Earth Worms? The economical fish food?

[srusso]

I had this idea just now while walking my dog after it just finished raining. The sidewalk is littered with earth worms everywhere! If I grab the small ones could this be a good occasional food source? Is anyone doing this? :p Discus or Other fish... I have no discus right now. I am sure they would at least try to eat them...

[Eddie]

I had this idea just now while walking my dog after it just finished raining. The sidewalk is littered with earth worms everywhere! If I grab the small ones could this be a good occasional food source? Is anyone doing this? :p Discus or Other fish... I have no discus right now. I am sure they would at least try to eat them...

Earthworms are actually a super good food for discus. You will find many threads on earthworms if you run a search. There are ways to actually clean them out, I think by having them in super clean soil. I guess it kind of purges any bad stuff out of them, like fertilizers and such.

Here you go, did the search for you. LOL

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/search.php?searchid=789181&pp=25&page=4

Eddie

[srusso]

Wow!! Nice I want to go grab some right now!! How can I keep them for at least morning? Fish are sleeping now...

[Eddie]

Wow!! Nice I want to go grab some right now!! How can I keep them for at least morning? Fish are sleeping now...

I don't know, do you have any damp soil you can throw in a shoebox, clean soil preferably. :o

Eddie

[srusso]

Well I just grabbed a few, in a small plastic container, with a little dirt... Hope they make it until the morning. To give this a try... Thanks Bass your always very helpful on this forum!

[Eddie]

Well I just grabbed a few, in a small plastic container, with a little dirt... Hope they make it until the morning. To give this a try... Thanks Bass your always very helpful on this forum!

;)

Good luck

[Don Trinko]

Most stores will have "bait box's" and "worm bedding" in the sporting goods section. Allmost all fish love earth worms so the are used for bait by fishermen ( and fisherwomen). You can also buy the worms there. They are ussualy called night crawlers. They are large and would have to be cut up for use. Some of the larger bait shops sell "red worms". Typicaly they are smaller and would not have to be cut up as much. Don T.

[srusso]

Well, I put a worm in the tank and non of my fish went for it... it was a rather small worm to... so I will give it another shot later today... I was hoping to have a free fish food source from outside, but... oh well...

[brewmaster15]

I love this time of year...free food here for my fish..I maintain a worm bed outside and feed from it all season...

Just be aware that Worms from areas with pesticides being used are not good food.

You can easily make your own worm bedding...just use plain old newsprint ( uncoated) and tear into strips an inch or two wide....place in a bucket of water and soak for a few minutes until thoroughly wet....then take out of the bucket and squeeze it by hand into a ball....squeeze as hard as you can..until it stops dripping...thats about the right dampness... then pull it all apart and spread it into your container....

That will keep earth worms for days and days...Its pretty much what the bedding is that they sell in bait shops....

I use the same technique for rearing red wiggler compost worms.

hth,
al

[Condor]

I love this time of year...free food here for my fish..I maintain a worm bed outside and feed from it all season...

Just be aware that Worms from areas with pesticides being used are not good food.

You can easily make your own worm bedding...just use plain old newsprint ( uncoated) and tear into strips an inch or two wide....place in a bucket of water and soak for a few minutes until thoroughly wet....then take out of the bucket and squeeze it by hand into a ball....squeeze as hard as you can..until it stops dripping...thats about the right dampness... then pull it all apart and spread it into your container....

That will keep earth worms for days and days...Its pretty much what the bedding is that they sell in bait shops....

I use the same technique for rearing red wiggler compost worms.

hth,
al

Al, what kind of bedding do you use in your outside bin? What kind of worms do you keep there, and do you bring them inside for the winter?

Adrian

[AquatiCreations]

Over the years I have found that wormbeds are an invaluable source of food for the many tropical fish that I have kept, Cichlids in particular absolutely love them!

[korbi_doc]

:D Hi Adrian, I ordered red wrigglers over the net & established a colony 2 yrs ago & still have lotsa worms to feed...the discus love'm....you can use the small juvies, or the tiny white babies & I never have to cut'm up...my culture started with horse manure, of which I have a never ending supply, lol...mixed with any plant bedding material & all my shredded paper (bills, hehe) ....I just keep refreshing, then every 10-12 mos start a new one...keep'm in a plastic storage tub with holes for aeration, keep moist....feed....

Dottie ;)

[brewmaster15]

Al, what kind of bedding do you use in your outside bin? What kind of worms do you keep there, and do you bring them inside for the winter?

Adrian

Hi Adrian,
These worms are just your ordinary earth Worms, and the bedding is the leaves and weeds from the years lawn work...I don't bring these worms in the winter.....just go out, move around some compost , collect what I
need and throw them in the tank.:)

for indoor culture..the red wigglers sold by many places like Kazarie.com are excellent.

hth,
al

[ashaysathe]

Just be aware that Worms from areas with pesticides being used are not good food.



Exactly - this was my first thought - also dunno about others, but I put grub control down too. By and large a lot of pesticides etc put in which will be part of earthworms and may not be worth the risk when fed to discus.

[Condor]

Thanks Al and Dottie, I have always wanted to keep worms, but never was able to get a good culture going.

Adrian

[adamsite]

If you really want a renewable food source for worms, try a worm farm. I use one for my kitchen scraps and paper. They are easy to maintain, worms reproduce like bunnies and you get quality compost for your garden. I suppose you could use your "extra" or dead worms for discus food. I've never thought to do it, but I suppose it would work.
-Adam