More Prof. Ek het op 'n ou boek afgekom wat deur persoon geskryf is in die jare 50's. In die boek staan dat erdwurms 'n goeie voedsel is vir visse omdat dit meeste voedsel elemente (proteine, vitamen, ensv...) bevat. Wat is jou opinie oor dit??? Dankie Nick
Beste Nick, Alhoewel ek glad nie omgee vir die Afrikaans nie, is die forum tog internasionaal toeganklik en sal ek graag in Engels wil antwoord (en glo my ek is nie 'n soutie nie). For the benefit of the forum I will translate Nick's request, which is: "I have discovered an old book which was written in the 1950's. In this book it states that earthworms are a good food for fishes because they contain most food components (proteins, vitamins, etc). What is you opinion on the matter?" My answer to your query is as follows: Earthworms are an excellent source of nutrients but the rule of what goes into the worms is what you will get out. Earthworms need to eat a balanced diet to contain a good nutrient content. You can cultivate your worms yourself or collect them from your compost heap or lawn or elsewhere. As the worms will take up pesticides (insectides and fungicides) and herbicides (weedkillers, onkruiddoders) they are a potential source of poisoning for fishes. You can try to feed them on pesticide free food, but you must remember that the label very often used for vegetables indicating that they are "organic" has absolutely no guarantees that they are actually pesticide free. There is currently not a single organization in South Africa that tests for pesticide contaminants on "organic" foods so they can in actual fact contain any amount of insecticides and herbicides. Then earthworms will, when you collect them, have a their guts full of earth and organic matter. This can contain serious bacteria that can infect your fishes and give them bloat. As a result, you must first place the earthworms in water so that they get rid of the contents of their guts. This is however no guarantee that they are bacteria free and therefore not harmful. What I am saying is that there are risks involved in feeding earthworms so you need to be careful. You can also not feed fishes on earthworms only as this is not a balanced diet and you need to feed other items. Particularly the vitamin C content of earthworms is not high enough and you need to feed greens in any diet. I hope this answers your question. Kind regards, Dirk
Hi Dasher, Boiling the worms would make them as tough as leather and then unattractive for the fishes to eat and they would loose a lot of their nutritive value, so this is not an option as far as I am concerned. And on top of that it would not kill all the bacteria for that matter.... Kind regards, Dirk
Doesn't earthworms secrete an antibacterial mucus? I remember something in those lines from biology class many many years ago.
Ryan, You are quite right about the antibacterial mucus. It is aimed at protecting the earthworm against the bacteria that it takes in with its food. That does however not mean that the gut of the earthworm is still not loaded with bacteria. Kind regards, Dirk
Hey Henk, Put some Koi in your pool!! THey'll soon clear them up.... and then die of chlorine poisoning!! G!
I also have a question on this Dirk. Would like your opinion? I've read suggestions that Silkworms are a great food 4 fish. I've tried it with Discus and they seem love it. I checked on their nutrient value and it seems good. What is your take?
just an idea Dasher. . .by the look of it you'd need piranha's to feed those monsters to. . .(lol) i've only tried week or so old one's
