KonaBoy

Well, I have been told that some of my fish would like live food, and I have an endless supply of worms in my backyard and was wondering if I should start a "worm farm"? There's no pesticides used by my house or my neighbours, so I think they'd be good. By worm farm I mean get a big rubbermaid and start with a bunch of worms, then put my compost in there so they have food? Does that sound like it could work?

For my rock question, I've heard that if you drop vinegar on a rock and it doesn't fizzle, it's okay for aquarium use. Is this true? Is there any types of rock I should avoid, or try to get? Thanks,

Cory

sirdarksol

Unless you have more tanks than what's in your profile, I'm not sure any of your fish are big enough to eat earthworms. Bloodworms, perhaps. (Though, I suppose, if you cleaned them off and rendered them into little bits, earthworms would work. Wouldn't be live food anymore, though).

For the second question, partly true. The vinegar test just means the rock won't raise the pH of the water. It doesn't test for pollutants, metals, or other things that could leach into your water. If you see anything metallic in a rock, it's not acceptable (you might want to break a bit with a hammer to check this). If it came from a polluted area, you probably don't want to mess with it, either.

KonaBoy

Ok. I'm going to adding some Egyptian Mouthbrooder's, and I read that they can eat earthworms, so I thought I'd ask. So about the rocks, if it isn't metallic, and came from a non-polluted area, it should be good?

Cory

sirdarksol

It's a safer bet, but nothing's guaranteed. Pretty much, you risk your stock every time you put something new in the tank, even if it was bought from the store. You just make as educated of decisions as you can and then pray you're right.

(What I'm getting at is that I don't want to say "It's all right" because I don't want you to blame me if your fish die. )

KonaBoy

I know everything's a risk, I would just rather take a calculated one :P

Barbrella

Although many larger fish relish earthworms, feeding them isn't much fun. You have to cut the worms up. Ew.

KonaBoy

I have no problem cutting up worms, so I think I may try this