# Large earthworms (nightcrawlers)



## pyrokingbrand (Nov 30, 2004)

I just fed a large night crawler ( 6-7") to my 4 two inch piranhas. they ate all of it, but they looked so full, they looked as if they were going to pop. Any opinions on the nutrition of earthworms in a diet would be appreciated. Thanks.


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## "qickshot" (Apr 19, 2005)

its good for them u just have to watch how u do it. if u collect them wild then they could have lawn poison or somthin else that leaked into the ground they used for food. and u also should sqeez the sh*t out of them. take your fingers and put pressure on the top and pull threw and all kinds of sh*t and dirt will come out. but dont sqeez hard enough that u get guts or break the worm its one of my p's fav things to eat


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## pantast1c (Sep 7, 2003)

How do nightcrawlers look like, I've never seen any for sale at the LFS.


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## edcal (Feb 19, 2005)

pantast1c said:


> How do nightcrawlers look like, I've never seen any for sale at the LFS.
> [snapback]1098836[/snapback]​


Nightcrawlers a huge earthworms. you can buy them at fishing stores


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## Pyri (May 26, 2005)

I have give to my reds earthworms and they just love them. Same way if I give live fish or frogs. These reds are over 4 years old and never have been problems with worms. Especially they love them as kids







I never has squeeze them crap out but washing them quickly under tap. But squeezing is not bad idea at all. Mayby I start to squeeze them too.. In my garden is lot of worms so I just go there, kick some earth away and pick up 5-6 worms :rasp:


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## "qickshot" (Apr 19, 2005)

yeah i get my own to but i try to make sure its not where my dad puts poison on his trees or anything and nightcrawlers isnt somthing that everyone feeds there fish i dont know if its cause they never thought of it or what but that is why u dont find them in you lfs


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## pyrokingbrand (Nov 30, 2004)

Thanks alot you guys, i am going to feed them another one right now. I don't want to be morbid, but its kind of hilarious when they play tug-o-war with the worm as they eat it. I am simply amazed at how aggressive my little guys get when they eat. Once again, thansk for the advice and info.


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## evermore (Oct 7, 2003)

i'll say piranhas love worms but its my advice to cut the worms in pieces or make sure they eat them all cuz i didn't about 4months and recently i did a good gravel cleaning of my tanks and found a few worms living under my gravel. yes alive for 4 months. crazy sh*t


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## Guest (Jul 8, 2005)

I feed earthworms extensively to all my fish through the summer.

They are highly nutritous, high in protein, and very low in fat.

The only disadvantage I can think of is that the worm's gut-contents do add alot of organic debris to the aquarium. This sometimes causes the water to be temporarily cloudy and the cartridges of my filters to clog up more often.


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## shutter13 (Jun 23, 2004)

Bullsnake said:


> I feed earthworms extensively to all my fish through the summer.
> 
> They are highly nutritous, high in protein, and very low in fat.
> 
> ...


yes this is true... worms are a very good food... i feed em to my P's all the time! too bad my FH wont accept em









heres a tip --- its gross, but worth it.... you should clean the worm before feeding, the backend is the lighter colored one... just start from half way up the worm, and squeeeeeeeze down until you get all the crap out... doesnt cloud your water as bad then :nod:


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## "qickshot" (Apr 19, 2005)

"qickshot said:


> its good for them u just have to watch how u do it. if u collect them wild then they could have lawn poison or somthin else that leaked into the ground they used for food. and u also should sqeez the sh*t out of them. take your fingers and put pressure on the top and pull threw and all kinds of sh*t and dirt will come out. but dont sqeez hard enough that u get guts or break the worm its one of my p's fav things to eat
> [snapback]1098471[/snapback]​


i beat you to givin that tip lol


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## shutter13 (Jun 23, 2004)

"qickshot said:


> "qickshot said:
> 
> 
> > its good for them u just have to watch how u do it. if u collect them wild then they could have lawn poison or somthin else that leaked into the ground they used for food. and u also should sqeez the sh*t out of them. take your fingers and put pressure on the top and pull threw and all kinds of sh*t and dirt will come out. but dont sqeez hard enough that u get guts or break the worm its one of my p's fav things to eat
> ...


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## JesseD (Mar 26, 2003)

earthworms are a wonderful source or protien.

I wouldnt feed them nightcrawlers that you caught out in your backyard though because they eat dirt and any chemicals or pesticides that may be in the dirt that they are consuming. so if u caught the worms then start a worm farm and keep them in there for 3 weeks or so to get rid of anything 'bad' they may have ingested.

also, before I feed earthworms to my fish I clean them. this is done by littly squeezing near their head and running your fingers down their body towards their back end. this will squirt out all the dirt (sh*t) that is currently inside their body out the back end. just a way to avoid throwing dirt directly into your tank. as the fish chew the worms up all the dirt will come out their gill plates on fall to the bottom of your tank.

However, I have had some people say that they prefer to feed their fish 'uncleaned' earhtworms...maybe there is something in the dirt that could be beneficial; such as nutrients, but I dont know for sure. I've never read and information saying that one way is better than then the other. so I 'clean' the worms I feed to my fish because as far as I'm concerned it is dirt that the fish are not going to eat anyways & just make your tank dirty.

it's your call....Goodluck, man!


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## taylorhedrich (Mar 2, 2005)

Earthworms/nightcrawlers are a very good choice in a piranha's diet or any other fish that will eat them for that matter IMO. They are low in fat, and high in protein. I also just recently discovered that they can live in fish tanks for at least 3 months! Take a look at my link here.
~Taylor~


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## Dawgnutz (Mar 2, 2005)

taylorhedrich said:


> Earthworms/nightcrawlers are a very good choice in a piranha's diet or any other fish that will eat them for that matter IMO. They are low in fat, and high in protein. I also just recently discovered that they can live in fish tanks for at least 3 months! Take a look at my link here.
> ~Taylor~
> [snapback]1104502[/snapback]​


Pinch off head and tail of the worm so that they can't dig in the gravel


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## bjmarche (Jun 30, 2005)

Earthworms are the main food source of my baby rbp's, and they're all doing fine, nice color, they growing quickly, and my tank isnt too murky either and the filter isnt clogged. So i see absolutely no problems with worms.


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## Guest (Jul 11, 2005)

Dawgnutz said:


> taylorhedrich said:
> 
> 
> > Earthworms/nightcrawlers are a very good choice in a piranha's diet or any other fish that will eat them for that matter IMO. They are low in fat, and high in protein. I also just recently discovered that they can live in fish tanks for at least 3 months! Take a look at my link here.
> ...


Another way of keeping the worms from scurrying under the gravel is to put them in a plastic cup and adding hot tap water. This instantly kills them or makes them so uncoordinated that they don't get away from the fish.


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## shutter13 (Jun 23, 2004)

Bullsnake said:


> Dawgnutz said:
> 
> 
> > taylorhedrich said:
> ...










i did this the first feeding with them so my P's could get used to them..... but after that my P's enjoyed the chase









and heres a tip to get stubborn fish to eat an earthworm... cut of a small piece and throw in the larger piece... with a worm bleeding and wiggling right next to them, not many fish can resist


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## anthongy817 (May 3, 2005)

where can you buy earthworms that aren't contaminated?? if you dig it up there could be lawn fertilizer....so where can you get them that are clean?

as for worrying about it crawling away...you can try tying a string around it and use something to poke a hole on it to make it bleed a little. By the time the worm is off the string it'll be dead.

i just bought some hikaru frozen bloodworms...i'm having trouble feeding them to my caribes. It keeps floating on top of the water, and by the time it does sink most of it already floated away. What can you do to make it sink faster and to keep it compacted together as well?


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## Guest (Jul 12, 2005)

anthongy817 said:


> where can you buy earthworms that aren't contaminated?? if you dig it up there could be lawn fertilizer....so where can you get them that are clean?
> 
> [snapback]1106267[/snapback]​


I believe the chance of earthworms with slight background levels of pollution/contamination causing problems for your fish to be very low. I live in urban Northern New Jersey, an area with very high levels of pollution/contamination. I have been feeding worms that I caught myself every summer for the last three years and I can't see any problems. In fact, I have yet to lose a fish to natural causes that I have been feeding the worms to.


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## bjmarche (Jun 30, 2005)

Bullsnake is right. I catch earthworms for my P's all the time. Absolutely no problem with them yet. If you live in a really polluted place.. with like industrial waste filling the streets I see a problem, but other then that, you should be fine.


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