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Thread: Tubifex casual experiment

  1. #1
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    Wink Tubifex casual experiment

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    Hi everyone,

    Tubifex worms have been a staple in the aquarium hobby for many decades, some swear by it but others refuse to touch them with a ten-foot pole because of the high risk of diseases and parasites,
    either way, we all have to admit that fishes really love to eat them, and they are indeed useful for getting picky and shy fishes to eat.

    I had some time to do a small experiment last night with the worms as I was trying to find ways to keep the worms alive and fresh without the hassle of buying an airpump specifically to keep them alive.

    Please note that this is just a casual experiment and it is inconclusive, as I only use an estimate and did not use the exact container sizes and water for all 4 cultures.

    I did, however, use the closest ratio of worms to tub size for more accuracy in all 4 tubs.


    Culture 1




    Culture 2



    Culture 3



    Culture 4


    The photographs were taken 5 mins after filling the tubs with water (to let the worms settle down and clump together), and 12 hours later after being left overnight in an air-con room with a temperature of 22-24degrees.

    The culture that performed the worse was culture 1, the one with direct tap water used. Even just 5 mins after filling the tub, the worms appeared lethargic and did not clump up normally. 12 hours later, the water was cloudy and smelly with extremely high mortality rate.

    The culture that performed second worse was culture 3, the one with tap water left standing for a few days in a moderately-filled tub. While only about 20% of worms died, the water was quite cloudy.

    Culture 2, the culture in aged fishtank water, though the mortality rate was very low (about 5-10%), the water started turning slightly cloudy about 1 hour after filling the tub with water. I assume this is because the worms are feeding on the detritus and thus, expel waste. The worms also spread out a lot from the clump, I think because of low oxygen levels.

    The best performing culture, culture 4, used tap water left standing, but filled with a very shallow amount of water (about 5mm above the worms). Not only could i spot any dead worms, they actually look almost the same as the night before, with just only a few worms spreading out from the clump for oxygen. The clump was active and had the best color.

    I have changed all the water in the 4 tubs earlier this morning and applied culture 4's setup to the rest. Will post updates when I reach home at night later.

    i hope that you might find something useful from this experiment, and please do share with me any knowledge or personal findings you have, cheers!
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Last edited by grey; 7th Sep 2017 at 15:55.
    "something smells fishy."

  2. #2
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    Re: Tubifex casual experiment

    Nice. Waiting for ur next post


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  3. #3
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    Re: Tubifex casual experiment

    Did you add any antichlorine to the tap water?

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    Re: Tubifex casual experiment

    and no news . experiments failed ......

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    Re: Tubifex casual experiment

    Quote Originally Posted by marshal99 View Post
    and no news . experiments failed ......
    Thank you for your invested interest, but no thanks for your condescension,

    Don't worry, nothing failed, there just isn't enough motivation to upload images in this forum.
    "something smells fishy."

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    Re: Tubifex casual experiment

    Quote Originally Posted by marco View Post
    Did you add any antichlorine to the tap water?
    Hey marco!

    I didn't, but I used tapwater that has been aged for at least overnight.

    I found out that if you remove the bigger worms (those tapeworms or earthworms look-alike) and just leave only tubifex worms in the culture, they last much much longer.

    The bigger worms seem to be consuming too much oxygen, and when they die, they have a bigger contribution to rot.

    It's a painstaking process of using tweezers to get rid of all the non-tubifex worms, but it gives me a better peace of mind when feeding my fishes,

    Hope this helps, cheers!
    "something smells fishy."

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    Re: Tubifex casual experiment

    Quote Originally Posted by grey View Post
    Thank you for your invested interest, but no thanks for your condescension,

    Don't worry, nothing failed, there just isn't enough motivation to upload images in this forum.
    so wat's the end result. You are the one who started the topic, i'm actually interested to know the result. my fishes loved the bigger thicker worms actually, they would snatch at it if one appears .

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    Re: Tubifex casual experiment

    Quote Originally Posted by marshal99 View Post
    so wat's the end result. You are the one who started the topic, i'm actually interested to know the result. my fishes loved the bigger thicker worms actually, they would snatch at it if one appears .
    Culture 4 lasts longest without the need for an air pump. I removed all the big worms and only filled the tub with max 1/3 to 1/4 of the space with pure tubi, just 5mm to 1cm of aged water.

    I usually split the standard 50cent bag of tubi into 4-5 different tubs, so far they can survive for about 1-2 weeks with about 1 to 2 water change everyday, depending whether i remember to change their water.

    Hope this helps
    "something smells fishy."

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    Re: Tubifex casual experiment

    How about placing them into the tank? Of course a few of them might escape the isolation box, but will they survive/last longer?


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    Re: Tubifex casual experiment

    Quote Originally Posted by genki89 View Post
    How about placing them into the tank? Of course a few of them might escape the isolation box, but will they survive/last longer?


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    Oh I never feed tubi via the cone, cause i keep mostly wild bettas and parosphromenus so have to control the amount i feed or else they will end up very obese. I also try to alternate between feeding boon, grindal and springtails. usually i feed once every 2 days, tubi I feed about once every 4 days,
    "something smells fishy."

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    Re: Tubifex casual experiment

    Quote Originally Posted by grey View Post
    Oh I never feed tubi via the cone, cause i keep mostly wild bettas and parosphromenus so have to control the amount i feed or else they will end up very obese. I also try to alternate between feeding boon, grindal and springtails. usually i feed once every 2 days, tubi I feed about once every 4 days,
    Ornamental Bettas look good when well-fed. Unlike in places where Bettas sre raised for sport, here Bettas can be overfed without worry. Bettas raised for sport need to be trained for attack and thus must be kept slim and agile.The best thing about Bettas is they are so economical to upkeep. 👍
    LIFE IS UNBEARABLE WITHOUT A FISH TANK!!!

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