Breeding Red Worms for your fish

I am currently experiencing mild success in breeding Red worms (Eisenia Fetida) for my Oscar on a small scale and it is proving to be a good food source for him. It is easy and cheap and starting it up does not cost you a arm and a leg, and the internet is filled with nice reference material for raising them and breeding them: http://www.thewormdude.com/category/worm-blog/ or http://homeschool.priswell.com/worms.htm

I might consider going bigger breeding them in bigger quantities and selling them to other fish keeper either as food or breeding stock, it is also great for getting rid of your kitchen waste. Here is some pictures:

These are young Adults, I feed these to my fish leaving the bigger adults so they can keep on breeding.


Adult Red Worms are about 3-4 times the size of the younger ones.


I breed them in the 1 liter ice cream tubs, using some pot soil mixed with hay and kitchen waste.


About the biggest red worms will get, just big enough to be a very nice snack for a Chillid or any other fish.
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Looks good,i just dig mine out the garden though i tried breeding them it just takes to long and i would run out in days.

 

Usually those in your garden aren't red worms and they dont breed half as fast. The garden variety breed slower and takes longer to mature.

 

i imagine they taste the same.managed to dig some up yesterday so it must be getting warmer.

 

Yeah winter time it will be harder to find them, they are pretty high in protein and some people consider them a delicacy. Not thanks for me though *yuck*

 

Prof Bellsted warn me against worms from the garden. they can be harmfull to your fish

 

no problems yet been doing it close on 2 years now.i dont use any pesticides in my garden

 

Ok what is the difference between a red worm and earth worms? They look the same to me.

 

Well earth worms look all the same that is what I thought, but red worms breed about 50% faster then normal earth worms and they mature a lot faster and they are excellent decomposers of soil or whatever you put into the soil. Here is a article about them: http://www.happydranch.com/articles/Red_Worms.htm

So can any food you throw in the tank if not produced properly.

 

Interesting thanks

 

I want a bunch of these! So I can chop them up and make little frozen cubes out of them like they do with ox heart and bloodworms.
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Unless you can be 100% sure that there are no nasties in the worms, I would not advise it at all.

 

Hence you breed them, then you know what they are eating and feeding on. Instead of getting them from a place were you dont know what you are getting. Some of my worms have laid eggs will see if I can take a picture of them.

 

Some nutritional figures regarding earth worms:

Crude Protein-62.2%
Crude Fat-17.7%
Calcium-1.72

Source: http://www.allaboutworms.com/edible-worms-tasty-for-some-high-in-protein

Source: http://www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_culturing_redworms.php

 

Hi Larch

How long is the growth period between eggs being laid them being big enough to feed to fish?

Regards

Scaly

 

Scaly it depends on how big you need them to be to feed your fish really so it is up to you really. But it takes 32 days for the eggs to hatch and about 8 weeks before they can breed and become mature. So if you breed enough you will never run out if you feed your fish these worms once or twice a week.

But if you dont want to go through the trouble of breeding them you can buy these worms from and Sollies Angler Corner at around R15 for a small container filled with them. And they last pretty long just dont feed them to your fish each day they are very rich in protein. And I spoke to the owner of the shop and he says he gets many peope buying his worms for feeding fish instead of using them for bait.

But if you are willing to go through the trouble here is some nice resources to help you:http://www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_culturing_redworms.php

 

Thanks for the info. I have a steady supply for my spiny eel from my garden, but was curios about protein out put in a controlled setup.

Vince aka Scaly

 

You can improve it by giving them things like bone meal or any kitchen waste stuff like veggie or fruit left overs, if you mix it into the ground it takes them a day or two to start degrading it. I am a single guy so whatever kitchen leftovers I have it goes strait to the worms instead of the dustbin example:

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Leftover green peas from last nights dinner, I leave the worms in a spot were the container gets 2 or 3 hours of sun with the lid on (lid has holes) it speeds up the decomposition.

 

I was watching discovery last night and saw guys 'worm grunting'.

http://www.ehow.com/how_4999957_grunt-worms.html

This may be the best way to get enough worms without getting your fingers and home dirty.

Maybe you can get your breeding stock this way?

 

Naw once you purchase your first worms you dont need breeding stock after that since you dont feed worms to your fish each day it gives the worms chance to develop and breed. Every now and then you add a bit of water (with squirt bottle) and some kitchen leftovers and they will do their own thing.