redworms

[tony z]

I'm interested in feeding my discus redworms. Are these the same redworms sold in the baitshops? If you feed the fish these how much should i feed them or should i use nightcrawlers

[limige]

yes those are the same worms, i wouldn't use nightcrawlers, they're too big!!

theres another post on red worms here that's very informative, you should find it!! theres a guy online, the wormguy. he sells 1000worms for $20. great start for your own culture!

get a rubbermaid tub, fill it with peat moss and shredded paper, just add veggies, coffee grounds for food and collect for your discus. they will probably turn their nose up at first, you make have to chop them up for awhile till they get hooked!

i've been tinkering with them, we'll see, my fish eat them reluctantly. but they are cheaper than blkworms, i've been using 2#'s of blkworms in 2 weeks!!!! that's $80 of food per month!!! dang pigs.

[Discusgeo]

I just got 3000 Red worms from www.wormman.com (http://www.wormman.com) for $46.00 which included the free shipping to my front door.
George

[gary1218]

I would also checkout www.kazarie.com

GARY

[jim_shedden]

Any ideas on where I can get redworms in Canada?

Jim

[gary1218]

Jim,

I actually think there is a big worm farm around Toronto. I seem to remember coming across it on the web when I was originally searching for info on the worms "way back when".

Do a search on the web for redworms or composting and I'll bet you'll find it.

GARY

[gary1218]

Jim,

Try this to start - http://www.vermitechsystems.com/intro.html

GARY

[tony z]

Thanks for the info, i bought some last night and i through one in and the discus looked at me funny and didnt eat them, so i cut one up and they still looked at me funny and did not eat them, how long before did it take for them to start eating them for you ? Do i leave the worms in the tank that they don't eat for later or should i remove them ?

[gary1218]

Discus can DEFINITELY be fussy about taking new food. Sometimes you just have to wait them out. If the whole worms are small enough for them to eat I would put them in the tank without cutting them up. At some point the discus will get hungry enough to eat them and HOPEFULLY realize what they've been missing.

If put in whole the worms will stay alive for a while and thus not foul the water as quickly as when you cut them up.

GARY

[daninthesand]

I use redworms a lot. Most of my fish get to like them eventually. If I limit the discus to beefheart and redworms, they tend to get really fond of the redworms. When I add bloodworms or other delicacies to their diet, both the beefheart and redworms fall out of favour. So I hope to eventually never use store bought food again. When I run out of the bloodworms etc I'll see how it goes.

Basically my opinion is that fish get spoiled rotten by being fed bloodworms, CBW, etc. They tend to turn their noses up at the more bland (?) foods, especially BH.

I find too that the fish take the redworms more easily if you chop them up into maybe 1/2 inch size chunks. Use a razor blade and a few seconds of cutting the worms on a piece of plexi to get them to size. Depends on the size of the fish. Larger adults seem to have no trouble swallowing whole worms, even two at a time! I posted some info on how I raise the red wigglers here, hopefully you can find it useful. It seems to work for me.

http://forum.simplydiscus.com//index.php?board=3;action=display;threadid=3180

Post number 10. Sorry, but its a bit long :-[

Daniel

PS. I make no claims on how the QUALITY of red worms as a food source compares to that of CBW, BH, bloodworms etc. I still have to see how it goes as to size growth etc of my fish.