Live blackworms from LFS safe to feed fish?

[glo]

I'm interested to hear what people's experience has been when feeding live blackworms. I know some people believe it can lead to problems. I've not encountered any problems myself. The fish love them and there seems to be nothing better than these worms for putting on size, getting fish to breed etc. Am I treading on thin ice? If not for discus, OK for other Sth Americans such as geos?

[goldenpigeon]

over all i think they are a good food, i use them myself. i dont feed them to my discus thoagh. i have just found that discus are one of those fish where you dont take any risks with them and the best results come from a diet made of frozen and dry food and live food such as brine shrimp.

if i wanted to get my discus into breeding condition i would feed them live brine shrimp as they dont contain any parasites and if they did they couldnt hard freshwater fish :D they are also very good for the growth and the fish love them.

i feed live black worms to my corydoras caudimaculatus and kribensis mostly. i would also give them to the angels and tetras but rarly do.

im not into getting my fish live food constantly unless its brine shrimp which i can culture myself because for the amount of fish i have i find that it simply isnt practicle.

on geos they should go excellent. because geos are sand sifters, one night you could get a large amount of black worm and spread it out throughout the tank (so it can get under the gravel) and it may reproduce! then you have a constant food source for your geos... but i htink once they work out there are tasty treats in the gravel they might try and find them quickly lol.

HTH

[Ben]

I agree with David, dont feed Live Blackworms to your discus! feeding to other fish is fine...

but i like to rinse well for 48 hours in fresh water before feeding! just make sure none are dead and/or dieing!!

HTH

Ben

[Phlipper]

I refuse to use them any more as they gave me problems on a couple of occassions. I used them for a few months without problem, but then the luck ran out. They are usually in pretty putrid conditions for breeding, and it is advisable to wash them daily for a couple of weeks to hopefully remnove much of the bacteria etc. At the very least wash them thoroughly before feeding to your fish.

I used to have a permanent colony of them living in one of my tanks accidently, they came in with a feeding and then took up residense in the substrate for months, the fish loved them and at least they were relatively clean. They feed on detrius matter, poop etc etc, so is it any wonder they need to be used with caution, wash 'em real well, or abstain 8-)

[goldenpigeon]

oh i forgot to mention that you should only use them if you are 100% confident with the condition of the worms. check the supply they come from to make sure there arent any dead ones (one or 2 is fine... u get the point).

cheers
David

[glo]

Thanks everyone for the advice!

[nicholas76]

Glo,

the issue you now have is will your discus eat other foods now that they have the taste for worms right ??? :wink:

if so its going to be a little tricky for awhile. Perhaps other members can suggest solutions??

IMO you need to heavily reduce your feeding of worm to nil and at the same time start introducing small amounts of frozen worm and a tetra bit for example

they will get the point once they get the munchies