OrangeCones

I've never had any odor come from my worms' aquarium. Are the worms alive? Do they dig under the substrate you have (sorry, am not familiar with it). Once you dump them into the tank, assuming its properly aged water (I use water from an established fish tank), they should practically disappear. They should only show themselves when hungry (sticking out of the gravel) or when actually feeding on whatever you are feeding them.

Believe me, I'd be tossed to the curb along with a stinky aquarium by my spouse!

Fishtory

Yes.
No.I used aged water from another tank (all 3 times ) They did't go into the substrate. they want to hover near the airstone. They smell so bad I can't let anyone in the house!

OrangeCones

If they smell bad, I can only assume they are decaying/decayed. Live, healthy California Blackworms should borrow into the gravel as soon as they feel it under their bodies. They've always done that with me.

I'd toss the batch you have (or keep them however else you have and feed them to the fish), and try a fresh batch from a new source.

I've started 4 of these tanks for others and my own that I still have since March. I do water changes once per week just as I do for my fish. I feed them every other day and not at all on waterchange day, so they get fed 3 times per week. I alternate between sinking shrimp pellets and algae wafers. I've seen three of the other 4 I'd started and they still are going strong. The other one is about 2 hrs drive and I haven't seen it in person, but the owner says it is working to feed her bettas.

dwalstad

Yes. You overloaded the tank. If the tank stinks, it means you have worms dying and decomposing anaerobically. Not good, as these worms are aerobic. When the system goes anaerobic, they will die and make things worse. You get a tank "melt-down".

Other than that, it sounds like you set up a nice tank.

I would add just a small amount of worms. If conditions are right, they will gradually multiply to the carrying capacity of your particular ecosystem. Even a worm tank probably requires a couple months to get properly established and increase the "carrying capacity".

That said, I'm still working on my own worm tank. Had a couple setbacks, so I admit that it is tricky.

dymndgyrl

What were your setbacks, Diana?

I'm thinking about a worm tank - it certainly sound like the better way to go as opposed to a tupperware in the fridge. I like the way Orangecones mentioned to catch them - a babyfood jar with bait and holes.

OrangeCones

It's not 'bait,' it's food.......shhhhhhhhh, don't tell the worms otherwise!

BillSnow

I have a couple questions on this subject...

So... I'm looking to find a good worm type feeder that I can culture on a semi-small scale for a few dwarf puffers... small but HUNGRY little buggers... I know they WILL eat them, but I'm unsure as to the overall nutritional value...

1: Would you suggest this as a primary meal option for them (supplemented with snails and likely ghost shrimp)?... most usually use frozen blood worms as the main meal, but I'm liking the option of growing my own... and there's always that benefit of it being live food as they are finicky when it comes to non-moving foods...

2: How big of a culture would i be looking at to feed them?.... note that I'm planning on three fish which should each be capable of eating 5 or so worms every 1-2 days... so lets assume I'm pulling out 10 worms a day... how big of an aquarium would i need for the worms to reproduce and keep up with that kind of loss?

3: Would it be possible to share water circulation with the main tank... which will be a natural planted tank... or do the worms put off too much waste?... or is it too risky that i have a worm die off thus polluting the main tank as well?... note that I'm actually debating growing the worms IN an overflow box off the main tank... crazy idea but I'm crazy like that... there's just something about having wasted space that makes me twitch...

4: You had mentioned some interesting harvesting methods... but I'd like to pose another... had an idea of sort of a feeding stand... imagine a short cylinder of say a 3 inch diameter that has a divider dead center so that you essentially have a cup facing up and a cup facing down... drill smallish holes through the divider big enough for the worms to go through... then section off parts of the bottom half... essentially turning the object into a cup on legs (but with holes in the bottom of the cup)... you stick this down into the substrate... so that now you have a little cup sitting above the substrate that worms can get into from below (or i guess climb over the rim)... and you feed them in the cup... thus allowing you to just use a pipette or turkey baster or whatever to suck the worms off as they feed.... what are your thoughts on that?... would it work?... I'm just looking into a slightly easier way for me to harvest the worms as i will only be pulling small numbers out rather than massive clumps of them...

Sorry for the mass of questions but I like to have a plan when it comes to building something new... rather than trial and error and risk killing fish / plants in the process...

- Bill

edit: i guess an easier way of doing the feeder in question 4 is glue a small plastic cup to one of those pizza box stands (that keep the cheese from sticking to the top of the box)... and then drill holes through....

Fishtory

oh, you are a worm expert! :P

OK I will do what you suggest. There are many dead ones turning up now.

OrangeCones

I do not claim to be an expert at all! All I have learned is by trial/error. There is little if any information out there on 'the net' about how to cultivate these worms.

I had to start doing this due to the inability of any local fish store to get them in on a regular basis. After 3 weeks and no good (read: live/healthy) worms in, I gave up. But I still had wild-caught fish that were not eating prepared foods yet. I had been feeding the live blackworms with added thawed out frozen bloodworms. They were reluctantly eating just the thawed bloodworms.

I did not have the space to store a 2pound delivery of live blackworms, which was the smallest size I could find to be delivered. When I went to the LFS again, I asked that if I ordered the worms, could I have them delivered prepaid to his store, and I'd come get SOME of them that day, and the rest he could keep to sell, feed to his fish, whatever he wanted to do.

He said he was getting some new ones in the next day from a different supplier, and to come get some when they arrived so they'd be the freshest. He was not convinced that they could be cultivated in an aquarium, but was willing to 'let me try' as he said. If this didn't work, he'd do the prepaid box from yet another supplier for me (he saw it as a no-brainer, he got free stuff to use/sell).

If you can, talk to your local stores to find out what days they are getting the worm shipments in. Then go THAT DAY to get some. They should pack them in a plastic bag just like fish, but likely very little water. If you turn the bag on its side, you should see them clearly wiggling. If they are cold, give them a few minutes to warm up to room temperature (this is where I would say 'I'm going to leave these here by the register, I want to look around some more at other stuff.' haha). If after warming up a bit, they are not clearly wiggling around in the bag, then they are not fresh, and pass on them (at least for the worm 'tank' idea).

I had my first worm-tank set up with floating plants and the substrate (had Turface left over from another project, so tried it). Depending on your temperature, you may need a heater. I have one but haven't used it yet, as the water has been steady at 76-77 degrees like the rest of my aquariums. I had filled their tank with water from one of my aquariums, as I'd been told that 'fresh' water, even properly treated, sometimes gave them a shock. I then drip-acclimated the worms to the tankwater, just as I do a new fish. I dumped the worms into a brine-shrimp net to discard the water they were in, and just dumped them out into their new tank. They landed in a 'glump' (my husband's term) and just sat at the bottom. Within 2 or 3 mins though, they were gone from sight. The only way I knew where they were was by the slight 'mound' of the substrate where they had burrowed in.

I fed them the first time the next morning. At first, the food just sat where it landed, but within a few hours, the worms were crawling all over the food. I alternate what half of the substrate to drop their food now (giving them exercise?) They always seem to find it.

You asked before about the volume of worms, saying they were covering the whole bottom of the tank. If you get fresh worms, just drop a teaspoon amount into a 2 gallon tank. That will be plenty. I started all of mine (from 2 gallons to 10 gallons) all with the same amount, 1 teaspoon (that's the way the fish store sells them, by teaspoon or tablespoon).

Please let me know if you have better luck with a new batch.

LVKSPlantlady

I want to try this so bad but I dont know where i can get some worms, no pet store in the kansas city area sell these guys and i have yet to convince my boyfriend that it's a good idea to spend 40 bucks for .75 lbs of worms on the net!