My 10 gallon licorice gourami tank has an unknown species of small worm that I often see on the substrate. Planted tanks in general tend to be worm laden...we just don't see them (in most tanks they stay underground to avoid being eaten)
Worm colony?
Anyone have any luck getting a colony of worms going in an existing aquarium? If so id love to hear about it.
What worms work best?
Which worms would shrimp eat/not eat?
If it doesn't work in an established aquarium would it in a Walstad jar? If so at what point do I add the worms?
Thanks!
What worms work best?
Which worms would shrimp eat/not eat?
If it doesn't work in an established aquarium would it in a Walstad jar? If so at what point do I add the worms?
Thanks!
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Are you talking about planaria? They just show up when there's too much detritus/food built up...
People have luck with black worms and tubifex. If you have fish, it won't be much of a colony.
I'm growing dero worms in a plastic container of water and feed them sinking wafers.
I don't know if shrimps eat worms.
I'm growing dero worms in a plastic container of water and feed them sinking wafers.
I don't know if shrimps eat worms.
I have some sort of red, segmented worm about the same size as black worms. They tend to congregate around the plant roots, as they are always curled in little work balls when I pull out a plant. I've had these for 20 years.
That's likely tubifex.I have some sort of red, segmented worm about the same size as black worms. They tend to congregate around the plant roots, as they are always curled in little work balls when I pull out a plant. I've had these for 20 years.
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After all these years, I finally decided to look up pics, on your lead, and yep, absolutely tubifex. Thanks for the ID!That's likely tubifex.
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I've got what I'm fairly certain are tubifex. They've been in my tanks since I started, they came in on some of the first plants I bought years ago. I've had them in tanks with kuhlis cories bettas and various others and the fish have never really done much to knock the numbers down -they only poke a little of their bodies above the substrate so they don''t really get eaten.
Personally I think they're neat (from a 'complex ecosystems are a good thing' perspective) but really annoying, I keep dirted/walstad tanks and they act like terrestrial earthworms, crawling around in the soil eating and then crapping it out at the surface, which is a huge PITA. It means that I have a constant source of super fine material on top of my sand cap -when I had cories in a tank with them the water was always murky brown as they stirred it up, and I have to clean the filter and prefilter constantly to keep it from clogging.
Right now they're only in a 10g shrimp tank and I've been putting off rescaping it for over a year at this point, because I want to kill them off before replacing the soil and replanting and I'm not positive of the best way to go about it.
As far as I know the shrimp don't eat the worms, unless one is damaged/dead on the surface. As for when to add them. Mine went in when I planted the first tank I did (so they went through the whole cycle) and they've managed to survive for years, including one point where there was nothing but shrimp in the tank and I didn't feed for months at a time, so they're pretty resilient. I'd say add whenever.
Personally I think they're neat (from a 'complex ecosystems are a good thing' perspective) but really annoying, I keep dirted/walstad tanks and they act like terrestrial earthworms, crawling around in the soil eating and then crapping it out at the surface, which is a huge PITA. It means that I have a constant source of super fine material on top of my sand cap -when I had cories in a tank with them the water was always murky brown as they stirred it up, and I have to clean the filter and prefilter constantly to keep it from clogging.
Right now they're only in a 10g shrimp tank and I've been putting off rescaping it for over a year at this point, because I want to kill them off before replacing the soil and replanting and I'm not positive of the best way to go about it.
As far as I know the shrimp don't eat the worms, unless one is damaged/dead on the surface. As for when to add them. Mine went in when I planted the first tank I did (so they went through the whole cycle) and they've managed to survive for years, including one point where there was nothing but shrimp in the tank and I didn't feed for months at a time, so they're pretty resilient. I'd say add whenever.
Thanks for the in depth reply Artemesia! Now I'm unsure I want them! 
You're welcome bbroush.
For what it's worth, I'd suggest doing them in a small tank or a jar and observe for a good long while before you commit to adding them to a tank you really care about. Though if you don't have a dirt tank they may be no problem at all.
Since they came in on the first plants I bought and I didn't really recognize them til later I assumed that their effect was normal tank stuff, and I just had a ton of mulm in my tank even though I vacuumed all the time and was careful about things like overfeeding and trimming dying leaves. But the first time I rescaped the tank that they had been in I realized the problem was the worms. They were in among the plant roots so they were transferred over after I removed the old substrate and replaced it. I started noticing little mounds of black silt on the sand around the roots within about a day, within about a week or so they had gone from maybe a dozen little black spots the size of a pea around each plant to about half dollar sized mounds of silt. They're really busy and they move a lot of soil for being so small. It was closely planted so vacuuming it up was a huge pain and I mostly left it alone and after a while the only spots that didn't have a solid black layer of silt was the bits that got a lot of current. It's just hard to keep up with how much of a mess they can make.
It's the same in the shrimp tank now, they've moved most of the soil from under the sand layer to above it, in areas without a lot of flow -mainly in between the plants where it's hard to get at- it can be up to an inch think in silt from the worms.
I'd love to get rid of them, but I know that there's enough of a population in the substrate that if I can find a shrimp safe medication that works and kills them off it would almost certainly crash the tank as they decay, so it has to happen during a rescape. And the thought of it not working and ending up with them in the newly done tank anyway, makes me want to keep putting it off.
About the only thing that's a real positive (even if for me it doesn't outweigh the cons) is I've never had any problems with anaerobic conditions developing since they keep the substrate well stirred up and aerated.
For what it's worth, I'd suggest doing them in a small tank or a jar and observe for a good long while before you commit to adding them to a tank you really care about. Though if you don't have a dirt tank they may be no problem at all.
Since they came in on the first plants I bought and I didn't really recognize them til later I assumed that their effect was normal tank stuff, and I just had a ton of mulm in my tank even though I vacuumed all the time and was careful about things like overfeeding and trimming dying leaves. But the first time I rescaped the tank that they had been in I realized the problem was the worms. They were in among the plant roots so they were transferred over after I removed the old substrate and replaced it. I started noticing little mounds of black silt on the sand around the roots within about a day, within about a week or so they had gone from maybe a dozen little black spots the size of a pea around each plant to about half dollar sized mounds of silt. They're really busy and they move a lot of soil for being so small. It was closely planted so vacuuming it up was a huge pain and I mostly left it alone and after a while the only spots that didn't have a solid black layer of silt was the bits that got a lot of current. It's just hard to keep up with how much of a mess they can make.
It's the same in the shrimp tank now, they've moved most of the soil from under the sand layer to above it, in areas without a lot of flow -mainly in between the plants where it's hard to get at- it can be up to an inch think in silt from the worms.
I'd love to get rid of them, but I know that there's enough of a population in the substrate that if I can find a shrimp safe medication that works and kills them off it would almost certainly crash the tank as they decay, so it has to happen during a rescape. And the thought of it not working and ending up with them in the newly done tank anyway, makes me want to keep putting it off.
About the only thing that's a real positive (even if for me it doesn't outweigh the cons) is I've never had any problems with anaerobic conditions developing since they keep the substrate well stirred up and aerated.
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