Earthworms??

[parasite]

does anybody feed discus earthworms?? and what steps are taken to cleanse worms ??

[sunshinediscus]

Yes. I wipe them clean is all before chopping. With the amount of w/c i do i don't bother too much about emptying gut contents before feeding.

Rod

[Chris McMahon]

Do you grow your own Rod, or buy them? Are all earthworms the same, or do you recommend a specific type?

[nag]

Hi:
Here's is the way to go about:
Get an empty, clean Jute sack used for storing food grains.
Soak it in water overnight. Drip dry till excess water drains off.

Wrap the earthworms in the bag and keep the bags moist for 2 days. The worms should not escape. This procedure purges the worms of all the waste in their guts.

After a couple of days... wash them under running water and drop them in a plastic bag.. Seal the bag and put it in the freezer. The lower temparature will make them almost immobile and easy to cut up. After an hour remove from freezer chop into 3-4 mm bits or smaller, put into a plastic bag, freeze for use as required.
Bye,

[sunshinediscus]

Hi Chris, I buy those red wriggler worms from bunnings occasionally but all earthworms are equivelant nutritionally so any type would be fine as long as they are cut up into very small peices. For easy chopping i place the worms in the rounded corner of an ice cream container then chop therm up witha pair of scissors. Only takes seconds to do it.

Rod

[Chris McMahon]

Thanks for the reply Rod. I actually bought a Reln worm farm a few months ago but haven't got around to buying the worms.

[sunshinediscus]

I've been wanting to culture my own worms for a long time but never got around to it yet.

[D.J]

Hi Rod, after stop feeding my discus with black worms, I am very interested in feeding them earth worms.
Are they as equal nutrition compare to black worms? is there any diseases associated with earth worms? and last question is why do we have to empty the gut contents?
I can get a container full of them from a local pet shop.
Thanks for any input.

Donald.

[sunshinediscus]

Hi Donald,

My understanding is blackworms/tubifex/ earthworms are fairly closely related and very similar from a nutrition point of veiw. I guess the advantage of tubifex and blackworms is fish eat them whole so very easy to handle whereas earthworms generally have to be chopped. Prob the disadvantage with tubifex/blackworms is they are collected/cultured in fresh water so the chance of them carrying a disease is much higher than the earthworm.

Not sure why people empty the gut contents, prob something to do with the unprocessed worm food and fecel matter from the worm that the fish will spit out when they are eating them. But being a discus keeper with a high water turnover in the tank pretty much makes that a non issue. It will be cleaned out later that day.

Rod

[Merrilyn]

Worms eat sand and dirt as they are feeding. They sift the vegetable matter and pass the sand. To remove the sand from the gut, place rinsed worms in damp newspaper for 24 hours and keep in a cool dark place. After 24 hours remove worms to a plastic container and freeze for 4-8 hours. Makes chopping easier and cleaner.