Blackworms in my tank idea?

[lmhicks101]

Morning to all you fishy people. I was thinking of introducing some black worms to my tank to give my Kuhlis and other fish some hunting fun.
 

I know they’re not harmful or anything and the worst I’ll get is a carpet of wiggles. I don’t mind that but I do have white planaria in the tank. As I don’t have shrimp I don’t care and they can have all the snail eggs they can eat.

The question is will they bother the black worms? I see them near the detritus worms a lot but never see them eating them. 

[Fish Folk]

Should be just fine. Black Worms are an amazing live food. All our fish breed when on a diet of live black worms. It’s worth it to buy from a reputable live food specialist rather than just your LFS. 

[Its Hutch]

I've got black worms in 3 of my tanks and the fish definitely hunt for them. Sometimes I think they are all gone but after a couple of weeks their numbers come back and they are everywhere again. Corydoras, kuhlis, mollies all actively hunt for them.

[lmhicks101]

Okay thank you guys. I just wanted to make sure the planarias  wouldn’t kill them off. 

[OnlyGenusCaps]

On 12/23/2021 at 11:52 AM, Fish Folk said:

It’s worth it to buy from a reputable live food specialist rather than just your LFS.

Really?!  Tell me more, please. 

[Fish Folk]

On 12/26/2021 at 9:52 AM, OnlyGenusCaps said:

Really?!  Tell me more, please. 

Forum guidelines prohibit sharing names of or promotion of aquatic businesses, otherwise I’d link.

Basically, your LFS is the last step in a small handful of middle-men when it comes to live foods. Black worms are healthiest when the steps from culture-farm to your aquarium are strictly limited.

Edited December 26, 2021 by Fish Folk

[OnlyGenusCaps]

Thanks, @Fish Folk!  I know of places I can order - even some posted here previously.  That wasn't my main interest, but thank you for considering it as a part of the reply!

I think I understand what you are saying, but I'll try to restate in case I failed.  You are saying that the worms are all grown on a few farms and the sooner you get them, the healthier they are?  I guess, I haven't noticed the the ones I get at my LFS aren't healthy.  They sometimes have too many leeches though.  But if they are coming from the same farms, I wouldn't be able expect fewer, right?  I hope this doesn't come off as argumentative.  It is so rare people say don't shop your LFS for something, that I'm really interested.  I'd certainly be excited to get blackworms with no leeches.  So much so, I've even considered culturing my own.

[Fish Folk]

@OnlyGenusCaps in my experience, there’s always _some_ leeches.

Yes, the goal is to make a direct order from a live food culture specialist. Most LFS won’t be able to take time to wash and care for black worms. Here’s my system…

 

Edited December 26, 2021 by Fish Folk

[Fish Folk]

Here’s the how-to for daily cleaning…

 

[lmhicks101]

@Fish Folk I just changed out my substrate from fluval stratum to HTH sand so I’m reconsidering  letting them in my main tank. How long do they last in the fridge? My local store can only get them as small as a 1/4 pound so is that to much for a 29 gallon with some Kuhlis, pygmy corries, harlequins, and cardinals or would that last awhile? 

Edited December 27, 2021 by lmhicks101

[Fish Folk]

On 12/26/2021 at 7:55 PM, lmhicks101 said:

@Fish Folk I just changed out my substrate from fluval stratum to HTH sand so I’m reconsidering  letting them in my main tank. How long do they last in the fridge? My local store can only get them as small as a 1/4 pound so is that to much for a 29 gallon with some Kuhlis, pygmy corries, harlequins, and cardinals or would that last awhile? 

That’s hard to say for sure. In the video above, 1/4 lb. is roughly an entire tray worth. I’m not too familiar with the sand you describe. If it compacts very much, the worms might stay on top of it awhile. Your fish will probably do things you’ve never seen before. Our Bronze Corys would literally bury their faces in the sand to pull out black worms 😂

If the worms survive a few days, your fish will be totally gorged… and will probably breed the next time you do a water change. I’m not sure how to predict how many worms might remain as an ongoing snack. When I “seeded” the substrate for our Okefenokee Pygmy Sunfish, it was cheap pea-gravel. Worms survived for a few weeks. I never fed the OPS, and they spawned soon thereafter.

Now, if the worms _die_ in your tank uneaten, there’s risk of fatal ammonia spike. I usually feed liberally and assume some survive a few days. But I’ve never dumped a 1/4 lb. in at once. I’d be very careful to wash out Black Worms from LFS. I’ve gotten them in 70% DOA before…

[OnlyGenusCaps]

On 12/26/2021 at 2:47 PM, Fish Folk said:

Here’s the how-to for daily cleaning…

Thanks for linking the vids!  I use a technique to keep them much like Wild Fish Tanks does:

That seems to keep them going for me for more than a month without issues.  Plus, I am pretty sure they grow and I end up with moire than i bought.

On 12/26/2021 at 7:43 PM, Fish Folk said:

I’ve gotten them in 70% DOA before…

Wow!  Now I see why you want to order.  I've been lucky then.  I've never had a noticeable dead component from my place here.  I feel really fortunate! 

Thanks again for walking me through your system and rational! 

[Odd Duck]

@lmhicks101 I can’t say I’ve seen it happen with blackworms, but I have seen planaria attack whiteworms.  I was out of blackworms when I started having a planaria issue.  I’ve treated the planaria (I used No Planaria after removing all nerites and nerite relatives from the tank) and cleared them before blackworms became available again.

I would make the assumption that if they attack and kill whiteworms they would likely do the same for blackworms, but I do not know that for certain.

[Fish Folk]

@OnlyGenusCaps thanks for sharing the Wild Fish Tanks video. Good info there! @Atitagain may have already watched this with his Black Worm project, but if not, it’s a great piece of the puzzle. 

[lmhicks101]

@Odd Duckthabk you for that. I’ll definitely use that before trying to add black worms. Even though I completely redid my tank and took out the old substrate for sand I found some on the wood in the tank. 
 

is it this?

Edited December 28, 2021 by lmhicks101

[Atitagain]

@Fish Folk @OnlyGenusCaps I have seen the video by @Wild Fish Tanks . I based my set up on his, only differences are I have a waterfall system and I keep oak leaf litter in the tank.

My 3G set up has been running 5 weeks now and I’ve seeded a 10G and they seem to be reproducing.

[Fish Folk]

On 12/28/2021 at 6:13 AM, Atitagain said:

@Fish Folk @OnlyGenusCaps I have seen the video by @Wild Fish Tanks . I based my set up on his, only differences are I have a waterfall system and I keep oak leaf litter in the tank.

My 3G set up has been running 5 weeks now and I’ve seeded a 10G and they seem to be reproducing.

You are in BUSINESS!!

[Rube_Goldfish]

My LFS has started selling blackworms in small cups, supplied by a local hobbyist.  I'm not sure how many there are in terms of mass, but just eyeballing it, I estimate that there are between two and three dozen worms in there, so it's not a big quantity (the cup itself is maybe a four or so ounces capacity).  Anyway, I have a 10 gallon with two honey gouramis and five cardinals tetras with a gravel substrate.  I didn't buy the cup of worms when I was last there, because I figured it was too many for my little community, and I assumed the uneaten worms would be a problem in the tank (and I knew there was no way my wife would be okay with live worms in our refrigerator!).  But from what I read above, it seems like any 'leftover' blackworms might just escape into the substrate and maybe get picked off over time by the fish?  I has no expectation of the worms reproducing or anything; I just don't want to have any problems with ammonia spikes or anything else from uneaten blackworms.  Could I get away with buying the cup?

[Odd Duck]

I have seeded multiple tanks with blackworms.  If your biofiltration is good and you have clean, heathy worms, you’re pretty safe adding 2-3 dozen to most tanks, but I would add them after lights out so your fish don’t go on an eating binge.  The waste created from an eating binge could give you an ammonia/nitrite spike.