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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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