Question about live worms and them gettign into gr

[jasno999]

Question about live worms and them gettign into gravel.

I have some red willigers that I got live to feed to a tire rack or as I call it zig-zag eel. I have some kenyi in the tank too and I thought they woudl liek the worms too. I have feed them earthworrms before and they loved it. However these red wiggliers are tough and do not break apart easily.

I noticed the cichlids try to eat tehm but spit them out.

The eel did eat one and loved it but I have had several that have escaped his view and wiggled their way into my gravel.

HERE IS THE QUESTION:

If some of these worms escape into the gravel which is not a fine type gravel. What will happen? Will the live under there? Will they die? Will they cause me problems due to decay or multiplication? What do I do?


Also how can I get these worms to the eel in the best was and yst at the same time not let them escape into the gravel?

 

[canarsie11]

They dug into gravel?

 

[jasno999]

Yes they are live worms and they wiggled inbetween the rocks it is rock like gravle with spaces in between and all. It is not a fine gravel.


WHAT DO I DO?

 

[willywonka099]

Well if they are live cultures easearch to see if they live underwater

 

[wuvmybetta]

Hopefully your eel will seek them out in the gravel. If not a good gravel vac'cing will solve that problem ,this time. Next time try to hand feed them to him one at a time.

 

[canarsie11]

Yea... nature will handle them I will beleive, give your occupants the thrill of the hunt!

 

[fishdudein]

What are red willigers? Are they like a garden worm that you would use to bait a hook with when you go fishing, or something different?

 

[jasno999]

Well I got the red wiligers at pet smart. I think the sell them for rteptiles. I knwo the eel is supposed to get live foods and I figured I woudl try these. He did eat the first one I put into the tank. HE actually wrestled it away from a male kenyi cichlid. IT was neat.


But the next few times I put worms i nthe tank he did nto see them or was not hungry at the time. I am nto sure how often these eels eat or need food.

I highly doubt he is goign to hunt them in the gravel. IT is rock like gravel that he can not eaisly move around. Not I am wondering if I should change the tank to a san bottom or more of a fine gravle bottom.


Either way I still need to devise a way to get the worms to the eel withought lettign them escape into the gravel.

Maybe a bog rock with a divit where I can put the worms and soem gravle but only a little. I have no idea. I am open to suggestions. I will post a message to the eel owners to see what they say.

 

[abstract]

add a layer of sand on top of the coarse gravel...eventually it will fill in the cracks. however, i have heard people complain about how gravel and sand looks together.

 

[FishDan]

add a layer of sand on top of the coarse gravel...eventually it will fill in the cracks. however, i have heard people complain about how gravel and sand looks together.

The problem with this is that eventually he will end up with the same problem. The sand will all "sink" to the bottom and the gravel will layer on top, creating the same situation he has now, only with two layers vs one. The worms probably will not stay totally "lost" in the gravel, they will come out to eat too, and then your fish will get them. I wouldn't worry over much, unless you are putting in a whole lot of worms at one time. They will eventually get eaten.

\Dan

 

[jasno999]

Interesting. My 10 gallon tank has sand in it. IT was a ***** to clean that sand and to tell you the truth in the end I still had a lot of particles and it took 3 days for them to settle out or gt filtered out.

Sand is very cool but messy and it is impossiable to vacum. I mean if you try you end up suckign the sand right out. So I am not sure if I want to do that in my 30 gallon tank. I like the look but I don't knwo if it is worth the trouble. Pluse a worm woudl just borrow into the sand anyway.

The eel would probably love being able to do the same but who knows. Do they sell a cheap sand/gravel that is fine but not so fine that particles stay suspended and cause the tank to cloud up? What I have now in the 10 gallon is very fine sand.


Please watch your language on the forum.

 

[abstract]

you can buy cheap play sand at just about any home improvement store. ~ $3 for a 50 lb bag (took a little over a bag to do my 46 gallon and 20 long). Now, you have to rinse this stuff out first so that it doesn't cloud your water. I found one of the most effective ways was using a large dishpan (or something with a large area) and running it under the faucet in the tub stirring it up and dumping out the suspended particles...repeating until the water was pretty clear. You then need to turn off all filters and you can add the sand - if your water still clouds it shouldn't last more than a day or two.

as for cleaning, i really believe it is sooooo much easier to clean than gravel. all you need to do is hover the siphon over the sand an inch or two and take off the top layer of particles. even if you do suck up some sand it's a pretty negligible amount. the only reason people assume it is easier to clean gravel is because more crap falls down into it that the fish can't get to. therefore, it LOOKS like you're doing a lot better job cleaning than you really are - in actuality you are just stuck with cleaning up MORE than you would in sand (the stuff the fish couldn't get to in time).

as for worms borrowing - no matter what kind of substrate you use the red wigglers are going to borrow. like others have suggested, i would only feed a couple at a time and make sure they're getting eaten. if they aren't, 1 or 2 in the tank for a little while shouldn't cause problems and chances are they will get eaten during the night. if you're worried about worms borrowing get some blackworms or something like that - my fish go crazy for them and don't even let them hit the bottom.

good luck, and i suggest reading through some of the posts on the board regarding sand as a substrate and feeding live foods.

 

[clutterydrawer]

Do they sell a cheap sand/gravel that is fine but not so fine that particles stay suspended and cause the tank to cloud up? What I have now in the 10 gallon is very fine sand.

pool filter sand.

 

[jasno999]

Where can you get black worms?

 

[abstract]

my lps sells them by the tablespoon. if they sell other live food, chances are they have blackworms too or may get them in at some point in time.