I have been feeding frozen foods for awhile, and with the recent addition of scarlet badis to my tank, I decided to make the leap into live foods. I've thought about it for awhile, but every time the guy at my LFS opens up that drawer of squirming worms, I chicken out. I like my tank. I don't want those things in there. :eek5:
So today, I got blood worms, and plan to get black worms on my next trip. I got home, took my super long tweezers, and dropped in few worms... and half buried themselves in the substrate!!! :icon_eek: I didn't want them in my tank to begin with, and now they're going to be living there!?
So, my question is, how long will they live in the substrate? Will my fish eventually eat them? Will the worms (heaven forbid) breed? Will they hurt my plants? Any advice on how to feed in the future without introducing creepy crawlies to my beloved tank? Help!
The worms will breed, and they will be there for some time... IF they dont get eaten. The chance of them not being eaten are pretty slim. Your fish will seek them out and gobble them up. If they happen to breed, no big deal. More free food for your fish They won't harm your plants, in fact, the aeration they cause to the substrate may actually help them.
Indeed. Live worms in the tank, actually surviving, reproducing, and giving the fish something to hunt down and gleefully nom nom? Sounds like fishy heaven to me.
There is simply no better fish food than the real thing: Live and wriggling.
dont be scared of live food. its harmless to you, and awesome for your fish.
besides, you probably have some worms and arthropods in your tank already. if you were to take out all the fish for a month and let the critters breed without being eaten youd see them all over.
my shrimp tank has at least 5 different creatures in it, none of which i added deliberately.
besides, you probably have some worms and arthropods in your tank already. if you were to take out all the fish for a month and let the critters breed without being eaten youd see them all over.
Thanks everyone for your replies. I feel much more at ease now, though still a little grossed out. But if it's good for my fish and my plants, I guess I'll just have to get over it. I'm glad to know that they'll continue to hunt the little worms, and that it really is good for them.
Another quick question - I noticed today that most of my fish were kinda grazing along the bottom of the tank, probably looking for those worms. Will they go back to mid-tank swimming, or have I spoiled them now?
Just to nitpick a bit, "Bloodworms" is the common name of red mosquito larvae. There are also "Glassworms" which are white mosquito larvae, and -most confusing- "Blackworms", the larvae of the stinging Culex and Aedes mosquitos, which are better fed frozen. All of these are excellent fish food.
Your "Bloodworms" were most likely "Blackworms", not the mosquito beasts, but the California ones from the Lumbriculus genus. They could have also been Tubifex, which live in sewers and such. :icon_conf
Anyway, whatever it is, go live foods! (Out to catch some flies for my fish).
Just to nitpick a bit, "Bloodworms" is the common name of red mosquito larvae. There are also "Glassworms" which are white mosquito larvae, and -most confusing- "Blackworms", the larvae of the stinging Culex and Aedes mosquitos, which are better fed frozen.
I just put in an order from a lab supply place for school science teachers for a culture of brown planaria and california black worms, both of which are fully aquatic.
my plan is seed a self sustaining population of them in a tank with rainbows... i'll take pics when the cultures arrive
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