To feed worms or not...?

marls

Member
Jun 6, 2010
14
0
1
Sydney, NSW
Hi All,

I have read varying information regarding the impact of feeding worms from numerous sources. The worms I refer to are bloodworms and blackworms.

Specifically, bloodworms are a larvae and apparently their bodies are covered with hook-like odontodes. It’s these hook-like odontodes that can be detrimental to our fish, where the worms get caught onto the digestive tract system causing internal infection and ultimately death.

However I have also read information where breeders feed worms to their fish, and praise worms as a great source of high protein and conditioning food for imminent spawning activity.

Hence the reason for this survey/poll is to help me, and others, gather information on your real life experience with feeding worms to fish. By answering the following questions you will be providing great information, and will be much appreciated by me and other members.

The answers I’ve provided are examples only, so to give you an idea of what I expect. Please provide answers based on your real life experience.

Q1: Do you feed your fish Bloodworms or Blackworms?
A1: Bloodworms

Q2: Do you used frozen or live worms?
A2: Frozen

Q3: What brand of frozen worms do you use?
A3: Hikari

Q4: How many times per week do you feed worms to your fish?
A4: 3 times per week

Q5: What fish do you feed worms
A5: L66, L333, L134 and L46

Q6: How many years have used worms as food for you fish
A6: 5 years

Q7: What feedback/experience can you provide on feeding worms to your fish
A7: Good. Worms are a great food source of protein and conditioner for imminent spawning activity.

In advance, thank you for taking part and answering the above questions.:clap:

Cheers
Marls.
 
J

jamous91

Guest
i feed bloodworms to trigger breeding as i go for a long time just feeding wafers or pellets and then i go to cucumber and bloodworm
 

Irene0100

UK Support Team
May 14, 2009
4,271
0
36
Norfolk, UK
q1 - bloodworms -never tried blackworms - also use microworms
q2 frozen -suspect live ones can carry infection
q3 no idea
q4 bloodworm once or twice a month (micro worms most days)
q5 plecs various, chiclids and tetras
q6 3 or 4
q7 never had any problems that i knpw of. I do not give bloodworm to tanks with young fry as I read they can choke.
 
J

jamous91

Guest
q1 - bloodworms -never tried blackworms - also use microworms
q2 frozen -suspect live ones can carry infection
q3 no idea
q4 bloodworm once or twice a month (micro worms most days)
q5 plecs various, chiclids and tetras
q6 3 or 4
q7 never had any problems that i knpw of. I do not give bloodworm to tanks with young fry as I read they can choke.
I thought it was tuberfex worms that carry the infections and that all other frozen food was great for your fish
 

Lornek8

Member
Apr 21, 2009
2,001
0
36
Hawaii
Part of the issue I think is that different parts of the world may call things by different names. For instance, when referring to bloodworms, in the US we're talking about chironomid larvae (these are the ones with the hooks) but in some other areas of the world, tubifex type worms are called blood worms.
 

bigbird

Pleco Profiles Moderator - RIP FRIEND
Sep 9, 2010
6,306
1
36
Sydney, AUSTRALIA
1. bloodworms
2. frozen never fresh
3. hikari
4. once every 14days
5. various L and tetras and corys
6. 20years
7. suggest to defrost worms in tank water. then pour out water into the sink through the net and then feed the fish.

cheers jk :thumbup:
 

Brengun

Global Moderators
Staff member
Apr 22, 2009
5,041
4
38
61
Burrum Heads, Queensland, Australia
Q1: Do you feed your fish Bloodworms or Blackworms?
A1: Fed both on occasion.

Q2: Do you used frozen or live worms?
A2: Frozen bloodworms, frozen or live blackworms.

Q3: What brand of frozen worms do you use?
A3: Prefer Hikari

Q4: How many times per week do you feed worms to your fish?
A4: Once a month or two for a treat.

Q5: What fish do you feed worms
A5: Bloodworms L046, Blackworms L046, royal whiptails love the live ones.

Q6: How many years have used worms as food for you fish
A6: 2 years

Q7: What feedback/experience can you provide on feeding worms to your fish
A7: Be very careful with quality of frozen bloodworms, they go 'off' easy, live blackworms can also get a bit smelly. Don't go overboard on the feeding. I use it for a small added supplement only, not a main food.
 

lcrazy

Member
Oct 11, 2009
226
0
16
camden
I never feed bloodworms due to the micro hook reason,
Q: People who do feed there fish bloodworm, have you ever had a fish just stop eating or still eats but dosen't deficate, get Bloat, continual use of medication, reason prob is blocked intestinal tract mainly caused by the hooks becoming imbeded in the intestine and then causing blockage, very slow death not worth the risk when there is alot of other high protine substitutes you can feed your pets.
 

lcrazy

Member
Oct 11, 2009
226
0
16
camden
the tounge thing in my previous post wasent me and not sure why it came up, plz dont be offended as i said dont know how it got there.
Ben
 

Rob-T

Member
Aug 21, 2011
16
0
1
Ayrshire
Q1 - Earth Worm (not sure if this is what is refered to as black worm or not)
Q2 - Pellet form
Q3 - Unbranded
Q4 - infrequently (most likely a couple of times a month)
Q5 - Everything that i am intending to breed (thoughts being lots of protien lots of eggs)
Q6 - a few years
Q7 - in the past i have used live foods with excellent results though found that bloodworm had escaped being eaten and went through its life cycle in a tank, including breeding even to this day i still find larvea in the substrate and it was quite some time ago i used them (not really a problem as this is a regular source of fresh in that particular tank, however i was unsure as to the impact this would have on fry) i switched to pellets after experimenting between those and spirulina pellets. I found that earthworm pellets never lasted long after feeding, every fish or shrimp i have fed them to love them (i couldnt say the same for spirulina pellets) and they did in deed appear to improve fecundity. i carried out an experiment with CRS shrimp feeding one female on oakleaves and shrimp food and the other on oak leaves shrimp food and (infrequent) earth worm pellets. the one that got the earth worm dropped 35 youngsters, the one without dropped 10

I chose pellets rather than frozen purely because of ease of storage
 
Last edited:

Lornek8

Member
Apr 21, 2009
2,001
0
36
Hawaii
Q1 - Earth Worm (not sure if this is what is refered to as black worm or not)
Q2 - Pellet form
Q3 - Unbranded
Q4 - infrequently (most likely a couple of times a month)
Q5 - Everything that i am intending to breed (thoughts being lots of protien lots of eggs)
Q6 - a few years
Q7 - in the past i have used live foods with excellent results though found that bloodworm had escaped being eaten and went through its life cycle in a tank, including breeding even to this day i still find larvea in the substrate and it was quite some time ago i used them (not really a problem as this is a regular source of fresh in that particular tank, however i was unsure as to the impact this would have on fry) i switched to pellets after experimenting between those and spirulina pellets. I found that earthworm pellets never lasted long after feeding, every fish or shrimp i have fed them to love them (i couldnt say the same for spirulina pellets) and they did in deed appear to improve fecundity. i carried out an experiment with CRS shrimp feeding one female on oakleaves and shrimp food and the other on oak leaves shrimp food and (infrequent) earth worm pellets. the one that got the earth worm dropped 35 youngsters, the one without dropped 10

I chose pellets rather than frozen purely because of ease of storage
The earthworm pellets you feed are made with earthworms, the type you find in the garden. Blackworms (similar to tubifex/what you call bloodworms but dark colored) & what you're calling bloodworms (the tubifex variety) are actually aquatic worms.
 

Rob-T

Member
Aug 21, 2011
16
0
1
Ayrshire
Thank you for pointing out what black worms were, obviously i knew what earth and blood worms were, but have heard black worms mentioned regularly without any idea what they were.

There is another form of worm we have here, which i believe comes from a similar family to bloodworms etc which is our midge (a tiny mossie) larvea, it is a small black wriggler with a forked head. I dont think you can buy these but are very easy to propogate from wild stock.

but like i said ive found the risk versus reward ratio to be far better with earth worm than the others.
 

Doodles

Retired Staff
Apr 8, 2009
8,786
2
36
the tounge thing in my previous post wasent me and not sure why it came up, plz dont be offended as i said dont know how it got there.
Ben

lol removed it, it only does that normally if you accidentally do smiley text ie- :) P) together so Q:people
 

Braddo

New Member
Apr 29, 2010
3
0
1
Cooroy, Qld
If feeding bloodworms I would only feed the hikari frozen bloodworms, Every other brand I have used makes my hands swell and become itchy. This seems to be due to the hooked hairs everyone talks about. Hikari is the only brand that doesnt cause this and Ihave never had a problem with bloating fish since only using them. But like everything it must be used as part of a mixed diet and not sole food.
 

dw1305

Global Moderators
Staff member
May 5, 2009
1,396
0
36
Wiltshire nr. Bath, UK
Hi all,
I feed lots of "worms" - all live,

All year around:
True worms and nematodes
Earthworms (Lumbricus rubellus), Grindal, White and Micro-worms. I also get a worm out of the pond which is a Lumbriculus species and may be identical with the "California Black worm".

I feed a small amount of Grindal and Microworms every feed day to appropriately sized fish.

Chironomid larvae
"Bloodworms" - I've never used frozen, and I've always "grown my own" but I have fed all the fish on these for many years (I had a few years off, but I started keeping fish in the 1970's) without any problem. Midge larvae ditto and good for small fish.

"Glassworms" are only available from clean water in the winter, but are another good food.

cheers Darrel
 

Nat's Fish

Member
Nov 14, 2011
514
1
16
Hi, I know this topic is old but I got some dried Australian blackworms for my plecos & wanted some tips on feeding them so they don't just float around
I tried live blackworms but found them in the gravel for months & was worried about diseases
Thanks a lot
 

dw1305

Global Moderators
Staff member
May 5, 2009
1,396
0
36
Wiltshire nr. Bath, UK
Hi all,
I tried live blackworms but found them in the gravel for months & was worried about diseases
I don't think this is a problem, I now have colonies in some of the tanks (not the ones with Corydoras or Apistogramma), and it seems a pretty trouble free way of keeping them. I've tried adding some gravel to areas of the cichlid tanks (I always have sand), and it does help them persist, but the fish still eventually eat them all.

I've found that Hypancistrus will eat them, but they won't/don't/can't dig them up.

cheers Darrel
 

Nat's Fish

Member
Nov 14, 2011
514
1
16
Thanks Darrel. I've only got the dried ones now & looking for some tips on the best way to feed them to plecos