Nightcrawlers for Corals and Fish

[Reefs of Space]

I'm sure red worms would work fine. Next time I need to restock I plan on getting them for their size and I've read they're more likely to breed better.

 

[Redleg]

I used red worms and nightcrawlers back in the early 90s to keep my cichlids in breeding condition. I used peatmoss, newspaper, and coffee grounds in a plastic tub in my basement to keep the worms year round.

 

[Scooter.B]

Dual purpose, perfect. This is a great find.
Since I use these worms for fishing already. A good alternative, which is simple to keep and cheap to raise.
I use a bedding of peat and soil. Wet newspaper sheets on the top, keeps them cool and moist. A potato wedge to feed every now and then. Store the container in the basement.

 

[Greenstreet.1]

Guess I’ll have to make a worm box now with all these different worms now

 

[Reefs of Space]

I think a dedicated fish room seems appropriate

 

[vector824]

I’ve composted with worms before, never thought to feed them to my fish! My wife said lovingly that “we don’t need another project right now”... so I’ll have to wait a few weeks haha!

 

[Chelle's Ocean]

Was reading this thread while our car was in for it's maintenance check, #lovekia
I was so glad to notice a little bait/tackle shop right next to Kia, so stopped by while still in Crystal River...and grabbed a small container.

VERY curious to see the reactions in using nightcrawlers.. as I have a fondness with the delicate blood/black worms, my tank loves those..even the Mandarin slurped up the live wiggly lol worms☺, but alas, hard to come by the live wiggly buggers
Cannot wait to see anemones reaction to this new treat! Thank you for sharing

 

[Reefs of Space]

Was reading this thread while our car was in for it's maintenance check, #lovekia
I was so glad to notice a little bait/tackle shop right next to Kia, so stopped by while still in Crystal River...and grabbed a small container.

VERY curious to see the reactions in using nightcrawlers.. as I have a fondness with the delicate blood/black worms, my tank loves those..even the Mandarin slurped up the live wiggly lol worms☺, but alas, hard to come by the live wiggly buggers
Cannot wait to see anemones reaction to this new treat! Thank you for sharing

No better way to pass the time than to read up on your favorite hobby Good luck!

 

[Chelle's Ocean]

 

[rosshamsandwich]

interest

 

[Squeaky McMurdo]

I’m relatively new to salt water, but I have been feeding my US native fish red wigglers forever. I keep one of those rectangular Country Crock butter containers under my stand and they thrive as long as the substrate they are in stays moist. In fact, I have a 5 gallon bucket with pinholes in it that has been going for 5 years. I fed it coffee grounds last summer and forgot about it. There’s a bunch of new babies this year.

Now I’m going to feed my corals some wigglers!

 

[Chelle's Ocean]

I dont know, lol, maybe I will try again, with a pair of plastic tongs or something, lol.... I do want to give my tank gummy goodies, but, eh eh, not doing that again bare handed, hahaha

 

[Reefs of Space]

I dont know, lol, maybe I will try again, with a pair of plastic tongs or something, lol.... I do want to give my tank gummy goodies, but, eh eh, not doing that again bare handed, hahaha

Yeah it's a little disturbing to cut up a living creature. I've thought about using a food processor or something, but haven't tried it yet.

 

[Chelle's Ocean]

Yeah it's a little disturbing to cut up a living creature. I've thought about using a food processor or something, but haven't tried it yet.

Yeah, def freaky, lol...

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

In general, it is perhaps not advisable to feed large amounts of terrestrial foods to marine organisms because of chemistry differences that may impact organism health. One significant area where this is especially true is the composition of fat (e.g., fish oil vs lard).

It turns out, however, that earthworms are unusual in this regard, with some features of both land animals and marine organisms, so may not be as bad as, say, feeding cheeseburgers to your fish: lol

The fatty acid composition of the lipids of earthworms
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jsfa.2740260713

"The overall fatty acid pattern of earthworms is very unusual. It exhibits some
features which are characteristic of marine mammals and fish, and some which are
typical of monogastric herbivorous land animals. In common with the lipids of marine
animals, those of earthworms contain a preponderance of polyunsaturated fatty acids
including both linolenic acid and linoleic acid. Whereas in fish polyunsaturated acids
are predominantly ofthe linolenic (W3) series3 and include 20 :5W3 and 22 :6W3, in land
animals fatty acids of the linoleic (W6) type including small amounts of arachidonic
970 R. P. Hansen and Z. Czochanska
acid (20 :4W6) are characteristic.329 33 In earthworms, however, the fatty acids present
in greatest amount in the total lipids were 20:5W3 (mean 13.6%) and 20:4W6 (mean
12.3 %), for which linolenic and linoleic acids respectively are precursors. These precursors
are not synthesised within the animal33 but are of exogenous origin. A feature
common to the fatty acid constituents of earthworms and land animals, but in contrast
with those of fish, is the low level of docosa-4,7,10,13,16,19-hexaenoic acid which
typically is present in substantial proportions in marine life."

 

[sde1500]

Man, I have a 5 yd compost bin I made that is just LOADED with worms. Clearing it out this weekend to put it all into the garden, may reserve a few of the worms to see if my fish will give em a go.

 

[Reefs of Space]

In general, it is perhaps not advisable to feed large amounts of terrestrial foods to marine organisms because of chemistry differences that may impact organism health. One significant area where this is especially true is the composition of fat (e.g., fish oil vs lard).

It turns out, however, that earthworms are unusual in this regard, with some features of both land animals and marine organisms, so may not be as bad as, say, feeding cheeseburgers to your fish: lol

The fatty acid composition of the lipids of earthworms
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jsfa.2740260713

"The overall fatty acid pattern of earthworms is very unusual. It exhibits some
features which are characteristic of marine mammals and fish, and some which are
typical of monogastric herbivorous land animals. In common with the lipids of marine
animals, those of earthworms contain a preponderance of polyunsaturated fatty acids
including both linolenic acid and linoleic acid. Whereas in fish polyunsaturated acids
are predominantly of the linolenic"

Great information thanks! I had a hard time finding info in reference to feeding them to marine species. I'm mostly using to beef up my LPS corals and anemones. My fish will get a few snacks of them but their diet is mainly New Life Spectrum pellets. If you find anything on feeding to corals I would be interested to read about it. I will continue my feedings and time will tell of any adverse effects.

 

[NKYReefer]

I have not fed to my saltwater fish but do use these worms for compost and fishing. These guys stay alive and active on the hook longer in freshwater than the larger Canadian ones. The typical bait shop Canadian night crawlers reportedly don’t live long in captivity. My worms do well with vegetable scraps and cardboard. Also seem to overwinter in a 60 gallon bin.

https://midwestworms.com/products/european-nightcrawler-compositing-worms