Earthworm Flake & More

["Darren J. Hanson" <djhanson@calweb.com>]

First off, let me appologise for what is going to sound like a commercial
plug on this mailing list. I have 
resisted any sort of advertising as I know what a bad taste it leaves in my
mouth when somebody else does it.
However, there has been a recent discussion on this list regarding the
benefits of "earthworm flakes" and the
difficulty many list participants have had in obtaining it. This has
culminated in several people asking about getting the name of our supplier,
but we have had to refuse. The place where we can currently get Earthworm
Flake normally supplies directly to smaller retailers (no superstores or big
chains) and the only reason they deal with us is because of the size of our
breeding operation. However, we do have a resale license and can act as a
distributor/retailer for this type of food, and many other items, if there
is interest.

Currently we can get 21 different kinds of fish foods, mostly flakes but 2
sinking pellets and 3 kinds of sinking sticks. We primarily order
Hydro-Sponge (tm) filters from them and regularly offer members of local
clubs the chance to participate in our next order which make it easier for
us to put together a $600 minimum 
and, at the same time, provides a chance to get quality filters at or below
mail order prices!

If anybody is interested in participating in such an order, e-mail me
directly (we don't want to bog down
the list with a bunch of commercial traffic). By way of example, I can get
earthworm flakes in 5# boxes for approximately $40 + reshipping costs, in
30# boxes for $225 + reshipping, and earthworm sinking sticks in a 
10# box for roughly $90 + shipping. (Some other types of flakes come in
packages as small as .35 oz, just not the earthworm products unfortunately.)
I also regularly offer Hydro-Sponge (tm) V filters (good for up to 125 
gallon tanks) for $7.00, compared to $15-20 retail. 

According to the information I have, the following is the nutritional
information for the Earthworm Flakes:

Ingredients: Fish meal, soy flour, fresh earthworms, wheat, 
oat & gluten flours, frozen or dried brine-shrimp, dried 
spirulina, lecithin, fish oil, Vitamins B1, A & C, choline HCl, 
Biotin, Methionine, Thiamine (source of Vitamin B1), Ascorbic 
acid (source of Vitamin C).

Guaranteed Analysis: Crude protein 42.0% min., crude fat 4.1% min., 
crude fiber 4.2% max., moisture 8.2% max.  

All natural ingredients, except for some artificial coloring. No preservatives.

And according to the information I have on the Earthworm Sinking Sticks, its
nutritional analysis is:

Ingredients: White-fish meal, fish protein concentrate, wheat 
flour, soy flour, gluten, dried brewer's yeast, frozen baby 
brine-shrimp, plankton, shrimp, egg, krill powder mix, earthworms, 
kelp meal, dried spirulina, fish oil, lecithin. The following 
vitamin/mineral supplements: A, D-3, B1, B12, Choline HCl & Biotin. 
Methionine. Vegetable protein. Ascorbic acid (source of Vitamin C). 
Thiamine (source of Vitamin B1).

Guaranteed Analysis: Crude protein 45.0% min., Crude fat 4.1% min., 
crude fiber 4.2% max., moisture 8.2% max.

All natural ingredients, except for some artificial coloring. No preservatives.

Again, if this sounds interesting to you, please let me know. They have a
number of different medications, water treatments, filter pads, and other
aquarium accessories (and even some small animal cages, water bottles,
etc!). Please keep your queries in private e-mail and not on the list. Also,
please let me know what other kinds of items you might be interested in, and
I'll let you know if I can get those and give you a price you can compare to
your local retailers. Also, I can generally offer additional discounts for
large orders or multiples of a single item.

Finally, I would like to appologise to all the list members again for this
fairly commercial message. I just didn't know how else to best provide the
information about the nutritional value of the earthworm flakes/sinking
sticks or what I could do to help others get them. Rest assured, I won't be
flooding this list with daily, or even monthly, posts about my latest
bargain price and hope I can be forgiven for this breach of netiquette.

Thank you.

- -- dj