tubifex worm

[bluezing]

hi guys...got 50cts worth of tubifex worms today for my guppy fries.drop a few starnds into my planted tank but somehow a few strands of it dropped to the bottom and seemingly disappear into the substrate.

Any idea wat will happen to them?and will there be any side effects to my plants?mainly my hairgrass lawn.

[Kingfisher]

I have tons of worms in my substrate as I have cories and other bottom feeders.

[bluezing]

my tanks have cardinals,sae,otos mainly.

[bclee]

[quote:4fda35c268="bluezing"]my tanks have cardinals,sae,otos mainly.[/quote:4fda35c268]

Probably got gobble up by the SAE, and maybe the otos.

BC

[kc]

It may breed in our tank! It should not be a problem if your tank is large, say > 3 ft. On the bright side, there are people trying to breed them.

[bluezing]

mine is a 2ft tank.not too sure how the sae and oto gonna eat them as they have went into the substrate.more worried abt my hairgrass.and of cos...any diseases or bacteria that might be harmful to the fishes.

[kadios]

Btw, did you rinse your worm before feeding it to your fishes?

The problems with live food in a planted tank are:

Breeding of the tubifex worms inside your substrate, with the potential harm of acting as a source of bacteria or harmful organisms

Introduction of harmful organisms to your fish or any unwelcome agents together with the worms to your planted tank system.

Unlike a fish only tank, you can add in ANY medicine to kill most if not all harmful agents in the tank but in a planted tank, you may be unable to do so without possible damage to your plants.

IMO, after putting in so much work into my tank on a regular basis, I dare not take any risk of putting my plants or system in "jeopardy". As such, only flake food for my fishes!!!

Cheers!

[bluezing]

yeah u r rite kadios...i wont be feeding them any live stuff again.just hope those that "escaped" got eaten up somehow or just died.

[byronshoh]

Thought I'd give my fishes a change from the usual dried food and bought some worms today.

And yes, the usual problem of uneaten worms borrowing into the sand. Is there any device out in the market to contain the worms?

[Aeon]

[quote:b896a9652b="byronshoh"]Thought I'd give my fishes a change from the usual dried food and bought some worms today.

And yes, the usual problem of uneaten worms borrowing into the sand. Is there any device out in the market to contain the worms?[/quote:b896a9652b]

little cups that stick to the glass that have holes to let worms wriggle out slowly for the fish to eat. If your fish fast enough or you don't out too much, they usuallu won't end up in the substrate.

[d2hpeter]

live brine shrimps may be good substitute live food to the worms, but more expensive. But i guess it should be ok since i usually give my fishes a special treat of live food once a wk.

I hv just bought a bag of the live brine shrimps from Y934 [know about this lfs after seeing Aeon's post] for $3. Quite a lot.
My cardinals love it.
will store the remaining in the veg compartment of the fridge for feeding the next day.
I think brine shrimps should be quite free of pathogens, no sand-burrowing problem, and quite nutriuous too.

[cbong]

can brine shrimps survive long in fresh water??

[cheeboonyong]

This is what I heard. Adult live brine shrimps have basically close to zero nutrition value. So you must feed the adult BS with food just hours before feeding them to your fish. And all food is digested and passes through the digestive system of the BS within hours, so need to feed BS and then feed the fish quickly.

All too much trouble in my opinion.

[d2hpeter]

they survived long enough for my fishes to eat them
I pour some out from the bag to the cup Aeon mentioned and rinsed with tap water to remove the salt before putting in tank. Have not checked those in the fridge, hope they are still hibenating there.

Regarding the nutrition value, personally i don't think it is that bad.
Previously i hv tried hatching baby BS from dried eggs but the process was quite troublesome.

[spilopterus]

Actually, the device is sitting right in your home if you want a container for your worms. What you need is a wide shallow bowl. (like a tray) Put some gravel in it of decent depth, then put the worms in the centre. Then sink the whole bowl into the tank.

It's a technique for feeding bottom feeding fishes. It's difficult to find good clean tubifex though. So far, I only managed to find one in Serangoon Central.

[Roadrage]

[quote:95b5edbf63="cheeboonyong"]This is what I heard. Adult live brine shrimps have basically close to zero nutrition value. So you must feed the adult BS with food just hours before feeding them to your fish. And all food is digested and passes through the digestive system of the BS within hours, so need to feed BS and then feed the fish quickly.

All too much trouble in my opinion.[/quote:95b5edbf63]

What do you feed to the adult brine shrimp ?

[cheeboonyong]

my friend feeds spirulina.

[Aeon]

[quote:8760a4e2d4="spilopterus"]Actually, the device is sitting right in your home if you want a container for your worms. What you need is a wide shallow bowl. (like a tray) Put some gravel in it of decent depth, then put the worms in the centre. Then sink the whole bowl into the tank.

It's a technique for feeding bottom feeding fishes. It's difficult to find good clean tubifex though. So far, I only managed to find one in Serangoon Central.[/quote:8760a4e2d4]

Why didn't I think of that? but a feeding frenzy would spill the worms all over right?