to my fish pretty regularly, until I bought a bad batch that infected my whole tank with ich...haven't used them since.

[Stephen]

I'm hoping I don't get a bad batch... My puffers absolutely love them... They hunt them like a little wolf pack. The original 2 have ignored just about EVERYTHING I've put in the tank. I resorted to freezing my butt off in a creek a few days ago to catch some very tiny crayfish for them. They didn't pass those up... But they love the blackworms. It's a race to get to them. Kinda like watching little marbles eat spahgetti noodles. I'm loving these little fish... They look so tiny in the 30 gallon but thier actions well make up for it.

[goldfish freak]

Take a look in this discus forum http://www.simplydiscus.com/forum/ They have quite a bit of information on live blackworms there. There are several threads that dicuss them in depth. They also highly recommend this one source for safe, high quality live blackworms http://aquaticfoods.com/worms.html

[Stephen]

Orion... Thanks! I found that site. You were right about an article on blackworms. Very informative. I'm hoping I'll be able to raise some in a 10 I have. Just for your records it's Skeptical Aquarist (http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/). Thanks again...

[Tim Bo]

Informative links. I just wanted to insert that I have more success keeping these guys alive longer if I use aged water instead of aquarium water. Cool water aged a week of two has worked well for me.

[agilis]

For about $15 you can buy a blackworm holding container. The best ones I've seen, and I have two of them, are dark blue. and measure about 7''x7''x4''. The holder has two parts, a mesh-bottom tray and an outer container in which the tray sits. By adjusting the water depth, you can have a good volume of water and still keep the worms just below the surface. For long term survival, the worms must be kept cold. The refrig is best. I buy blackworms in large quantities for my fish and also for juvenile turtles. Marine angels and butterflies thrive on them.

I can easily keep blackworms alive in the refrig for two or three weeks by rinsing them thoroughly with a the pressure attachement on my kitchen sink every two or three days, and disinfecting the containers with bleach every 7 or 8 days. I use a small amount of Selcon in the wormwater, and a tiny amount of veggie powder. I've been doing this for years, with no problems of any kind, other than a squeamish girlfriend. I explained that the worms were here before her, and would, based on her attitude, be here after she was gone.

It's important to establish priorities in life.

[goldfish freak]

LOL! Agilis that last part was funny.

[wetmanNY]

My own blackworms live at cool room temperature in a low ceramic dish filled with Java Moss that they are cleaning. They get filter sponge squeezings to eat and their water is dipped out of any unmedicated aquarium. They are sensitive to chlorine and to copper.

I think there's some modest increase. but the fish eat 'em faster than I can culture them. Dr Charles Drewes developed the classic blackworm culturing techniques at www.skepticalaquarist.com and Carolina Biological Supply and elsewhere.

Slappy, your fish may have come down with Ich at the same time as you were feeding blackworms, but they didn't get transmitted by the worms. The wormwater may have been dipped out of the tank where your lfs was keeping Rosy Red feeders-- the best source of Ich in freshwater aquaria, don't y'all agree?

Keep the worms a couple of days, changing water, before you feed them to the fish.

[Slappy*McFish]

Wetman, more than likely that is what happened..but I still don't trust my source any the more so....luckily, I cured my fish with no casualties...who's to say it wouldn't happen again?..maybe if I started buying the worms from a safer source that deals mainly with blackworm cultivation, then I would feel comfortable. The point is folks, it happened to me and it could happen to you...my fish were lucky...if I had expensive fish like Discus, I would make **** sure my source had disease free worms..including the water the worms came with.....all it takes is one bad batch, and you have a tank full of disease...just be careful.:(

[wetmanNY]

It makes no sense to quarantine your fish scrupulously, and then bring in worms in water that's just been dipped out of a "feeder" fish tank at the lfs. Absolutely right.

After they've been in your care a couple of days, you even know what they've been eating!