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Re: blackworms
> Date: Sat, 20 Oct 2001 14:35:34 -0700 (PDT)
> From: "Mr H. K." <hdkwok2000 at yahoo_com>
> Subject: Re: Live Foods Digest V3 #263
>
> How does one keep and raise black worms
>
They are easier and maybe cheaper to buy than to raise. See, for example
http://www.aquaticfoods.com/.
That said, here's how a friend did it, with considerable success.
7 10G tanks were set up with 2" thick, fine sand substrates and airstones. All
tanks were seeded with blackworms, and fed daily with cheap flakes, ground-up
trout chow, or whatever was available and cheap. Since they were heavily
aerated, the worms could live and grow in the substrate without their tails
having to reach the surface (normally required for more dense storage).
He harvested half a tank a day, so that gave a two week cycle for each half
tank to regrow. After a while, he decided the daily feeding cost and labor,
water changes, and tieing up 70G of good fish-raising space, just were not
worth the bother.
Based on his learning experience, I found that alternate use from two of the
little blue "double-boiler" worm keepers, kept in a refrigerator, allowed me
to buy a pound of worms every other week. I changed water and rinsed the worms
as I harvested from each container daily so they were rinsed and 100% water
changed every other day. The worms *could* last for a month or more, like
that, BTW. As always, with worms, water changes and flushing out dead ones and
any debris is the trick for healthy feeding. Failure to feed clean, live worms
is one reason they have such a bad reputation among some breeders.
By dickering with a LFS, I could buy them for $10 a pound, so my blackworms to
feed 150 small killy tanks cost about $5 a week and no particular bother other
than feeding. I mixed them with a fresh glass of water and used a 6"
mini-baster (Corning Outlet Stores) to squirt them into tanks or suspended
worm feeders.
Wright
--
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