Earthworms for feeding

[moonstruckmuse]

Some questions on feeding earthworms...

When most people refer to these, do they mean the common garden worm, nightcrawlers, or the red wriggler (manure) worm? Ive heard that the latter "tastes bad" whatever that's supposed to mean.

Are you buying them from the store, or digging them up, or vermiculturing?

What are the possible dangers of feeding these(any kind of disease, lack of vitamins, generally not being appetizing)?

Is there anything specifically that is good for feeding the worms (I do already vermicompost, I'm just curious if there's better foods for gutloading)?

Feel free to share any comments or experiences that you've had with feeding earthworms.

 

[Padiwan cichlidiot]

When I feed earthworms, I just dig up worms from my garden after it rains. I do not know of any dangers besides the obvious (earthworms that ingest chemicals or other harmful substances will poison anything that eats them). I do not compost my garden, so as far as I know, they are safe. I use earthworms only occasionally, as a treat, not as a staple.

 

[jeffers]

i feed my rays night crawlers from a worm ranch. but to answer your question yes to all of the above lol. people buy, grow, and dig up them. i live around fields so all of my outside worms are not good so i go to a trusted source.

 

[tigrey]

whats the difference between night crawler and earthworm?

 

[HayMAC]

I have never had a problem with feeding my fish worms from the yard

 

[bob965]

I feed red wigglers from my worm bin as an occasional treat. I asked my fish and they disagree on the tasting bad part. I don't feed them anything special, just fruit and veggie kitchen scraps with the exception of anything really strong or acidic, like onions, hot peppers or citrus fruits. Personally, I don't think it's worth it to try to gutload the worms if your fish are eating a good pellet as a staple.

 

[Slynx]

I feed my cichlids worms from my garden, I don't use chemicals for plants or anything so I feel pretty safe doing so.

 

[bigchief]

i feed my bichirs and oscars worms from eather my yard that ive collected at night or store bought, never had any problems.i dont feed them as a staple but just a something differnt to vary the diet.

 

[sunshinetrenie]

i feed my jack dempseys worms from my yard there are a ton of them in this yard so they are in every shovel full but at my old house i would lay plastic down on my patio before it rained. soon there would be lots of worms to choose from! these are used only as a treat about 1 time per month. i wouldnt do this if i lived in a heavily populated area or if i were close to farmland where the ferts or street crud could contaminate them.

 

[RedBellyRhen]

My piranhas LOVE LOVE LOVE earthworms and oddly so does my pleco.... He eats what the P's leave behind. They only get earthworms on occasion but they are good for them cause they are mostly protein.