Feeding Them Live Worms

[rahina]

I understand that live worms are very important for fish and especially fry. I bought some from my fish dealer and put them in a conatiner having holes and stuck it to the side of the tank. of course the fish won't eat all of it on the same day. it can last for 4 or 5 days. I would like to know how long shall I keep the worms? I mean don't they rot or die? shouldn't I get new worms every three day for example? is there anything that I should do to the worms in the container everyday to keep them healthy for my fish?

 

[Liam]

I prefer to give them to the fish when they are still alive. If they die and are still fresh looking then I still feed them to the fish. If they begin to rot I don’t give them to the fish, not that I know that they would be bad for them. Keeping them somewhere cool keeps them alive longer, bloodworms last well in the fridge. The more water they have the longer they will live too. They aren’t essential but they are very good food.

 

[rahina]

thanks Liam for your reply how can I keep the worms alive while they are in the fish tank?

 

[Liam]

I am not sure I understand what you mean, I just give the fish enough so they get eaten in a couple of minutes. They will stay alive if they don’t get eaten though and will pupate if there is a still spot in the tank, then they will fly out, not what you would want I expect.

 

[Dragonscales]

Blackworms would be a good alternative as they are able to live in the tank without turning into an adult pest. They are actual worms rather than larvae and live in the tank without any problems. They do better in sand rather than gravel but should be fine with gravel as well.

I personally dump a large wad of them in my tanks every fortnight to ensure my eels have enough food. They just dig them out of the sand at their own leisure and my other fish have a ball with them too (especially my upside down catfish). The good thing about keeping them in sand is that they tend to remain mostly buried but with part of their bodies sticking out which enables fish to pluck them out to eat.