How to keep leftover live tubifex worms?

[specky7]

i feed my fish with tubifex worm(live)but there is still a lot left how should i keep them prolong their life or something

[kaym]

keep the water holding them clean and add a pump to provide oxygen. Keep water level low so the worms can have easy access to surface of water for oxygen. Just observed the LFS keeping them in those conditions.

[StanChung]

Or use a drip system. Drip dechlorinated water via airline into wide base [depending on how much tubifex you wanna keep] plastic container that has a hole 1-2 cm above water line. The hole has to be about 1/2 inch so that it can overflow properly. silicone tubing to outlet to let it run off into a drain. Use standard size tubing/hose so that you can DIY easily this.

[blackghost]

there are some who swear by using ketapang extract to condition the water

[CK Yeo]

Keep them in cool, well-aerated water and change often. Dead worms stink up the water fast and rob the water of O2 and more worms will die. Vicious cycle.

I keep them in the fridge (NOT freezer) and change water before I feed them to fish. But that will be a concern if you use the fridge to store human food.

ck

[richietay]

Tried using the air pump method, water change daily still needed.

Ketapang extract, http://www.arofanatics.com/forums/sh...t=tubifex+worm. Have not tried before, maybe you can consider and give us some feedback.

[koolman]

Hi

Out of curiosity, why dont you buy frozen blood worm and you could keep it in your fridge.


Thanks and regards


Koolman

[bryan]

Some fish have an attitude and will only eat something that moves.

[CK Yeo]

I second that. And if you wanna breed fish, live food is indispensable. Frozen ones are just not the same.

ck

[koolman]

Hi all

Well, kind of think of that, perhaps I should try some live worms for my fishes. The only thing that stop me from feeding them live things is that I don't want to spoilt them and they will not eat the frozen worms again.


Thank and regards

Koolman

[specky7]

oh ya btw does anyone of you breed tubifex before

[cairocks]

I have read some people put it in a cloth bag and hang it inside the toilet flush reservior. So each time youflush, new water washes the worm. I have not tried this method yet. Maybe will try it next time I feel like getting live worms. Hopefully the chlorine would not kill off the worms before I can use them.

[taygu]

I have read some people put it in a cloth bag and hang it inside the toilet flush reservior. So each time youflush, new water washes the worm. I have not tried this method yet. Maybe will try it next time I feel like getting live worms. Hopefully the chlorine would not kill off the worms before I can use them.

This sound interesting. Will try this out when I buy the worms again.

What I did was to position the tub containing the worms under one hole of the the rain bar. The worm can last almost a week but there will still be died worms.

[CK Yeo]

I have heard feeding the worms using pieces of potatoes. But again, the recurring problem is to keep the water clean. i.e. filter, water changes, larger space.

In the end day, is it worth the effort? The effort and material will probably cost more than the worms themselves.

ck

oh ya btw does anyone of you breed tubifex before

[David Moses Heng]

What i did for my angels when i was keeping them when i was single is that i will empty the worms into a big ice cream tub with a few holes created on top for water to flow in and out. The ice cream tub will be floating in the tank with the worms inside. Manage to keep the worms for up to a week. In those days(late 1990s), 50 cents of tubifex worms can last you easily 1 to 2 weeks if you know how to take care of them.

[StanChung]

The tubifex in WC is really interesting!

I have actually seen a tubifex farm, and it's actually very disgusting. You can smell it a mile away. ok Enough said. What I noticed is there's a slow constant stream of water flowing into a shallow pool.

It just needs a constant stream of clean water to reduce build up of waste. How you do it will need a bit of imagination and ingenuity.

[apollo]

Hi StanChung

Is the farm in Singapore? School holiday is here. Dont mind touring some farms here.

Stephen

[blackBRUSHalgae]

tubifex farms are usually situated beside or near an animal farm (usually pigs.) Poop from the animals would be naturally fed to the worm cultures, which explains the foul smell. There are no cleaning process during the harvesting untill they reaches the LFS, where it depends on how well those LFS would clean them before they reach the customers. If you know how to really clean your tubifex worms before you feed them to your fishes, otherwise it is better to avoid them as they are host to many many parasites and pathogens.

[StanChung]

Hi Stephen,

The one I've been to is in Perak and it's as BBA says. Smell is over powering.

[kylin]

I keep them in the fridge. The cold slows down their metabolism and increases the amount of dissolved oxygen in the water. So it takes much longer for the worms to pollute the water.

Unfortunately this only works if you are living alone. If not, your wives / mothers will kill you if they find out !!!!

K