The ultimate Hobbyist California Blackworm Keeper

[roundfishross]

Arrrrrr!

[ericatdallas]

actually Larry,
if you do a little research you will find they DO BREAK THE WORMS!!!! at the black worm farm. they reproduce by splitting. the little pieces will not die but instead become theyre own little worm! the worm's sexual reproduction is very little if not all together non existant.

I couldnt find the thread but somewhere here on the forum I have seen pictures of the actuall rake the farm uses to break the worms and I think Al was the one who posted it

Yup, Leo is right according to this site: http://www.allaboutworms.com/califor...m-farms-how-to

Apparently, according to that site, they double every 34 weeks. So probably not fast enough for most hobbyist that feed heavily with these guys unless they build it big enough.

How much, how often, do you feed these for your fish? When I had a local pet store that sold live foods, I usually only did once a week. The local LFS here actually told me they don't recommend live food because it spoils the fish. I definitely can see where they're coming from, my discus are pretty finickly eaters. I have them adjusted to all types of food, but introducing a new one, and they turn their nose at it.

[roundfishross]

typically a round per day,my fish will eat pretty much anything you toss in the tank they get flake, bh/sf mix, fbw's,pellets. fry get fed eight plus times daily. adults twice daily.

[Darrell Ward]

Well, I threw a "keeper" together today in about 10 mins. with stuff I had lying around, because I just had 2 lbs. of blackworms delivered to the door. It's a little crude I know, but seems to work OK, and I'll improve it later. It's made from a 55 gal. tank, and 29 gal. storage box. I'm going to throw a bag of carbon in there when I get to town. I didn't have any. The sponge filter and sponge lying in the bottom are cycled for bio. You may wonder why there is a scrap piece of foam over the overflow? Well, I needed a ball valve, didn't have one, so I put that there to slow the flow, and prevent "flushing". Ugly, but works! Man, I could put 5 lbs. in there!

[Darrell Ward]

24 hours later, I'm liking the worms in the keeper. Did a 100% waterchange, and all is well. It's a lot easier changing water than rinsing all those worms. I also crushed up a few Hikari cichlid pellets I had lying around, maybe they will eat them. They have much better color, and of course, are much more lively than in cold storage. Amazing how fast they can wiggle when at room temp, and not cold. You start to get an idea of their habits, by their movements in the tank. Interesting that they seem to like to cluster in big groups for example.

[ericatdallas]

This is just a though... more of my ramblings :P

But I was looking at random stuff on Craigslist to see what I can repurpose and I came up with an idea of maybe using a baby bathtub... not sure yet, I'll have to look at my kid's tub when I get a chance. Ours is a little more well-constructed (costly) but it looks like you can pick up some cheapos for $5 on CL or $15-20 new.

Anyway, they are angled, so instead of using a utility tray, maybe someone who is trying to create a large one could set it on top of a tub and have the overflow drain from the top of the tub. Or build a compartment/box at the top of the tub and have water flow from the top, flow from the bottom, and then drain near the base. The water movement might help keep the worms cleaner.

[Darrell Ward]

The worms themselves so far stay very clean with circulating water, although you will differently have to do daily water changes, and use carbon, because they excrete some type of slime. I used the old container because it already had a bulkhead installed, it was a former sump, and I had it lying around. The tub sounds like a good idea.

[Darrell Ward]

Update: There don't seem to be much interest in this, but I'm telling you, if you feed live blackworms, this is by far the best way to keep them. With the addition of a jar of carbon placed in a mesh bag from Walmart LOL!, the water is staying much clearer than before, (the first day I had no carbon) and absolutely no smell at all. I'm going to skip the water change today. The worms are clean, they eat, and are overall much better in every aspect than keeping them cold. This is a great idea! Thanks Dan! I wish I had been doing this all along.

[nwehrman]

I'm going to have to set something up too. Didn't like in the fridge.... Hmmm-- thinking over the possibilities.

[DiscusOnly]

Update: There don't seem to be much interest in this, but I'm telling you, if you feed live blackworms, this is by far the best way to keep them. With the addition of a jar of carbon placed in a mesh bag from Walmart LOL!, the water is staying much clearer than before, (the first day I had no carbon) and absolutely no smell at all. I'm going to skip the water change today. The worms are clean, they eat, and are overall much better in every aspect than keeping them cold. This is a great idea! Thanks Dan! I wish I had been doing this all along.

Thanks for the update. I am definitely going to give this a try.

Van

[ericatdallas]

Update: There don't seem to be much interest in this, but I'm telling you, if you feed live blackworms, this is by far the best way to keep them. With the addition of a jar of carbon placed in a mesh bag from Walmart LOL!, the water is staying much clearer than before, (the first day I had no carbon) and absolutely no smell at all. I'm going to skip the water change today. The worms are clean, they eat, and are overall much better in every aspect than keeping them cold. This is a great idea! Thanks Dan! I wish I had been doing this all along.

I'm interested. My problem is total lack of time... I only have half my tanks up and running and my poor neglected discus are in an overcrowded tank right now. I'm setting up my fish room but it's taking more time than I have right now so this is going to have to be on my "like-to-do one day" list.

[LizStreithorst]

I'll be doing it once my fish room is up and going and I have a spare penny to spend. The fish room build is kicking my financial ***. But the Discus DO need live CBWs. I haven't ordered them for months. Dang money...I need to quit my Honduran cigar habit for the sake of my fish. I hate to give up a pleasurable vice...

[Apistomaster]

I think you get double benefits from using a bag of carbon in a room temp worm keeper.
Carbon adsorbs many organic wastes and quickly become colonized with biological filter bacteria so you get a "two fer" thing going on.
I need a cooler place to try this but fed worms are far more nutritious than cold stored starved worms.

I try to get a couple pounds of worms every two weeks but the schedule varies a lot. I value how the Discus benefit from them but I have also bred and raised many Discus that never saw a live worm. I have gotten by on a diet of earth worm sticks, frozen blood worms and an occasional feeding of Tetra Color Bits. My F1 Nhamunda blues have been raised on mainly these foods with black worms added when I have them.

[x2h]

is brulap or brown paper towel really needed in culturing CBW? I added Tetra color bits as food, is that enough? My set up is very simple, I picked up a $5 big storage bin from Target and added about 2 in of water, threw in an airstone to agitate water, and put the worms in. I change water every couple days. Feed the worms with the pellet foods. I do use brown paper towel currently, but I am wondering if I can do away without using it.

[Rummy]

I want to try out this wormkeeper. Does anyone know what their maximum temperature tolerance is? It gets quite warm here. Whithout the a/c on, it can easily reach 80 degrees in the house.