Feeding fish red wigglers?

[tolstoy21]

I've had a worm composting system running in my basement for years now to recycle my home's organic waste and to use the output in my rose garden (rose gardening being my other, and probably longest-lived hobby; been at it a few decades now!).

It just dawned on me to ask . . . can I use these as live food? I have a bajillion, more or less an endless supply.

Anyone have experience with this? Pros? Cons? Tips?

Don't know why I never thought to ask this before.

[Daniel]

I have had very good luck with red wigglers. Big fish love them. Discus love them. Angelfish love them.

Even small fish love them. Just dice them up like an onion (but clean the cutting board before you spouse sees what you have been doing with the kitchen utensils).

[ange]

Red wigglers are something I wanted to get into in the next few months for my angels, I'm just looking for a way to culture them without using multiple 5 gallon buckets. Glad other people are having good results from them.

[tolstoy21]

I culture them with a stackable homemade system made from plastic totes and wire mesh. Super easy and super inexpensive. There are many examples and instructions on how to make these online. 

I roughly followed this --> https://www.instructables.com/Make-Black-Gold-With-DIY-Worm-Compost-Bins/

In my experience, worms are difficult to maintain and harvest the compost from if you don't have a stackable system that allows them to migrate upwards as food is added over time.

Also, it takes a little while to get the hang of maintaining the bins, adding the right amount of food waste, cardboard, grit and water so as to not create a 'hot' compost. And, to figure out how to balance the whole thing without inadvertently creating a massive fly outbreak (if you're doing it indoors . . . done this twice!).

Like everything else, it's a lot of trial and error before you dial it in. My bins probably have many thousands of wigglers, too many to count. They reproduce like mad.

Edited October 11, 2020 by tolstoy21

[tolstoy21]

Started feeding these yesterday and fish gobbled them up.

However, one observation for anyone interested -- if you don't cut them up and throw them in whole and live, the ones that make it to the bottom burrow into the substrate very fast. Im guessing they die and rot down there.

[Ken Burke]

On 10/11/2020 at 7:10 AM, Daniel said:

I have had very good luck with red wigglers. Big fish love them. Discus love them. Angelfish love them.

Even small fish love them. Just dice them up like an onion (but clean the cutting board before you spouse sees what you have been doing with the kitchen utensils).

Sage advice.  But sounds like you might have learned a leasing the hard way.