How hard is it to culture blackworms?

Becca

Becca

Members
Has anybody tried? Is it hard? How is it done and what are the drawbacks?

I'm getting tired of having to find time to go somewhere that actually sells them in order to get them. Honestly, I wish I could find them frozen because keeping them in the fridge is sort of gross, not to mention that if they get pushed to the back they freeze and die anyway.
 
dogofwar

dogofwar

CCA Members
Two words: red wigglers. Super easy to culture (in a rubbermaid in the garage), comes in all sizes (small through 2-3") and pretty much free once you get started...

Matt
 
verbal

verbal

CCA Members
Some people have had some success at least storing them in an empty tank. They also are available freeze-dried which is cleaner, but less convenient.
 
Tony

Tony

Alligator Snapping Turtle/Past Pres
I think that with some basic filtration, a 2.5 gallon tank can keep them alive pretty well. I am not sure if people culture them though.
 
Becca

Becca

Members
dogofwar said:
Two words: red wigglers. Super easy to culture (in a rubbermaid in the garage), comes in all sizes (small through 2-3") and pretty much free once you get started...

Matt
Click to expand...

I have them, but they really are a PITA to feed to smaller fish. Some of my dwarf cichlids can take them, but my assorted chocolate gouramis and Dario/Badis varieties have trouble.
 
Frank Cowherd

Frank Cowherd

Global Moderators
Staff member
Set up large tank of shallow water at 75 F and put in enough worms to cover a quarter of the bottom. Put in a couple of air stones and feed them fish food. THe worms will very slowly increase. You still have the problems of how much food, trial and error, and how often to change water, at least once a week.

I have done this with daphnia culture but did not get many blackworms, maybe enough to feed one tank once a week. I tried it with bare tanks and with gravel, just a very small amount, and liked the bare tank better. Sand might work well as the worms could anchor in the sand and the food and debris stay on top of the sand.

I have tried sponge filters but all the worms ended up in the sponge filter and no way to get them out. Well, the fish will suck them out, if you put the sponge in a fish tank.

Blackworms are however able to reproduce in a different way than sex. If you chop them up, each section grows into a new worm. Doing that is actually much faster than normal reproduction. But means more manual labor to you. ANd complicates water changes.

One of the past presidents of PVAS did publish an article on blackworm culture. You might be able to find it. He had pictures of his set up which involved a lot of bottles.
 
JLW

JLW

CCA Members
Culturing black worms is kind of like growing your own brine shrimp.
You can do it, but there are easier alternatives, and they're so cheap that ... WHY!? :)
 
Beeman

Beeman

Members
Hey Becca, I would also recommend microworms for your dario and gourami's. I feed them to my dario and chili rasboros, and they love them. Very small, and easily taken by the smallest of fish. Very easy to culture too.
 
verbal

verbal

CCA Members
Beeman said:
Hey Becca, I would also recommend microworms for your dario and gourami's. I feed them to my dario and chili rasboros, and they love them. Very small, and easily taken by the smallest of fish. Very easy to culture too.
Click to expand...

A lot of stuff that isn't big enough for red wigglers can probably eat stuff that is more typically fry food. Baby brine shrimp is another easy option.
 
Becca

Becca

Members
Beeman said:
Hey Becca, I would also recommend microworms for your dario and gourami's. I feed them to my dario and chili rasboros, and they love them. Very small, and easily taken by the smallest of fish. Very easy to culture too.
Click to expand...

I have a culture of those - I do feed them to all of the tanks, although I find that it takes an awful lot of them to satisfy the average Dario - those guys are PIGGIES!!! The gouramis do eat them, too, but same issue - I have a BIG culture, but maybe not big enough for the number of small mouths to feed in my tanks!
 
D

DougGosnell

Members
I was thinking of doing it here with those 2 lower shelves I do not have tanks on. I was going to run a drip into the containers and let it overflow out the room. If I recall, sweater boxes would work, large surface area and not much depth. There are a bunch of articles on doing this out on the Internet.
 
captmicha

captmicha

Members
I used to culture them. They're too slow, it's not really worth it unless you just want to not have to deal with keeping them in a fridge.

I had a small tank filled with water, rough gravel, an over rated air filter (sponge but fine pore) and Java moss. Turn off your air and they stick out of the gravel and you can suck them up with a turkey baster. Clean the water before it fouls up.

You can culture them the same way. I fed them old fish food. I read that chopping them just makes short, thin worms so I never bothered.


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
 
festaedan

festaedan

potamotrygon fan
I wished there was a way to culter them like red wigglers. Almost every fish I own eats them and a few eat nothing except the blackworms.
 
chriscoli

chriscoli

Administrator
I've been using the recipe in Mike Hellweg's book......very similar to the one at the link Jason posted.
 
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