Jaydenjonesy Posted February 8, 2022 Share Posted February 8, 2022 Hi team, just wondering if anyone has any info on farming black worms on a larger scale? Or any helpful links I’ve done a bit of searching on Google and can only find small hobbyist scale. any information would be greatly appreciated Jayden 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Folk Posted February 8, 2022 Share Posted February 8, 2022 (edited) On 2/8/2022 at 6:52 AM, Jaydenjonesy said: Hi team, just wondering if anyone has any info on farming black worms on a larger scale? Or any helpful links I’ve done a bit of searching on Google and can only find small hobbyist scale. any information would be greatly appreciated Jayden Have you reached out to any worm farms? These folks might have some insights. Don’t be off-put if you find them a tad anti social. Have you ordered black worms a lot, and dialed in preserving them well yourself as a hobbyist? I order in a pound once a month or so. I can keep them going reasonably well in my fish fridge. @Atitagain has been working on cultivating them on a small scale, and has a nice thread you can peruse here… Others have discussed this before on the forum here… Edited February 9, 2022 by Fish Folk 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beardedbillygoat1975 Posted February 8, 2022 Share Posted February 8, 2022 I have a 3 g with black worms. Substrate is small river rock, lava rock and gravel. I have a sponge filter, duckweed and lucky bamboo for filtration and nitrogen export. Catapa leaf for creation of micro fauna for them to eat. I do 2 water changes a week with room temp water. Feed them flake or crushed pellets 2 or so times a week. I harvest once a week. I tried to get 2 tanks going but my second failed - I think the vessel was too large.I would not keep them in too much water - in the 3 g it’s maybe 2/3 full. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick_G Posted February 8, 2022 Share Posted February 8, 2022 @Beardedbillygoat1975, what’s your technique for harvesting them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beardedbillygoat1975 Posted February 8, 2022 Share Posted February 8, 2022 I use a turkey baster - just target a pocket of them and suck them up and put them in a specimen container. I tried using filter foam but I think i am worried that this then would harbor unwanted critters. With this method I can wash them before I put them in the tanks. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick_G Posted February 8, 2022 Share Posted February 8, 2022 Mine lasted a week in the fridge but portions started dying off. Is it a good idea to remove the dead ones and rinse the remainder? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beardedbillygoat1975 Posted February 8, 2022 Share Posted February 8, 2022 Probably as they will foul the water for the others. In this batch I got which was a 1/2 lb I divided it into 2, I then placed 1 portion in the 3 g (it was one of those aquaponics tanks in its former life) and the other was 17 g tote I had used to QT my EBA. Both had cycled sponge filters. The one thing with the EBA tote was it started heated ~ 72-73 and I know they don't like it hot so that may have been against me - I turned off the heater when I remembered a day later. It has more crushed coral in it then the 3 g. I water changed the same way, fed the same way, and the 17 g crashed after 5 days or so. My conclusion from this is that the heater started things off the wrong direction then the bigger water volume although usually helpful for fish may not be in this case. Not sure why. I know everything I ever read online about these guys is not to have too deep of water. I remember seeing a keeping fish simple video where he went to another breeders house and he had just lava rock on the bottom and it was 10 g but was only filled 2/3 of the way. If my colony stays up I may try again in the 2.5 g I have with a sample of the worms from the 3 g. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atitagain Posted February 8, 2022 Share Posted February 8, 2022 @Fish Folk Thank you. @Jaydenjonesy my operation is small as well. I’ve had decent success and will be growing the operation. On 2/8/2022 at 1:05 PM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said: I use a turkey baster - just target a pocket of them and suck them up and put them in a specimen container. I tried using filter foam but I think i am worried that this then would harbor unwanted critters. With this method I can wash them before I put them in the tanks. I’m having trouble getting clean harvest there is so much mulm that can’t be gravel vac. Then any screen is to big and worms get stuck or the material for straining BBS is way to small. You say in a specimen container does that just dilute the harvest water? And you re catch with cleaner water? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beardedbillygoat1975 Posted February 9, 2022 Share Posted February 9, 2022 @AtitagainAs the old saying goes the solution is dilution. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaydenjonesy Posted February 9, 2022 Author Share Posted February 9, 2022 Thanks for the feedback guys it’s been very helpful I’m going to try on a small scale and see how I go I will keep you guys updated 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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