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I feed them whole to my arowana, royal knife, severums, XINGU I pikes, Aristochromis Christyi, and what ever else will take them. They are an excellent source of food.

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There is always a bigger fish...

Dont forget that earthworms, rather like snails may be excellent food, but they also carry other worms, nematodes (roundworm)etc, so its better to raise your own culture in steralised soils from eggs if you can.

Earthworms minced or blended in a food processor makes excellent fry food for lots of species BTW. You might want to have a cheap blender set aside for the purpose, Im not sure I want worm meat in my soup .lol.


I saw a 1 inch diving beetle take out a 5 inch newt once, so dont be tempted to put them in with smaller fish! In fact I told my old schoolteacher at the time ( it was a school aquarium) that it was risky , but he didnt believe me until he saw the newt getting its throat munched by the beetle.Bit late by then of course.

Last edited by longhairedgit at 14-Dec-2005 17:08

Cultivating earthworms would probably be the best route. You would then know what went into your earthworms before you fed them to your fishes. Even better if you obtained your earthworms from an 'organic' source prior to starting the culture. I'm sure that an organic farm would let you take some home in exchange for a few hours' strawberry picking in the summer, for example!

As for them being something that fishes love to eat, well, certainly in the case of bigger fishes, no doubts there. Particularly big Cichlids and big Catfishes. Trouble is, Cichlids that develop a taste for them are apt to try and train their keepers into maintaining them as a regular foodstuff - yes, your Cichlids are capable of training you to give them what they want when they are so minded! Oscars, big Guapotes, Green Terrors and other species that exceed a foot in length are particularly noted for this.

Of course, in the case of big fishes, you can add food items that wouldn't be safe with small fishes. Innes cited dragonfly larvae as being excellent food for big Cichlids in his venerable tome, stating that in the case of breeding adults, they gave double satisfaction - satisfying the instinct to kill potential fry thieves and filling the belly nicely into the bargain. Big bad boys such as Jaguars and Black Belts would probably be capable of crunching diving beetles as well, as would big Oscars. How well they would take to such items is, of course, open to question, but there's no doubt at all that a breeding pair would attack and dismember on sight any dragonfly larvae or water beetles that turned up in the aquarium - with absolutely no attempt whatsoever to hide their relish in doing so!


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Most pestacides that people spray in their back yards are not designed to kill earthworms or a fish the size of an Oscar. I really doubt that an earthworm with pesticide in its belly has enough in their to effect your fish, unless you put the fish on a diet of pure pesticide infested earthworms.

I think as long as you aren't spraying your backyard on a regular basis and you are washing the worms off before you put them into the tank and you are not feeding your fish nothing but earthworms, you should be ok.

Last edited by soclosetome at 14-Dec-2005 10:37

But why have them fasting? With my red worms (smaller not night crawlers), I actually gut load them. I take a hand full and put them in something for color enhancing or such. Like Rose Exanthuim (sp?). I even add vitamins to the dirt, so the worms will eat it, and transfer to the fish.

There is an old saying KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid). In nature the worms finding themselves washed down into the water, are not fasted. So why change things. I say just take them right out of the dirt and feed them to your fish. Best way. I have been feeding live worms of all kinds to my fish for as long as I have had fish. And lets just say, that is a long time.

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There is always a bigger fish...

[font color="#800080"]I think the reasoning I'd read behind the oatmeal was to clean out their systems then let them fast before feeding them to a tank.



[hr width='40%']"Buttons are NOT Toys!"[/font]

yeah, I always dug them straight out of the farm and chucked them into the tank.

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

I keep mine in dirt in a tub. I pull them right out of the dirt and put them in the water.

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There is always a bigger fish...

I know fishies go crazy over the worms, but I've read in a few places to make sure they are clean inside and out, leave them in water a day or so to get the dirt out. They will really dirty up a tank fast, but your fish will surely thank you for the treat.

One thing to consider regarding bugs and worms you catch outside is pesticides. Is the area where you are catching them sprayed? Growing your own seems to be the best way to go.

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If at first you DO succeed, try not to look astonished.

how do you clean earthworms, just run them under cold water? and if you catch a fly or moth in your house you can throw them in too right. you dont need to clean them?

any type of insect that you can throw into the tank is usually good for the fish...in the wild they eat whatever they can

I just wanted to try to see if my fish liked it.I cut the worm up in small pieces,not to many just to see what my fish was going to do.
Wow...they went crazy,even my pleco took a piece
Robby

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I know human beings and fish can co-exist peacefully.

Yes i also feed earthworms to my oscars and they LOVE them! what kind of fish are you feeding them too?

Tried starting a worm farm because i heard that earthworms were a great source of food for em but failed miserably :#( i think i had a crappy starter kit. it was 1 of those dodgey ones from Kmart.

you can try feeding them oatmeal I guess, but the starches and carbs in that aren't going to be much better for the predator than rotting organic matter.

In fact, i'd personally think that the normal stomach contents of a wrm would be better than oatmeal.

unless it has been eating somthing fairly suss, and in that case, i'd probably bypass the worm altogether.

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

[font color="#800080"]I've read that it's a good idea to feed any worms you harvest yourself oatmeal for a few days to clean out their insides before cutting and feeding them to your tanks.
If you or your neighbors use pesticides, herbacides or fertalizers I would not reccomend using worms from your yard.

[hr width='40%']"Buttons are NOT Toys!"[/font]

It depends on the fish. My carnivore preditors, eat whole live night crawlers exclusively. You can also feed the night crawlers to load them up for the fish. I use the rose powder, to increase the red on my fish that have red on them. Just be sure not to feed your night crawlers too much that they will not eat it, as it will rot and can kill off your night crawlers. I usually feed mine corn meal, just a little sprinkle every few days. But then again, I buy bulk (500 at a time). I also use red worms too, buy them bulk as well (1000 at a time). The red worms won't do as good in the fridge though, so you need to find a cool place to keep them.

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There is always a bigger fish...

I give them one or twice a week,that should be ok.

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I know human beings and fish can co-exist peacefully.

I heard that they are packed with protein so you need to not feed them earthworms so often, more like just a treat every now and then.

Jepp..i clean them before i give the fish
I just didn't know that the pleco would eat

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I know human beings and fish can co-exist peacefully.