DarkDiscus
04-16-2003, 10:58 AM
With the weather getting more suitable, I am going to fire up my red worm cultures again this month. I am going to post my experience so that those who want to try this great, inexpensive food for their discus don't make the same mistakes I did.
Acting on advice from some of the members here, I bought 2 rubbermaid bins about 2x3 feet and filled them with moist, shredded newspaper. I purchased 2000 red worms and placed half in each of the bins.
I kept them in my fishroom and fed them to the discus - 1 worm per fish every few days. I added table scraps - mostly fruits and vegetable scraps - which they converted to dirt. Things went well for a while, but due to the warmth of the fishroom and the soil being too moist, the worms made a break for it and one morning I found dozens crawling across the hardwood floor and more dried up near the bins! I think that due to the higher humidity of the fish room and the fact that I let the culture get too moist anyway, they just got uncomfortable and took off. I was also told that they don't breed at the higher temps also, so I moved them to the basement - about 55-65 degrees in the summer. Again, trying to over analyze, I kept the bedding too moist and a lot of the culture ran for it. Finally I got things right, and the worms were happy, but it was getting colder and the worms were not breeding then either. Over the winter I polished off my last few worms.
THis year I will resist the temptation to keep the bedding too moist and just let basic moisture from the veggies I give them provide any needed. The cultures feel nice and moist but the soil still crumbles and doesn't compact... That's what the worms like. I'm hoping that I can keep my discus in red worms for the warmer months and let the remnants of the culture hibernate over the winters...
I've got my fingers crossed...
John
Acting on advice from some of the members here, I bought 2 rubbermaid bins about 2x3 feet and filled them with moist, shredded newspaper. I purchased 2000 red worms and placed half in each of the bins.
I kept them in my fishroom and fed them to the discus - 1 worm per fish every few days. I added table scraps - mostly fruits and vegetable scraps - which they converted to dirt. Things went well for a while, but due to the warmth of the fishroom and the soil being too moist, the worms made a break for it and one morning I found dozens crawling across the hardwood floor and more dried up near the bins! I think that due to the higher humidity of the fish room and the fact that I let the culture get too moist anyway, they just got uncomfortable and took off. I was also told that they don't breed at the higher temps also, so I moved them to the basement - about 55-65 degrees in the summer. Again, trying to over analyze, I kept the bedding too moist and a lot of the culture ran for it. Finally I got things right, and the worms were happy, but it was getting colder and the worms were not breeding then either. Over the winter I polished off my last few worms.
THis year I will resist the temptation to keep the bedding too moist and just let basic moisture from the veggies I give them provide any needed. The cultures feel nice and moist but the soil still crumbles and doesn't compact... That's what the worms like. I'm hoping that I can keep my discus in red worms for the warmer months and let the remnants of the culture hibernate over the winters...
I've got my fingers crossed...
John