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Re: EARTHWORMS



Hello all, no no no cutting of the earth worms.  It's horrible, they wiggle, 
they bleed and I can hear them screaming in my mind.
 
For all those interested in earth worms.  The first thing is to ascess how many 
fish will be eating them and how much produce, coffee grounds and other veggie 
waste that you throw away each week.  Unless you are willing to look for spoilt 
goods or have a fruit tree on the premises.  The best book to read is "The 
worms eat my garbage" available at the city and county libraries.
 
You can make a small earth worm bin using a Rubbermaid tub with lid.  Minimum 
gallons is 18 this is the size those blue ones that you see that are for 
recycling.  I have a 50 gall one and a 75 gallon one.  The lid is essensial.  
Do not choose a type where the lid is connected with hinges, the lid must come 
off all the way.  Walmart is the cheapest for these Rubbermaid  bins.  You can 
use other types of boxes.  They need to have a lid and be able to have holes 
drilled in them.  Once you have your box you need dry peat moss.  The hardest 
part of setting up a worm bin is to get the peat moss wet.  It floats and takes 
a week at least to absorb water.  The best way is to have already a bin and 
just mix in more dry peat moss.  When you have the moist peat moss in your box 
all you do is add worms and food.  It is best to bury the food a little that 
keeps down the smell.  There will be other bugs that get into your box.  Thats 
okay they all work together to break the food down.  One
 exception is the centipede.  They must be distroyed on sight because they 
damage the worms.  Now the millipede is alright.  Earth worms are very easy to 
retrieve and clean for your tank.  All you do is dig them up with a garden open 
prong hand rake.  Then rinse them in a screen collander.  The outside dirt will 
come off and then you can feed them.  They have dirt on the inside too, but it 
is not nessary to strip that out of them.  The fish can eat them as they come 
out of the bin.  You can store the extra rinsed ones in water for three days in 
the refridgerator, in a STEEP sided bowl.  In a shallow bowl they will crawl 
out and you will have worms all over the fridge.  You will notice more dirt in 
the bowl the next day and may have to rinse them again.  These worms are very 
clean and easy to handle and feed.  A two inch long worm about 4mm thick can be 
and has been eaten currently at my house by one inch blue and red tetras, blue 
gularis killies, small red Jewels, blue-eyed cichlids
 and two inch severums.  And currently at my friends house the earth worms are 
being eaten by medium size angelfish and medium and large discus.  Nippy and 
darty type fish like them and all cichlids what ever their size.  Any thing 
that has an aggresive type feeding habit.  It's quite a riot to watch, one fish 
will grab one end and another will grab the other end of the worm and they will 
battle for it all over the tank.
Once your bin is set up these are by far the most easiest worms to have in all 
aspects of handling them.  You do not have to tend the box regularly.  If you 
dump in enough food you can let them go for months.  You can keep them right 
outside no problem. I was wiping snow off the tops of the boxes and the worms 
inside were just fine inside.  You can gather a lot of dead produce from all 
those roadside fruit stands you see in the summer.  They usually do not mind.  
Most of the large grocery stores have contracted with pig farmers for their 
dead produce.
 
Sorry for the long post, but this is a very interesting subject.  Free fish 
food that reproduces it's self.  And happens to be the #1 best fish food.  I 
feel good and safe when I feed my fish the earthworms, knowing that they are 
getting a great food without the PARACITES.  
 
This is what I can do for anyone interested in having a earth worm bin.  Bring 
me the bin and the dry peat moss and come back in a week and your bin will be 
all set up with wet moss and worms and enough food to last for a month.  I have 
three fruit trees in my yard now and the fruit wasn't any good this year.  So 
now I have tons of worms and lots of mushy apples to share.  If anyone is 
interesting in just seeing the whole process you are always welcome at my 
house.  I live in Burien.  Call me if you are interested in coming by or want 
to get started with a earthworm bin. 206-444-4943.  I have had my bins for 5 
years.  So it really is a perpetual source of food.  With a little maintance 
they can be kept going for forever.  Tiny worms can be collected more during 
the spring and summer months than the winter, and the largest worms top out at 
4 inches.  But you want to leave those because they are the breeders.  Just 
remember no chopping or cutting them unless you have frozen them first.
  They can be frozen in ice cube trays and you can grate the cubes with a 
cheese grater for very small fish.  But that is more work, there are some other 
ways to process them as well.
 
Thanks for your interest.   Sandy

Kate Breimayer <kate@munat.com> wrote:
I haven't had problems with blackworms myself but I wash them well, 
store in aged water with a little salt, and change the water daily, and 
if it looks nasty I toss the batch. I do sometimes toss the batch in 
other cultures where it often regroups and becomes viable. I have them 
growing in a few tanks and remove them by placing a pad of filter 
material over their hangout, they crawl into and on it so then I move it 
to the fish tank and let them hunt away. Some stores have better storage 
than others and may sell worms that are way past viability. Overfeeding 
is also bad, they can cause bloat. And I suspect some species are more 
suited to them than others. Feed a mostly vegetarian species heavily and 
you will probably make the fish sick. My killies breed better on them 
and when I ran out the angels started eating their babies. Could be a 
coincidence.but I have about 50 baby gularis to show for it... I think 
rinsing them and changing the water daily is critical, storing in the 
fridge is probably too cold IMO as I raise them with almost no mortality 
at 72 degrees. I keep the feeders in the unheated part of the basement 
directly on the floor, it's probably 60 degrees or less. I think they 
use less oxygen at the lower temps so that is why they say put them in 
the fridge, but when I do that tons of them die and also I am at risk of 
spilling them, which is nasty. All in all I would say earthworms are 
cheaper and easier on the mind so if you are so inclined go with the 
earthworms and save yourself the money and the trouble.White worms are 
great too but earthworms seem to be the easiest overall, if you can 
handle the slicing and dicing...not my cup of tea. I just use blackworms 
when I feel like I need more fish breeding, and then skip it for a while.
Kate

welenofsky@comcast.net wrote:

>Thanks Sandy for the warning! I've also been feeding my fish worms whenever I 
>find them after it rains, with no problems. Sometimes I pull the big ones 
>apart or chop them up in the sink, then rinse the dirt out of their guts in a 
>colindar. I even cooked them once because I read that it stopped the slime 
>production, but it smelled horrible, and the fish didn't like them at all that 
>way.
>
>Susan
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