Blackworms ..A word of caution

[brewmaster15]

Hi all, I wanted to throw this out there for your consideration. I see blackworm flakes and pellets everywhere. So many different sellers now are marketing these. Before you buy them please stop and think about this.. How do you know these are foods made with Blackworms,? How do you know what the percent of black worms really is? if any. Heres the thing.. a tubifex worm is a "black" aquatic worm.. but its not Real blackworms.. Lubriculus variegatus.

A few years back I had wanted to make a blackworm pellet and flake. I contracted with a major fishfood manufacturer and had them make me a test batch... So heres the thing.. The worms needed to be freeze dried first and you needed alot of them for my 40% blackworm flakes . My batch fell short on freeze dried blackworms and the manufacturer doing the flakes gave me a quote to provide me with more blackworms very cheap. At the time there were literally only 2 farms doing freeze dried.My supplier and my competitor and the worms weren't coming from either.. most likely they were tubifex..which are abundant and easy to buy freeze dried and they are cheap.

I walked away from making my own pellets and flakes as the supply was not there. As you know.. Freeze dried black worms are scarce in bulk amounts.

So be skeptical. very skeptical of blackworm pellets and flakes. Some are legit.. but I am sure many are not. There just isnt a global supply large enough for all these "black" worm products to be "black" Real blackworms.. Lubriculus variegatus. aka Californa Blackworms and Australian Blackworms. Most are probably tubifex or maybe a pinch of blackworms.

Also note..some sellers out there are actually selling tubifex cubes as Lubriculus variegatus. .. I have no proof there but have been told it... and I believe it.


Just some food for thought.

Al

[Second Hand Pat]

Thank you Al, I personally for sure want to say totally away from any tubifex products but question, are you feeding your guys anything beyond your pellets?
Pat

[brewmaster15]

Pat I have shifted mine to my pellets and freeze dried brine shrimp cubes. .I still have some fdbw in the fridge but am saving them for my breeding pairs and photo shoots. Really my pellets are fine for them nutritionally.. I also started feeding them Hbh flakes.. seafood blend from Jehmco and veggie blend. Feeding the flakes is simply because I started buying them for my Rams and plecos and Endlers... some discus here like them.. others not so much. The only other food I will be feeding is freeze dried Krill (Euphausia pacifica).Its a hard sell on the discus but they will come around in time. Im hopeful to be able to get australian blackworms again asap but I have mouths to feed and can adapt.

[rodneyfisher]

I use to feed mine live California black worms but I've noticed there must be a shortage of the live worms I can't seem to find them anywhere.

[brewmaster15]

I use to feed mine live California black worms but I've noticed there must be a shortage of the live worms I can't seem to find them anywhere.

There is . If you are looking for live.. https://easternaquatics.com/

Be prepared for sticker Shock Rodney... theyhave increased in price alot since when you bought them.

al

[For100]

Hey Al,

On a bit of a different subject (not trying to highjack the tread), I am lucky to have one FDBW bag from you in the freezer. How long can I keep it there before it goes bad?

Also, where do you buy your freeze dried brine shrimp?. It was idea to switch my fish after your announcement. BUT to you original point, I wanted to find a reputable seller. Amazon has mixed reviews for most of their products.

Freddy

[brewmaster15]

Hey Al,

On a bit of a different subject (not trying to highjack the tread), I am lucky to have one FDBW bag from you in the freezer. How long can I keep it there before it goes bad?

Also, where do you buy your freeze dried brine shrimp?. It was idea to switch my fish after your announcement. BUT to you original point, I wanted to find a reputable seller. Amazon has mixed reviews for most of their products.

Freddy

Hi Freddy, That bag should be good at least a year in the Freezer. I have run experiments here where I got at least 12 months out a bag stored dry in the fridge....officially I think the farm was saying 6 months.

I've tried a couple of brine shrimp cubes.. I have settled on Brine Shrimp Directs..

https://www.brineshrimpdirect.com/fr...ine-shrimp-6oz

al

[jeep]

I don't know what percentage of any given ingredient has to be before a producer can make a claim, but I've heard some questionable, if not down right false claims on fish foods containing what it's labeled as being. The fish food market is HUGE and there certainly doesn't seem to be any regulatory standards. Buyer beware!!

[TTW]

Al
How do you feed the FD brine shrimp?

[brewmaster15]

Al
How do you feed the FD brine shrimp?

I literally feed them the same as the blackworm cubes.. submerge and press to the glass but I go a bit slower or they fall apart. They hydrate pretty quick. I tried soaking them in a cup of water first and they keep their brine shrimp shape pretty well when hydrated but with all my tanks it would just take too long and I didnt see any difference in how well the discus take to them.

[For100]

Hi Freddy, That bag should be good at least a year in the Freezer. I have run experiments here where I got at least 12 months out a bag stored dry in the fridge....officially I think the farm was saying 6 months.

I've tried a couple of brine shrimp cubes.. I have settled on Brine Shrimp Directs..

https://www.brineshrimpdirect.com/fr...ine-shrimp-6oz

al

Thank you

[dagray]

I either buy live blackworm or Al's freeze-dried blackworm. I also buy blackworm flake from Ken's Fish, but I mix it with earth worm flake, and flake for cichlids, and a general tropical flake from Ken's Fish (Ken's fish brand) as he makes great food.

[danotaylor]

or Al's freeze-dried blackworm

Dave I haven't seen you post recently, so maybe you didn't hear, but Al's supply from Australia is offline for undetermined period of time, perhaps (hopefully not) permanently...

[dagray]

I hadn't.

I bought some live worms from an online vendor a couple months ago. dumped them in my three tanks after rinsing with filtered water. in one tank I have them in groups living in the substrate.

[Second Hand Pat]

Al, the FDBS from brineshrimpdirect came yesterday and boy, does the cube feel and behave differently from FDBWs differently but the fish mostly went right to it (mostly). Thank you for doing the research on this product.
Pat