Successfully culturing blackworms

[lipadj46]

I've been successfully culturing live blackworms for about a month now. I started out with about 3 tbs of blackworms that I tossed in my shrimp tank about 4 months ago to clean up the bonsai media that was filthy. The population exploded and now I am able to essentially feed blackworms every other day and not worry about the hassle of keeping them alive. Since they are in my own tank I also don't worry about disease and I feed then NLS and repashy super food so I know they are safe and nutritious. To harvest them I just toss in some food and after they have gathered I suck them up with a baster, really easy. If anyone has a small natural planted tank they should try it. They are also great for the tank they keep my akadama really clean and aerated. They look gross according to my wife, the only downside I guess.
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[Kal-El]

Very nice... I thought about doing this myself too. May have to do this on a 5-10 gallon tank. Can even do both Brine Shrimp and Live Black worms in the same tank since the BB Shrimp will be in 2 litter bottle sitting in the 10 gallon tank.

[lipadj46]

Very nice... I thought about doing this myself too. May have to do this on a 5-10 gallon tank. Can even do both Brine Shrimp and Live Black worms in the same tank since the BB Shrimp will be in 2 litter bottle sitting in the 10 gallon tank.

It wasn't anything I planned just a happy accident. Not sure how long the culture will last but I know I can always order more from Dan to start it up again if they crash. My zebra otos love the worms too I see them sucking them down proving they are more of a meat eater when compared to regular otos

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[amyers]

That's great News. Can you tell me what's NLS and repashy super food? How much and how regular do you feed them? Do you have to change any water?

[lipadj46]

That's great News. Can you tell me what's NLS and repashy super food? How much and how regular do you feed them? Do you have to change any water?

New life spectrum pellets and repashy soilent green gel food (Google it interesting stuff). I change the water weekly in the 12 gallon long tank they are in with zebra otos and crystal shrimp.

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[Baygon]

I agreed with your wife...

But congrats! I will try with my 10G plant tank too

[lipadj46]

I agreed with your wife...

But congrats! I will try with my 10G plant tank too

Yeah they don't look nice that's for sure

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[mshen11]

CRS/CBS need as pristine water conditions as discus (if not better)... the black worms dont pollute the waters? can you give more details on tank such as shrimp population, substrate, etc...?

[lipadj46]

No they make the water cleaner by keeping the substrate clean. I have a few Taiwan bees in there too and mischlings. They breed like crazy. Tank is stuffed with riccia, Java moss and guppy grass, akadama substrate and tons of manzanita

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[mshen11]

hmm.. do you think a bare bottom shrimp tank would work too?
ive contemplated this in the past but was afraid the worms would foul up the water and kill the shrimps. then why do they say black worms must be washed daily?

3 tablespoon is... not even a fractional of a pound? are you afraid your system will crash when the worm population exceeds x? what do you think this threshhold point is in your 12g? how much is removed every other day?

from the picture it looks like your ENTIRE substrate is covered or you just took picture of the covered section?

[lipadj46]

Most of the substrate is covered but more by the feeding areas. Not really too worried about it. Like I said its been something like 4 or 5 months that they've been in there. If anything my water quality has been better since adding them. I never have nitrates due to the plants. Bare bottom can be done but you may want to keep some buffering media in the tank to keep the Ph down around 6-6.5. Shrimp just need lots of surfaces to graze on. I've found crs and CBS and Taiwan bees do best in 0-1 kh and 6 gh and Ph around 6

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[mshen11]

i assume your java moss hugs the bottom of your tank... do the black worm eat any of your plants or just the dead detritus material?

[lipadj46]

i assume your java moss hugs the bottom of your tank... do the black worm eat any of your plants or just the dead detritus material?

The java moss is growing on the the manzanita, the worms don't eat the plants just stick out of the substrate and live in the java moss too. They just eat detritus and the shrimp food. They ate an entire betta a couple weeks ago. I was away for 3 weeks and a betta died in the tank, when I came home no sign of the beta at all they are efficient cleaners.

[mshen11]

you had a betta in a CRS/CBS tank??? you're not raising them (shrimps) to feed your discus are you???

[lipadj46]

you had a betta in a CRS/CBS tank??? you're not raising them (shrimps) to feed your discus are you???

I feed a bunch to my discus yes, mostly cherries though. I had a betta in with the shrimp, he got some babies but many made it to large enough where he was too lazy to try. He was fat and soft from the blackworms, they got their revenge though in the end

[mshen11]

hehe. thanks for answering all my questions. ive always been curious but too chicken to try.
i think a measure of how much someone loves their pet (discus) is in the food they give. at $5+ a pop [CRS] i think you just topped my winner's list for fish. i would be curious if you dont mind starting another thread on what other food youve successfully raise and how.

[lipadj46]

They really go after the CRS too! To be honest I was really into shrimp but now they bore me. I really want to do something else with the tank, tear it down and maybe do a killifish tank but the shrimp just keep on ticking and multiplying. I have not bought a shrimp in over a year.

[Baygon]

RIP betta of lipadj46.

[Trac]

Don,

What is your tank temperature? And at what temperature black worms do best in?

[lipadj46]

75 or warmer

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[Trac]

75 or warmer

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Thanks!

[ericatdallas]

So I did this moderately successfully a while back ... not as easy as what you have going. I have a little in a shrimp tank as well.

I had two trays... I changed the water twice a day by aging water in one tray then moving the worms over each time. I was able to do this for several months before I got tired (it was more of a challenge to me at first --- and I was already doing the WCs because of my Discus). I knew my population was growing but not very quickly.

Downsides: I had a leech problem and it got out of hand. Became too hard to fight it. The other was the smell... when you had a lot of them, there's a very distinct smell. It's not necessarily the raw sewage like smell you get when you buy them though. Also, if I did miss the morning WC for some reason, the evening one was bad. Part of my problem was water volume I'm sure.

I think what I would have done differently was the same type of setup with one 10G tanks instead of trays. I also would have been more careful with the leeches and carefully selected out just Blackworms.