Australian Black Worms... Excellent food for Discus

[vanessa messig]

Hello everyone I would like to share with you my success with a great food source I have discovered for my discus... I found the Australian Black Worms to be Excellent food especially for the young and skinny.

My cobalt which was shy and would not eat seemed to be withering away when I discovered the dried worms, he is now gaining weight, is fighting off the other discus, is much stronger, has more colour and his eyes are much brighter.

The discus and rams go absolutely crazy every time I feed them the dried black worms and you can be sure there are none left floating behind.

If you can not find them in your LFS you can order them through Malcolm at www.blackworms.com.au

Thanks Malcolm :D

[JT]

will you suggest the live black worms or the freeze dried worms ??

thanks

[jasonmomm]

I also tried Aussie Blackworms (Freeze Dried) and my discus absolutely love it. Highly recommend!!!!

[Merrilyn]

Live blackworms are excellent, and very safe to feed if you get them fresh. Find out from your local fish shop when they get their delivery of live food, and try to pick them up the same day.

I use both, but find that the freeze dried ones are much more convenient. I also tried the smaller version of chopped worms made especially as fry food, and it has been a huge success with my baby altums.

They have doubled in size in just under three weeks on a diet of freeze dried blackworms twice a day and beefheart mix twice a day.

Fantastic growth rate. :P

[lpiasente]

I used to feed live blackworms to my bettas until I got a bad bunch. I lost 5 females to them. So as Merrilyn said make sure you get them fresh.

[pink66]

my guys love the FDBW sooooo much that i even put some into my bh/seafood mix.. yum yum.

even my newest editions one day at my place are eating them..

:wink: :wink: :wink:

with fresh bw..they are great (i agree with merrilyn) i too have discovered just how off colour, and smelly :cry: a bad batch can be..

you can tell straight away if they are dodgy - if they are not all dark in colour and wriggly and have any discolouration in the water that you need to back away slowly and not take them home.....

[TW]

Live blackworms are excellent, and very safe to feed if you get them fresh. I didn't know that Merrilyn. I always thought they were a risk.

Maybe I will bring them back on the menu as a treat.

[Merrilyn]

Lots of people get them mixed up with the live tubifex worms that live in raw sewerage. They are really dangerous to feed to fish, but I haven't seen them sold live for many years now.

The Australian live blackworm is a totally different creature, native to Australian rivers, and cultivated in very clean conditions.

But you do need to get them fresh. They'll arrive at your local fish shop in perfect condition, but unless the shop stores them properly (in clean cold running water) they can start to go off. That's why I like to get them the day they arrive.

If they're already bagged in a single serve, have a good look at them before you buy them. The water should still be clean, and the worms lively and wriggling and a good red brown colour.

Dead and dying worms will be in cloudy water which may or may not be a reddish colour, and the worms will be greyish and not moving. If you find them like that, leave them in the shop !

Like all good foods, if they're not stored correctly, they can go "off". If you can get them fresh, they're one of the best foods going, and you fish will love them.

[MalcolmC]

Hi all, thanks for the vote of confidence in my freeze dried worms, and I have to agree with the comments about live worms. Under no circumstances should dead or just about dead worms be fed to your fish. Black worms deteriorate so fast when they die and they just turn to grey mush. This is the reason I don't freeze them in blocks and sell them as frozen food [actually I did do that for a short time, with disastrous results]
If ever Rohan gets around to letting me be a sponsor on this site I will be able to let you know that provided I can get them to you within a 24 hour period you can buy live worms from me and they will be in best possible condition.
Cheers Mal

[Merrilyn]

If I knew how to push the right buttons Malcolm, you'd be a sponsor already, but unfortunately, they don't let me near the admin panel being somewhat computer challenged as I am :lol:

I'll give Ro a bit of a push (I know he's been snowed under with work at the moment) and see if we can get the formalities completed.

Happy to promote your product mate.

In my opinion and in taksan's opinion, it's one of the best fish foods on the market.

[MalcolmC]

Thanks Merrilyn I really appreciate that.

[vanessa messig]

I totally agree with you Marrilyn it certainly is the best fish food on the market!! I have tried and thrown away lots.

The Dried Black Worms get eaten so fast they do not get a chance to sit on the shelf for too long.

[carnival]

I have to agree with what everyone is saying about the dried Black Worms, my Discus love them, my bristlenose love them too (my female albino bn races up the glass and waits for the worms to get caught in the surface tension right agains the glass and swims back and forward having a wonderful time, sometimes with her head half out of the water, her mate hasn't quite figured it out yet...lol).
I've found it great for getting shy discus to start eating, they just can't resist them, and I now have several eating them out of my hand.
Can't recommend them highly enough.

[gypsy3]

hear, hear !! - couldn't agree more.I have bought Mal's blackworms in bulk( 500-750g) for a while now, and had no problems at all keeping them alive for at least 4-6 weeks or until i run out. Piece of cake keeping them alive, and WAY cheaper!! :) Best thing that's ever happened to this forum foodwise!

[danie11]

My fella's love em to :lol:
How often can they be fed ? Can they be one of the main staples in thier diet or are they more like blood worms only as a treat

http://lh5.ggpht.com/bluedan006/SLo5X80PkeI/AAAAAAAAAOk/KicKpOCChCI/s800/P8310072.JPG

[JT]

just bought some Freeze Black Worm from Australian Black Worm.

However, i found it hard to sink . . . it's floating above the water, because i was trying to put them into those tiny basket like i normally do for my blood worm.

Any idea how i can make then sink ??

thanks

[taksan]

time ....its sinks with time
you don't put it on the surface of the water you put it under and disperse it by rubbing your fingers together

[JT]

oh. . .
coz i normally just throw it on the surface, and 15 min later they are all over the place above water lol . . .

[vanessa messig]

Try to squeeze the dried worms together to almost a small marble size and just let the fish feed from your hand. Or you can buy the worms in cubes and stick to the glass.

You do not have to worry about left overs, thats for sure.

[peppermintman]

My 6 Discus i must admit didnt want to eat A.B.W but they now love them.

[jeffa]

are the freezed black worms another name for blood worms?

[Hollowman]

They are not blood worm, I think Mal could tell us exactly. But believe me, they are a great food, my fish go mad for them. They will even jump out the water to grab them when I feed them. :)