Blackworm Culturing Made Easy!

[mattjm1121]

Hey all,

just thought i'd show you guys my blackworm culture. i had tried a couple different times before this to keep them in their own small tank but never had much luck. but my recent attempt has proved way more successful so far! as you can see below, i actually incorporated the culture into the sump of my discus aquarium. i used a plastic container i had lying around, i drilled about a 3/4 inch hole into one of the broadsides to serve as an overflow back into the sump and sat it on top of the open end of the sump. toss in a spare powerhead and vinyl tube with flow control valve and voila! a blackworm tank within a discus tank. no extra water changes or other maintenance aside from feeding them. they're unfussy voracious little eaters. i used burlap this time as opposed to brown paper towels as the "substrate" and it seems to be working out great. the burlap doesn't breakdown and make a mess. i keep my tank around 82-84F and they've been perfectly fine. i cant speak to their rate of reproduction but i've been harvesting some around every other day and haven't noticed any real depletion yet. they've been eating the same portions of food at about the same rate since i started the culture with 1/4 lb of live worms from aquaticfoods.com.

let me know what you guys think or have any questions!

thanks,
matt

IMG_8364.jpgIMG_8402.jpgIMG_8403.jpg

[mattjm1121]

IMG_8434.jpg

another view

[Las Vegas]

So your saying the worms can thrive under water? I thought they lived in moist mossy conditions or something else but that the conditions were something other than submerged. They don't have gills do they?

[mattjm1121]

So your saying the worms can thrive under water? I thought they lived in moist mossy conditions or something else but that the conditions were something other than submerged. They don't have gills do they?

From what I know they breathe through their skin and can use their tails to reach the water surface in very shallow water for extra oxygen.

[Iowa_Discus]

So your saying the worms can thrive under water? I thought they lived in moist mossy conditions or something else but that the conditions were something other than submerged. They don't have gills do they?

They survive fine underwater. Seem to do better with some substrate but that's optional.

[Iowa_Discus]

Incorporating them into the sump is an interesting idea! As long as they're eliminating more waste than they're producing, it seems like it would work fine.

[drgnfly829]

Thank you so much for that idea

[Las Vegas]

Ok, good to know. I only buy a weeks worth of live blood or black worms(not really sure which they are?) Because after a week they usually start dying. But sometimes my LFS runs out and my babies are forced to eat FBH or pellets. I know they are upset with me because they will eat the FBH slowly. And the Discus pellets, it's like feeding vegetables to the carnivores. But I've always thought of freezing some worms for the just in case scenarios. Maybe I better do that, try it with ice trays.

[LizStreithorst]

You can't freeze them. They turn to mush.

Mattjim how long have you been doing this? Others have tried but failed.

[mattjm1121]

Incorporating them into the sump is an interesting idea! As long as they're eliminating more waste than they're producing, it seems like it would work fine.

Exactly. I've had it set up for a couple of weeks now and the parameters haven't changed at all so I'd say that's what's happening here.

[Las Vegas]

[QUOTE=LizStreithorst;1201042]You can't freeze them. They turn to mush.

Really? I haven't tried, but why would the worms turn into mush?

[mattjm1121]

You can't freeze them. They turn to mush.

Mattjim how long have you been doing this? Others have tried but failed.

It's been about 3 weeks

[LizStreithorst]

If you can keep them reproducing over time you deserve a prize. Did you talk to Dan about this or did you just up and try it?

[rickztahone]

I would imagine as the colony got larger they would start producing a whole lot of waste that would be detrimental to the overall health of the tank. Would love to be proved wrong here though. Please update in a few months. Use a starting point for nitrates.

[LizStreithorst]

Exactly. I've had it set up for a couple of weeks now and the parameters haven't changed at all so I'd say that's what's happening here.

The water in them turns into ice tiny bits of Ice and disintegrates them. Others have tried. Do the experiment yourself. If you get better results let me know.