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Keeping blackworms

Bhavik

Member
Joined
17 Feb 2017
Messages
250
Location
London
I currently have a setup of fine gravel and a small sponge filter running
I’m finding that they aren’t reproducing or splitting quick enough is there anything I can do to encourage them?

I try to stir the gravel when I can
 
That sounds good. I'm far from good at culturing them but I normally feed a bit of broccoli and some dried oak leaves. I think as long as they're getting enough food and you do water changes to keep the water quality good. The only other thing you can do is manually split them by stirring them up like you mention.
How long have you had the culture and what sort of increase in numbers have you had?
 
I tend to feed that as it’s more convenient and easy. How often do feed them?
I was a bit complacent in terms of doing water changes of late but recently have been doing it every week or 2 weeks
I’ve had it going for a good couple of months before was getting enough to feed maybe every 1/2 weeks but I just changed out the gravel being careful not to suck up any worms and there is hardly any worms left I did cut them up a bit before putting in the new gravel
So not sure what to do
 
I normally feed what they can eat within about 3 days. I don't have a filter and I forget to do water changes on the culture so mine seem to go through boom and bust cycles.
I think I've got the same amount as I started out with a year ago. I've used them to feed my fish a few times but definitely can't claim to be very successful at culturing them, though I put that down to the lack of water changes.
 
Hi all,
I’ve had it going for a good couple of months before was getting enough to feed maybe every 1/2 weeks but I just changed out the gravel being careful not to suck up any worms and there is hardly any worms left I did cut them up a bit before putting in the new gravel
I've found they are <"much more persistent in cultures"> with <"Hornwort (Ceratophyllum demersum) present">. My buckets don't have gravel, but do have a thickish mulm layer.

I don't tend to split mine or feed them, other than the Hornwort debris and the occasional dead leaf. When I want to harvest them I just dump some of the Hornwort into a washing-up bowl of water and give it a good swirl around to wash out the Blackworms. I just <"pipette them up after that">.

I find <"plastic transfer pipettes"> (and <"tea strainers">) are really useful.

cheers Darrel
 
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@dw1305 I see is your hornwort floating? if show dont the blackworms mainly live at the bottom?
Do you have your buckets in doors or out doors?
I dont have a light on my tank so would throwing a few stems in work?
 
Hi all,
@dw1305 I see is your hornwort floating? if show dont the blackworms mainly live at the bottom?
Do you have your buckets in doors or out doors?
I dont have a light on my tank so would throwing a few stems in work?
Outside all year, Hornwort doesn't have any roots, so yes floating and I assume that there are actually more Blackworms in the substrate (than in among the Hornwort) but they are much easier to harvest from the Hornwort.

cheers Darrel
 
Hi all,

Outside all year, Hornwort doesn't have any roots, so yes floating and I assume that there are actually more Blackworms in the substrate (than in among the Hornwort) but they are much easier to harvest from the Hornwort.

cheers Darrel
Hi Darrel,
Do you keep the bucket in direct sunlight or in the shadow?
Cheers!
 
I kept a culture going for 6 months but it got contaminated with small leaches that readily reproduced in the gravel until there were so many I got fed up of trying to pull them out. I fed left over fish food and it seemed to work. I put some into a small corydoras Habrosus species tank and they loved colonising the alder cones and leaf litter (oak and catappa) so Darrell suggestion of leaves is something I’d try next time. It gave the alder cones an odd anemone like look with all the worms poking their heads out. Building up the population in the culture took time. A tip I pinched off YouTube was to cut small cubes of sponge and drop them in the tank. The worms congregate in the sponge and you can drop a sponge into a tank withfish and they peck at the worms poking their heads out. I used to leave it 10 minutes then remove the sponge. As the worms reproduce asexually I believe the worm fragments in the pecked over sponge would grow into a larger worm. I didn’t add extra for months feeding once a week with the little sponges, so it worked for a while.
I’ve not read about other people having leach problems with cultures. Maybe I was unlucky.
 
I keep some in a bucket in a greenhouse, there's also some in a waterbutt, I don't harvest them often but they're always there if I go searching for them. I do have a gravel layer though, unsure if it helps. The gravel is buried in mulm. The bucket in greenhouse has an air stone. I don't harvest much as none of my fish are really big enough to manage a whole one 😅
 
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