Pound of blackworms is a lot!

My local fish club has some nice connections and finds, so I went in on a lb of live blackworms for $17!

Wow, a lb is a ton!!! I don't know what I'm going to do with them all. Hopefully if I throw in some extra they will try living in my substrate(s). I have 2 separate tupper ware containers in the fridge. The wife didn't freak out as much as expected. Anyone live in southern Fairfield county in CT and want any?


*Mods, sorry but I thought I was writing in the food forum. Please move when you can

 

Jealous! I've been looking for blackworms for my puffers and community tanks. Too bad TX is so far from CT!

 

Anyone live in southern Fairfield county in CT and want any?

If anyone wants to take MJ up on his offer please use the pm system.

*Mods, sorry but I thought I was writing in the food forum. Please move when you can

Moved

 

Kept properly blackworms will easily last 6-8 weeks in the refrigerator. The trick is keeping them, as well as the water you rinse them with cold. Rinse daily with refrigerated water, drain off as much water as possible, they need air as much as water. A shoebox size container works well for a pound, you want to keep them to 1/4" thick or less when storing in the fridge.

They will live in the substrate, feeding on leftover food, and end up being a snack. Depending on the stocking of the tank you could work up to a half pound into the substrate in a tank of the 55 gallon size.

 

Kept properly blackworms will easily last 6-8 weeks in the refrigerator. The trick is keeping them, as well as the water you rinse them with cold. Rinse daily with refrigerated water, drain off as much water as possible, they need air as much as water. A shoebox size container works well for a pound, you want to keep them to 1/4" thick or less when storing in the fridge.

I've been able to keep much smaller amounts for around this amount of time. I didn't know about stacking them so low though. I definitely have more than 1/4" (more like 1/2") and shallow plastic containers. I did this mainly to stack 2 smaller containers in less space in the fridge than 1 large one. Since they don't have as much air, should I stab holes in the top of the lid?

Also any tips on draining them efficiently? I used a large fine net the other day but so many got stuck in it and it was a pain to get them all out of it. I'm still laughing at how many worms this is.

I don't want to spoil my fish and make them expect this all the time, but I also want to use as many as I can.

 

I've been able to keep much smaller amounts for around this amount of time. I didn't know about stacking them so low though. I definitely have more than 1/4" (more like 1/2") and shallow plastic containers. I did this mainly to stack 2 smaller containers in less space in the fridge than 1 large one. Since they don't have as much air, should I stab holes in the top of the lid?

Also any tips on draining them efficiently? I used a large fine net the other day but so many got stuck in it and it was a pain to get them all out of it. I'm still laughing at how many worms this is.

I don't want to spoil my fish and make them expect this all the time, but I also want to use as many as I can.

I use a net for bagging & shipping. Rinsing the net in a few tanks gets most fo them out, leaving the net in a tank for an hour or two makes sure the rest get out.

Tipping the container after they settle to the bottom to remove as much water as possible gets out enough water. The lids on my bins fit a bit lose, often I'll nest the bins together, they've got maybe an inch of air above them. A little thing on rinsing & such, you can see the large bins I use;

 

lol, if I leave the net in there with worms on it my puffers would chew through the net. It actually happened when I had ghost shrimp in a netted breeder container in my larger tank.

I just carefully rinsed and drained the containers in the sink last night. Their water was a little gross but a few rinses did an ok job and I didn't lose that many worms at all. So I'll see how this route goes. The goal is for them to survive a solid 6+ weeks.

 

You could always freeze some.

 

You could always freeze some.

seriously?

 

seriously?

Of course. There are lots of varieties of frozen food available, including bloodworms, glassworms, black mozzy larvae (all similar things in different colours)...

 

might have to try this. I just thought it might do something for their nutritional value or you had to prepare them maybe. Freeze with or without water, and how much?

 

With or without water, it doesn't really matter. Just drain and freeze wet, is easiest, in a thin layer that will be easily break-a-bit-off-able.

 

rinsed again tonight. wow was their water dirty. I need another way without losing a ton in the sink

 

I have no idea how tiny these worms are but I can't help but think of growing sprouts. The homemade version has the seeds (alfalfa for example) in a Mason jar with a few layers of cheesecloth covering the top and held on by a rubber band around the neck. Then you can pour water straight in and out through the cloth.

 

rinsed again tonight. wow was their water dirty. I need another way without losing a ton in the sink

I haven't seen blackworms over here. I think they're too similar to tubifex to go down well here. Tubifex are best kept in a deepish container under a constantly running cold tap, which is also good for getting them clean, with the occasional shake up to get at those annoying collections of muck at the centre of every little worm clump. I don't know if blackworms are like that?

 

You really shouldn't be loosing that many if you're working slowly enough. It's more of a slow tilt, drain slowly deal. After a few days they should be really clean after the first rinse, provided you or your supplier didn't let them get warm. The water coming off should be grayish at best, if it's pinkish they aren't long for this world, red, forget about it.

Unless you flash freeze them when they thaw you'll have nothing but a pile of moosh, not whole worms at all. This is what the frozen blackworm suppliers do, near instant freeze at -10F or lower to maintain the integrity of the individual cells. When those cells freeze slowly the water content of the cells expands, rupturing the cell walls.

 

Wow, didn't know that about freezing them, thanks. Sadly I can't flash freeze though. I may try the cheesecloth rinsing idea though.