Raising black worms from eggs

[Ujaynme]

I kept finding baby worms and what I think are egg clusters. But I couldn’t confirm the eggs thing, surprisingly the internet to lacking an photo example of the black worm life cycle of egg to adult. Written descriptions yes, photos no.

so here is my first journaling attempt to document the egg to fish food worm cycle.

It started with theses cluster things I kept finding everywhere the worm bin. 
 

And the super excited worms blobs on the potato. 
 

Close up of the worm blob, and what I think are eggs coccons. Note the stingy things running between the pale ovals are hatched baby worms.

 

Edited August 24 by Ujaynme
Photo caption

[frozenfish]

From all of my research blackworm sexual reproduction is extremely rare, only documented in the wild seldomly and never in a cultured setting. To me those ovals look like daphnia molts? How long have you had these worms? 

 

If you do have sexually reproducing blackworms, document everything. 

Edited August 24 by frozenfish
Miss spelling/autocorrect

[Ujaynme]

This tub of worms has been going for about 2 maybe 3 years? I started with a 1oz cup and didn’t like to whole keep it in the frig and wash them everyday routine, so I put them in apple clam shell thing with a airstone.

i started reading another member’s journal (modified lung) about culturing worms using worm condos so I added it my setup and started finding worm blobs with tiny micro sized worms swimming everywhere. 

I also tried to look up the black worms life cycle to see if the blobs were egg cocoons and what baby worms looked liked. I wasn’t able to find pictures or videos of anything before i decided to just make my own.

so now my goal is to figure out how to setup a Timelapse video on some of the blobs to see if they’re worm eggs or not.

still editing the videos but I got a digital micro scope for close ups. And unless some other micro worm took up resident in my tub these are Blackworm babies not fragments.

 

[Ujaynme]

 

First video is a side by side comparison of 2 of the micro worms next to adult one that's about to fragment (note the kink in the middle towards the darker side).

Does anyone with a more extensive worm knowledge bank thinks they might be a different type of worm? The internet failed me in my searches so far.

Edited August 28 by Ujaynme
figuring out how to imbed videos

[Ujaynme]

The worms from the size video 

Harvested from this holding tank I have setup for all the ones I’ve removed from the main tub

this pincushion formation is what I first noticed in the original clamshell.

I would find eyelash sized worms crawling along the bottom and during water changes. 
it got me thinking that they were baby sized worm clumps. So I stopped cleaning the bottom of the bin and started collecting it into a separate container. I would swirl the water and use my phone to zoom in and that when I noticed the first micro worms swimming around.

Edited August 24 by Ujaynme

[tike]

VERY! Interested in this and I will be following.

[Ujaynme]

Spent 3 days luring worms onto a piece of lettuce core, the lettuce it produced 3 small blobs but only after snails had been munching away at it for 1 day and it was covered in a slime layer, and they were the smallest worm I've collected so far. I had to use the highest magnification on the scope to be able to see them. 

 

 

Baby riding on an adult's head for size reference

[Ujaynme]

New setup using potato as a lure. Added bread tower next to it in case the worms decide to abandon the potato before it’s soft enough, also feeding to get fatter worms  for the fish this weekend.

 
 This is the current set up, had to scale up from the half gallon to be able to collect enough worms to try different ways to get them to create egg sacs. 
the 2 pots in the back are my “nursery/holding cell” for everyone I collect off the bottom of the tub. It is a solid brick of worm castings and worms.  I can pick it up and none of the dirt will pour out from the hole in at the bottom. Worms used for potato test came from the pots.

[Ujaynme]

Day one of the potato - snails have found the potato and are preceding to tenderizing it with their slime trails. Two small worm clusters have formed along the outer edge, but these are not newly hatched, most likely they're free swimming worms in the water gathering together at a new food source.

I was able to get a close up in their mouth parts, it reminds me to tube worms found in the ocean, they would sway in the currents with their mouth open to filter feed on micro organisms, I will note that yesterday's tiny worm didn't display this behavior, they may be too small to be able to eat single cell organisms and need other foods.

I need to set more nursery tanks to test out food sources for the babies, this may be why most people who culture the worms don't notice when they get babies they might not be feeding the foods needed to raise the babies if they're filter feeders, my tub currently has yeast and infusoria moving around the tubs in the currents created by the air stones plus a lovely amount of protein rich snail slime and essential BB covering all the surfaces. 

Fair warning if anyone is Following this thread, I can't stop myself from taking baby photos, I'm too curious about this process and annoyed that of all things this is what you can't find on the internet.

Edited August 29 by Ujaynme
Add photo

[Ujaynme]

Day 2 of the potato - still only 2 worm blobs they’ve both moved from the outer edge and more towards the middle.

no adult worms have decided to stay yet.
 

I collected a worm mat from the nursery pot to examine. This thing was a solid mat of adult and babies. But I did not find eggs just worm after layer of worms of different sizes. 

Edited August 30 by Ujaynme
add photo

[Ujaynme]

Day 3 of the potato - my garage smells like an open sewer line and still no adults worms have been lured even the snails have mostly abandoned it. If there still no activity tomorrow I will need switch it out with something else. The smaller worms are super happy they’ve formed a larger blob at the middle. 

 

[Ujaynme]

new video of the babies feeding, it's more of a siphoning action where they pull in water you can see their guts just working to move the water through their bodies.

 

 

[EsJay]

Hi thanks for posting all of this content! I also raise blackworms in my basement and do it a little differently than what I have read online. In my experience they like to deposit their egg clutch in floating debris.  

[Ujaynme]

On 9/6/2024 at 7:08 AM, EsJay said:

In my experience they like to deposit their egg clutch in floating debris.  

Do you have pictures you can share? I’m currently just examining every blob I find to see if anything resembles an egg sac (similar to earthworms), or trying to get adult worms to shed a cocoon on camera (they’re not very cooperative with this part). 

[EsJay]

 

 

 

 

 

 

I thought I had taken a photo but it was actually a video, so here is a screenshot from that video in my phone showing eggs. 

I actually didn't realize people cared about blackworms as much as I do - ha! I am following all the blackworm threads now. Hoping to do my own write up and share what I have learned at some point.

In this picture this particular scrub pad was just above the water line. But I also found them on anything floating in the culture. 

[Ujaynme]

I am pretty sure this is an egg cluster. I’ve had it under the camera recording for a week now and it’s getting ‘fuzzier’ by the day as small micro worms emerge. Also the distinct round darker yellow capsules become more transparent as more micro worms appear.