Earthworms are your Friend

[glostik]

I went to petco, bought some red wigglers.

best 3.50 ever spent.

All my fish slurp them up like they are spaghetti.

Finally got my WC loaches eating, the little wigglers wiggled by their noses, and got slurped right up.

[supersmirky]

LOL....that's great!

[bra8ndy8]

Well dang I might have to try that.....what did you feed them to?

[EAST_TX_RN]

I bought some Canadian Night-Crawlers at Wally World really cheap and my fish go nuts when I throw one in there. I do cut the worm into several pieces, so more fish can enjoy the treat. They live longer than I thought under-water, as I gave one to my male blue lobster(who ignored it), and it was still alive 2 days later! My female blue crawdad didn't hesitate to grab hers! The worms will last a long time in the fridge too!

[lellison]

can you just dig them up outside and feed?

[supersmirky]

yep...that would work too!

[lellison]

awesome. Don't know if anything I have would eat them though. Angels, brevis, keyholes?

[supersmirky]

prob not. My angels tear up some bloodworms though!

[EAST_TX_RN]

I am also going outside and see what kind of bugs are lurking around my porch light. I found out that my fish ignore june-bugs and mosquito hawks so far. Anyone think of doing this? Am I the only weird one?

[lellison]

I was actaully wondering the other day if it is safe to get mosquito larvae and feed to fish. You know the ones you find in your dog's water and you dump them cause it pisses you off? :)

[lellison]

I am also going outside and see what kind of bugs are lurking around my porch light. I found out that my fish ignore june-bugs and mosquito hawks so far. Anyone think of doing this? Am I the only weird one?
normal people are no fun :D

[ElijahTurtle]

Mosquito larvae should be a welcome treat, but you always have the danger of introducing harmful parasites or poisions to your tank when don't know what's in the water. If you do get some I would recommend transferring them to clean water for a dip, then to the tank so you don't introduce any outside source water.

[lellison]

thanks Amon!

[AndrewH]

My angels fight over worms in the tank (whatever I find crawling across the patio/driveway/walkway after a rain storm). But nothing in the tank (though I haven't try the catfish yet) will eat the worm if it's too big of a piece.

May flies (a.k.a. mosquito hawks) = no go... have one that was attracted to the lights and is on the surface of the water right now in fact which no one has touched.

I've also heard... know where the water comes from before adding blood warms (a.k.a. mosquito larva). I was thinking about trying to collect some rain water in clean bucket to grow blood worms.

[supersmirky]

I catch just the female mosquitos' for my fish. The rainbows and killies go ape shit for the female mosquitos

[glostik]

Do not collect earthworms from outside unless you are 100% positive it comes from pesticide free soil.

[AndrewH]

There shouldn't be too many pesticides in my yard, but I'm not 100% sure about my neighbor's.

Thanks for the tip.

[lellison]

I think I will start doing that when I start seeing the larvae this summer. I have always wondered but I was afraid it would do harm

[lellison]

and yea no pesticides in our yard, but all the worms I found yesterday that I went fishing with were too big, so I will have to hunt for smaller ones

[bra8ndy8]

LOL @ you hunting!!

[lellison]

hey! dig, hunt. whatever!

[ElijahTurtle]

and yea no pesticides in our yard, but all the worms I found yesterday that I went fishing with were too big, so I will have to hunt for smaller ones
You can get them to come out of the ground without having to dig.
Items required:
2 steel rods
Jumper Cables
Car Battery
Bucket of water

Find a place where worms typically would thrive. Drive the metal rods in the ground about 24" apart. Soak the area with the bucket of water & attatch the battery to the ros with the jumper cables & the worms will come out of the ground on thier own. No digging required.

[EAST_TX_RN]

Just chop the worms up into smaller pieces! My Neolamps and Kribs will nibble them until the worm is gone!

[lellison]

You can get them to come out of the ground without having to dig.
Items required:
2 steel rods
Jumper Cables
Car Battery
Bucket of water

Find a place where worms typically would thrive. Drive the metal rods in the ground about 24" apart. Soak the area with the bucket of water & attatch the battery to the ros with the jumper cables & the worms will come out of the ground on thier own. No digging required.

lol, or I could just dig :hehe:

[lellison]

Just chop the worms up into smaller pieces! My Neolamps and Kribs will nibble them until the worm is gone!
Thats true, that would be easier. Thanks

[AndrewH]

LOL, yeah, using the word hunt makes me think of a shovel with a scope on it roflmao

[EAST_TX_RN]

Laura, I just use an old pair of scissors and cut them up over the opened tank. I then throw the scissors in my dish washer! Real easy!

[ashley.n.ian]

I catch just the female mosquitos' for my fish. The rainbows and killies go ape shit for the female mosquitos

Ok, I'm not from around here originally, and we don't have so many mosquitos where I'm from...how on Earth do you 'sex' mosquitos?

[tsunderl]

You can get them to come out of the ground without having to dig.
Items required:
2 steel rods
Jumper Cables
Car Battery
Bucket of water

Find a place where worms typically would thrive. Drive the metal rods in the ground about 24" apart. Soak the area with the bucket of water & attatch the battery to the ros with the jumper cables & the worms will come out of the ground on thier own. No digging required.

And where does one stand while zapping? In or out of the wet grass??? :brandy:

[greeneyed]

Females are the ones that bite.

[EAST_TX_RN]

Males have bushy antennae and do not have the long probiscus. Females have simple antennae and a long antennae to suck with.

[AndrewH]

You can hear the females, "Why didn't you stop and ask for directions? You always do this... think you know where you're going but actually you have no idea."

And you see the males heading for the nearest wind shield.

[biggin]

Sweet.... :hehe:

Females have simple antennae and a long antennae to suck with.

[EAST_TX_RN]

[quote=biggin;39935]Sweet.... [/quoroflmaote]

Oh,shit! I meant they have a long probiscus to suck it with! :D

[EAST_TX_RN]

You can hear the females, "Why didn't you stop and ask for directions? You always do this... think you know where you're going but actually you have no idea."

And you see the males heading for the nearest wind shield.

How does your family put up with you?? Do their sides and jaws hurt a lot?
You are a nut, lol!

[mrsbiggin]

You can get them to come out of the ground without having to dig.
Items required:
2 steel rods
Jumper Cables
Car Battery
Bucket of water

Find a place where worms typically would thrive. Drive the metal rods in the ground about 24" apart. Soak the area with the bucket of water & attatch the battery to the ros with the jumper cables & the worms will come out of the ground on thier own. No digging required.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooookkkk.........

Ok, I'm not from around here originally, and we don't have so many mosquitos where I'm from...how on Earth do you 'sex' mosquitos?

Female mosquitos are the little ones that suck your blood - Males are the big May fly looking ones

You can hear the females, "Why didn't you stop and ask for directions? You always do this... think you know where you're going but actually you have no idea."

And you see the males heading for the nearest wind shield.

eat it

Sweet.... :hehe:

:rolleyes1: sick sick man.... :rolleyes1:

[AndrewH]

How does your family put up with you?? Do their sides and jaws hurt a lot?
You are a nut, lol!

Wife has heard 'em all 1000 times :D. At this point she might be looking for a windshield :D.





Back on track...

I've was looking for some "worm" cultures on the net after this thread started and can only find red worms and black worms (wanting something small).

Does anyone have any experience in keeping worms?

[greeneyed]

http://dallas.craigslist.org/pet/643568567.html
There you go. Not sure what kind of worms they are or if it is a good price or not.

[ElijahTurtle]

Does anyone have any experience in keeping worms?
They are pretty easy to keep. Put them in a large tub with a lid, with about 8-10" of dirt, or cut the bottom out & bury it up to 12". Keep the soil moist & spread some cornmeal on to it, or old coffee grounds, or pretty much any scraps you have.Keep the worm farm covered & in the shade where it will stay cooler.

Worm Food (http://homeschool.priswell.com/worms/worms3.htm)
How to keep worms (http://www.ehow.com/how_2083672_raise-earthworms.html)

[AndrewH]

http://dallas.craigslist.org/pet/643568567.html
There you go. Not sure what kind of worms they are or if it is a good price or not.

That's about par for what I'm seeing for red worms. Seems like a nice setup ready to go, but I'm not driving 100 miles for $50 of worms ;).

They are pretty easy to keep. Put them in a large tub with a lid, with about 8-10" of dirt, or cut the bottom out & bury it up to 12". Keep the soil moist & spread some cornmeal on to it, or old coffee grounds, or pretty much any scraps you have.Keep the worm farm covered & in the shade where it will stay cooler.

Worm Food (http://homeschool.priswell.com/worms/worms3.htm)
How to keep worms (http://www.ehow.com/how_2083672_raise-earthworms.html)

Yeah, it doesn't seem to difficult but I guess I'm worried about make a $50 investment and it taking 2 years to get 'em to where they're breeding as fast as I would need to feed 'em plus having to keep a 50+gallon tote of worms somewhere.

Thanks for the links, I'll read up some more on the subject and probably make the leap when I can find some cheap start worms :D (local would be nice).

[greeneyed]

WormWoman.com

Got the link out of the FT Star Telegram yesterday.
She sells red worms for $19 a lb.
2 lbs is $34.

[AndrewH]

Dang that's about half of what I've seen 'em going for on the net.

I'll have to give her a call to see about getting few worms and maybe pick her brain about starting a cultivation for fish food purposes.

Thanks for the site!

[AndrewH]

Thought I'd post a link to the prices (kinna hard to find)...

http://www.wormwoman.com/acatalog/Wormwoman_catalog_Redworms__Eisenia_fetida__43.htm l

And for an extra $50 you can get the worms + worm house :D
http://www.wormwoman.com/acatalog/Wormwoman_catalog_Worm_a_way__Composting_Bins_42.h tml


More red worms... free shipping
http://www.triplegwormfarm.com/

[biggin]

Aquabid.com always has a variety of worms including Red Worms.

[AndrewH]

Only problem I have with Aquabid, is that it's mostly fry worms/cultures. They have a few auctions for blackworms (expensive) and red worms.

[ElijahTurtle]

I say we buy some as a group, & split them up into several worm farms. With plenty of food, they would probably reproduce pretty quick.

[supersmirky]

amen!

[EAST_TX_RN]

Sounds like a great idea! Good way to start going green! We are the most garbage-producing family on the planet! Are red worms the same kind you can dig up in your yard? Does anyone have a good link on black worms?

[AndrewH]

From my understand, red worms are NOT what you can find in your backyard (a.k.a. earthworms). Not sure were they naturally live but supposedly they can only live in compost...

Black worms are expensive!!! $26 for 1 lb when you can get 2 lbs for about that price of red worms, plus I'm not too sure how to keep black worms. Maybe someone else knows?

(search for California Black Worms)
http://aquaticfoods.com/freesamples.html

[biggin]

Black worms are TOO much work. You will grow tired of them quickly or kill them.

[AndrewH]

It did seem (for some reason at least) that black worms were a PITB to keep.

I think I'm looking for red worms my self.

[EAST_TX_RN]

That is definitely too much work to raise blackworms! I was wondering if cichlids can eat grasshoppers or crickets. Does anyone know?

[biggin]

The main thing is look out for pesticides.

[EAST_TX_RN]

Ha! No pesticides around here!