Blood worms living in substrate

i was at a pet shop recently and the owner was feeding his fish blood worms. i asked the owner what happens to the worms who make it to the bottom and he said it was good to have them in your substrate because they can fertilise the plants. i have never heard of this at all. i have set up a new 3ft tank for my axie and its cycling at the moment, it used to have goldfish in it. when i explained this to the pet shop he said to put in some blood worms to give the tank some bacteria, the way he explained this was its kind of like earth worms. has anybody heard of this and would this be a good idea, i dont want to add the blood worms and then have a nice little blood worm farm out of control.

my partner has got a stack of bloodworms living in the sand as they're leftovers from feeding but hasn't had any ill effects, the axie's snap at them when they stick their heads up, but i must admit they don't look too attractive and he's tried to clean them out but has never been able to remove them. As to whether they fertilise the plants.. well the axies produce enough of that on their own.

if you're going to throw in anything for an ammonia source in order to get the good bacteria, throw in some frozen brine shrimp, fish food flakes, axie poo, etc, i threw in some prawns and a fish fillet (stank like hell but did the job)

are you feeding live bloodworms? they wont turn into a farm if theyre dead/frozen (obviously lol). i read about them being harvested from slow moving bodies of water in thick silt, so i would be very iffy because of potential parasites.

ive heard of bloodworms increasing nitrite/nitrate (cant remember which one sorry!). just use flakes, axie poo etc- its enough to feed the bacteria and alot safer too.

sharn they are live blood worms and yes sin sister i wasnt too keen on the visual effect either or worms crawling around in the sand. brine shrimp cant live in freshwater is that right. i think ill give the blood worms a miss and maybe put a goldfish or some axie poo inthe tank until ive finished cycling

the brine shrimp i was talking about is basically just powder, if you're cycling you can throw it in and it just decays to create ammonia. i'm not really sure whether the live ones can live in fresh water or not.

my tank was taking ages to cycle with just axie poo and fish considering the volume so threw in the raw fish and prawns after reading that someone here threw in a frozen hamburger and it really got the cycling happening.

Are you sure they were bloodworms? These are insect larvae, not at all like earthworms. BLACKWorms, which are often red, and mistaken for bloodworms, can live in the substrate for a fairly long time, but without supplimental oxygen (an airstone) tend to decay and foul the water quite quickly.

I agree with Joan, it seems to me that the bloodworms would just eventually hatch, and I know my blackworms have invaded my substrate. However, I don't know if you can get blackworms in aussy or not.

sorry they were blackworms and yes we can get them live here in aussie, a company called Pisces live aquarium food. you can buy them in a little plastic bag about 8ml worth. they also do brine shrimp and rotifers

when you feed them you probably dont want to let any of them get into the substrate, i suspect that would be quiet a hassle after a while!

I recon Pisces live foods are the best. I alwayts buy my earthworms and crikets from them, top quality.

I dont mind worms smimming in my substrate. I have hundreds or little worms livinf in my reef system. I like watching them swirm around in the sand and plus they each the bacteria creating room for new bacteria to grow, as do my sea cucumbers.

I had a 10 yr old tank w/live black worms living in the substrate - had an undergravel filter too - they lived their quite readily never had a problem with dirty tank or fouled water - but then I've always been a hyper filter person. Extra filters/oxygen to clean over crowded tanks.

I'm looking forward to the same situation again.

stripe i wasnt aware that you could get eathworms as well, what size do they come in and are they packed the same as blackworms and brine shrimp

They come in a small and large container. It ranges between shops from $3.50au to $5.00au.
They come in that container already packed with soil ( let me remind you not to try taking worms from your backyard and using your backyard soil to start a farm, it wont happen) and about 50 worms (small ones, dont worry they grow huge).

What i do is i buy about 5 packets pur them in a bigger container ad about 3 cups of peat moss to one side ( using cups becasue i find it easier) and chop up some lettuce and other greens, carrots etc (no acidic food). Put that in the soil and make sure its burried. That'll last about 1 month (only put a little bit like 3 pinches). DOnt feed mroe until the last greens have fully decomposed.

After thats set up put them in the fridge and they must stay in the fridge as it lenghtens there life plus they like to cold, damp and dark place. Oh yeh dont forget to give them a squirt of water 1-2 a week and make sure there's enough air holes.

Stipe a Question.
do u get the worms from a pet shop or a bait shop?

You method sound great.. how long would that amount of worms last?

I pet shop. Ive tried once from a bait shop, it doesnt work. Depends though, are the ones at your bait shop little one in a container of dirt or in a bare plastic tub with big ones. In my personal experience (not knowing the species) the smalls one that come in soil packed containers always create a culture, while the big ones jsut die of in a week or two. Bait shops just get a machine and shove it in the ground, the worms get drawn to the surface and then they pic them up, they arnt a good starting culture, mabey good if added on a later date but make sure they are the same species.

(Message edited by stipe on January 23, 2006)

thanks stipe i will have to talk to my local pet shops and see who would be willing to get them in for me.

thanks for the info Stipe, i always thought my local petstore was quite reasonable, they sell mealworms and crickets and bloodworms but when i asked them whether they had earthworms they looked at me like i was crazy.

I may have to get a few containers from the goldcoast store and try your method of cultivation.

Thanks Stipe, I will need to shop around then,cause it' a bit like sin sister says they look at you strange when u ask for earthworms. But knowing some pet shops should have them is good..

Yeah, I've used the same stuff for worms from piesces. (will for crickets as well down the line.)
Packet of earth worms I got over 2 months ago still has loads of live ones roaming around. (nothing to feed them to...yet!) And my flatmate has used their mealworms a lot as well.

the blood or black worms they provide seemed great (the few times i used them before julio passed) and its so easy as you just squirt part of the packet.

Would the brine shrimp be suitable for feeding baby axies? (thinking waaaay down the line here)

My pleasure, i hoped i helped, if you have any mroe questions, i'll be glad to answear them.

Brine shrimp are the most nutritious when they first hatch as they still have there egg sack with them. Those shrimp are already about 2-3 weeks old, depends where and when you get them. At my local pet shop, here in auburn ( Charles this is for you if you live near auburn) they get them fresh in, newley hatched i think every monday. The adress is 115 parramata rd, auburn near macdonalds adn the nike shop. Its called Auburn aquarium and pet centre, there ph is 9648 5200, just if you need it.

If your buying their brine shrimp already hatched i sugest gutloading them first full of nutrition, like you would do with crickets. Heres my recipe,
You will need one hard boiled egg, one tablespoon of non-flavered health food (optional). You only the yolf of the egg and along with the health food, mix it into a smooth paste. I few squirts of liquifry will also do you some good as well as a pinch or two of fish flakes. Form the paste into a thin cookie and place it onto a bakeing dish and into the oven at low heat and leave it to compleatly dry out, dont burn it. Now after completly dry crush it into a fine dust, the finer the better. Now store in a airtight container in a cool dry place and there you have it.

When feedng it to them do not add directly as it will go all lumpy and will be left uneaten. Pure some fresh salt water or thier own water into a glass then ad the amount of the mixture i told you...oops thats right i forgot to tell you...here we go... you moisten the tip of a match stick with some water then dip the very tip of the match stick in the dip, only the very tip, too much will foul the water ( only about 1-3mm up the match stick). Anywayz, yeh ad that to the water mix till all combined then pour it into their container, there you have it simple and easy, plus it serves as a water change every time you use the cup etc.

Oh yeh feed them once-twice a day.

(Message edited by stipe on January 23, 2006)