Earthworms?

[Eines]

I have an old book on fish keeping and it says that apparently earthworms are a great source of food for fish. Has anyone ever tried this before? If I cut up an earthworm, could my swordtails eat it?

 

[shroob]

Earthworms are great, especially for bigger fish when you can feed them whole, but chopped up would be fine. If you collect them yourself make sure they come from an area free of pesticides or chemicals as these obviously won't be good for your fish.

 

[waterdrop]

Will be interesting to hear what the experts say!

Earthworms sure are great for fishing, used to catch a lot in the Atlantic with them. Sure seems like if you cleaned them well and cut them up they would be good. I know with bloodworms, people sometimes have trouble with too much protein getting into the water and forming a protein surface problem - such a rich food. So seems even if ok, it would need to be a more occasional treat type thing would be my guess.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Eines]

okay, thanks, that's great! Not sure how happy I am about chopping up a slimy worm, lol, but it'll be...interesting. the book also said that you should leave the worms in damp cloths for a day or two so that all the earth has been removed from their digestive system...

I feed my fish bloodworms several times a week. I've never heard of a protein surface problem. What's that all about?

 

[bymauldin]

Wow! I had never heard that before. I have fed earthworms (chopped up) to my betta's! They absolutely went CRAZY over them. I never did wrap the earthworms in a damp cloth though. I just collected some earthworms from some chemical free soil and kept them in a box...fed them to my fish whenever I wanted. However, that is a great idea!! Luckily none of my fish ever got sick from them.
I say try them if you can get past cutting them up. Your fish will love them!

 

[shroob]

The thing about keeping them in a damp cloth or in some water for a few days is to purge them, but I have never done this and probably never will. All that I do is gather the worms, put them under a tap for literally 2 seconds to remove any dirt stuck to the outside of the worm then I just toss them in the tank. Its up to you which method you use, but I'm just saying I havn't had any problems and I must have been feeding fish like this for 10 years or so.

 

[ALEXF]

would store bought night crawlers be ok? like the ones they sell at fishing shops?

 

[shelaghfishface]

i was advised i couldfeed earthworms to my oscars as a treat. yum yum, ewwww, but im not brave enough to pick them up,

 

[Mikaila31]

My two rubber eels eat 3 big nightcrawlers every other day, 6 worms total which is a lot. I buy the ones used for fishing, normally from walmart. Mainly because I'm too lazy to dig my own up, I also by 6 dozen at once cuz they can live in those tubs for a very long time. My rainbows always try to eat them, some times I give them peices. I've never had anything bad happen. Also ALL my fish like cheese, which is weird....But I live in Wisconsin so it's to be expected as well...

 

[ALEXF]

Also ALL my fish like cheese, which is weird....But I live in Wisconsin so it's to be expected as well...

LMAO thats hilarious. Im going to give it a try.

 

[shelaghfishface]

that is so weird... heres a pic, just so you are sure what your doing the one on the left is a fish

shelagh xxxxx

 

[Eines]

thanks guys, I'll definately give it a try!

cheese?

 

[kribensis12]

I found a HUGE worm outside onetime and popped it into my 30g when at the time i had a pair of kribs, only a inch and a half apiece, and the male took the HUGE worm, and went and hid and ate that thing in about 3 hours! I had to get the poor female one aswell. My fish have always liked them!

 

[Eines]

whoa, cool. lol, I guess I'll have to make sure there's enough to go around if it's that popular.