# Culturing Blackworms and Tubifex



## MartialTheory (Dec 20, 2007)

I was asked by another forum to write about how I cultured these worms. I didn't want it to be limited to just one forum so I hope this information can help someone here too.

I am sorry if this is not the right place to put it. Mods please place approiately if needed. 

Anyway I have been culturing blackworms and tubifex worms for years and its been a long journey to learn to culture them when I first started, there wasn't much information let alone on the web about culturing them at home. I guess it wasn't worth it. 

And after all this, I don't think worth all the work to do. However, I have no local access anymore to blackworms or tubifex so I have no choice but to. 

After I found out my LFS was closing down and it was the only one selling any live foods, I scrambled and tried so many methods to culture them. I only had a month to do so. 

So I learned from trial and error. First step is to keep them alive. Lucky from years of buying, I learned the can be kept in the fridge. Blackworms longer than tubifex. As long as the water is clean and declorinated, it can surive for at least a week. 

Blackworms much longer. My record was 1 month 2 weeks. Not sure if it could go any longer, my fish needed to eat. 

So I got lots of worms from my LFS before the closed and I got to work. I couldn't culture any in the fridge so i kept them in a fish bowl. 

Lesson 1: Do not let the temp reach higher than 80 or you may have a massive die off. It seems best around 75 degrees or so. In the summer time, find a cool area in the house. I like to place them in a bucket, and put it in my backyard underneth a tree. The shade keeps them cool. 

Lesson 2: Only keep them in cycled containers. It doesn't matter if you are keeping them in a 10 gal tank or a rubbermaid but it must be cycled if it is placed in room temperture. I learned that the hard way many times over. Even in temporay holding trays. 

So now that we know the general guide lines of keeping them alive, lets move on to housing and care. 

Lesson 3: Always change the water. The water must be changed daily. at least once every 2 days. Every day to be better. I change about 30 percent for blackworms and 20 percent for tubifex. More if the water looks or smells bad. You will smell it if the culture goes bad. I found that the drip aclimator is the best for water changes and has become a permenent fixture in my worm tanks. Just let it siphon out the amount and pour in old aquarium water. 

Lesson 4. Blackworms like the water to be shallow. They can live in deeper water but they always seem to do best in shallow water. No more than 5 inches. For tubifex it doesn't seem to matter. Also they can be kept in small containers but I find 5 gallon tanks to be the best. The water quality is more stable in there than a rubbermaid. Also I keep one major culture going and a few smaller ones for insurance. 

Lesson 5. What is the medium to keep them in? That is a hard question to answer. It is all about how much labor you want to put in. At first, I put gravel on the bottom because I always saw that the tubifex always surived in there in my main tanks. Which always made me angry to see a carpet of worms in your main tanks. Although you can keep them like that, the method of harvesting becomes very very hard. Unless you let there be a huge out break, its going to be hard to seperate the gravel and the worms. The same goes for blackworms. I tried newspaper or other paper substrate but can you imgine the work to clean the worms? Not a good idea. 

The best substrate so far for me, is a mixture of gravel and java moss. Yes thats right, java. It eats up the nitrates and helps keep the water quality good. Also the worms like to travel through it. I harvest them with a pipet. Its a great investment if you plan to do this for a while. I just put them in a brine shrimp net and rinse. I also use the pipet to feed them. My endlers go crazy for them and I get to see the health of each one closely. 

Now the hard part is done. All you need now is to feed them. 

Lesson 6: What to feed them? I use to keep fry in the worm tanks so that the left over food feeds the worm. Also they seem to like fish poop. I liked doing that so nothing is wasted and I always strive to be fully independant of all means. However, once in a while, I would have a massive die off and the water would be so bad my fry would die. Lately I haven't have that problem. I believe it may have been a chain reaction of one worm dieing and spiking the amonia to kill the rest of the population. Then I leaned something, THEY EAT DEAD FISHES! So they have become my recycling center, when ever I have a fish that died from old age, I throw it in there. However, if it was a sick fish, then I always flush. Never compermise the other fishes. 

Over the years I learned that it is best to feed them sinking food. I have a ton of extra guppy pellets that turned out to be too large for my endlers. So I use that to feed my worms. I also sometimes throw in cucumbers and other vegetables that was going to be tossed out anyway. Basically they can eat just about anything thats organic as long it doesn't break up very much. This is to perseve the water quality. 

Lesson 7: Have patience. You have to let the population grow to a good size before harvesting. This is because the population needs to be at a cetain age before having a stable amount of offspring and become self sustabable. It depends on the tempeture amoung other conditions but I say 3 weeks should be an average time. Then just harvest some for your fishes. 

A few last things, 

They don't need light and I only use sunshine for the java moss to grow. 

There is concern about parasites and diseases from tubifex, I was lucky to have a clean culture from the LFS free of disease and hitchikers. So if you plan on feeding your fishes long term on tubifex or blackworms, it is a good idea to culture your own so you know its 100% safe. 

2 years ago, I started seeing them in Petland. I was tempted to buy and stop culturing but my biggest reason is I don't know how good they are. Plus from culturing, I have some very healthy worms which is reflected on my fishes. 

I feed my endlers tubifex regularly and they grow very fast with it. I chop it up and feed it to the fry. But they colors don't show up as fast on just tubifex. I have no confirmation on other fishes but I believe it is the same. So I feed them a combination of perpared foods with lots of plant and animal matter for coloration. The tubifex boost there size quickly. 

Heathy blackworms are great for larger fishes. They always love a treat and their health becomes wounderful. They have never been more healthy since I have been feeding them live foods. 

I learned all these from many years of mistakes. I hope this may help anyone out there thinking of starting there own worm cultures.


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## Questin (Sep 30, 2007)

I think this is great information, thanks for the post.


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## MartialTheory (Dec 20, 2007)

Anytime. I wish you luck if you plant to try.


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## ShortFin (Jan 13, 2006)

Would you please clarify "cycled containers"?


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## MartialTheory (Dec 20, 2007)

it means that anything used to hold them, either for culturing them or just to transport them should be cultured. you should be find if u hold them in a non cycled containter for an hour, but depends on the health of the fish. I have several containers that are cycled like little rubbermaids in case i have to move them around.


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## Questin (Sep 30, 2007)

If you want to be pretty serious about culturing these, you should get a new food grade container, and then use it only for culturing. Then don't use tap water, because the worms are very sensitive to things like colrine, so its best to use tank water from what I hear.

Of course small glass tanks are even better.


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## MartialTheory (Dec 20, 2007)

yeah i use 3 5 gal tanks and smaller containers for the smaller cultures which i use for insurance. just in case the main cultures crash


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## ShortFin (Jan 13, 2006)

Not really interested in culturing worms. I fed black and tubifex worms in the past and like what MartialTheory says always ending with some living in the gravel. I'm avoiding it for now.

Now if someone would write up a good article like this one on culturing daphnia with baby food instead of green water, I might try it out. Some members have posted how they culture dalpnia with sweet potatoes, but not really in depth as this one.

Thanks for the post.


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## mistergreen (Mar 3, 2007)

you can try culturing whiteworms... They're related to earthworms.
But I gave up my culture. I never had it to the point where I can harvest with ease.


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## zebo (Feb 10, 2008)

MartialTheory said:


> yeah i use 3 5 gal tanks and smaller containers for the smaller cultures which i use for insurance. just in case the main cultures crash


Hi MartialTheory,

Should I aerate the tank/containers if I decide to culture the worms?
Will that mean less water change?

Is it alarming for some worms to survive in the gravel of the main tank? 
I thought it wld be good and fishes can scavenge for them when hungry especially the nocturnal ones that don't appear during normal feeding times. Plus if I am overseas they get to eat whatever worms that survive in the tank.

I intend to put these worms in the worm feeder....what do u think?

Thank You.


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## lauraleellbp (Jan 31, 2008)

That's great info- I've never seen it anywhere else, either!

How many worms do you think you have going at any given time to make sure your culture is sustainable?


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## MartialTheory (Dec 20, 2007)

I thought about adding an airstone but I never tried so I'm not sure. 

However, I believe if u add an airstone to a blackworm culture, u can keep them in deeper water. I think they are weak in their ablity of obtaining oxygen through passive diffusion of surface water. Which is probally why it perfers to be close to the water surface.

Yeah it can get out of hand if they establish themselfs in the tanks. I use worm feeders all the time but I love using my pipet becuase I can make sure no worm escape my fishes. 

Thanks, I really hope this helps others so they don't have to go through the same troubles as I have to feed my fishes. 

I would wait close to about a month. Maybe less time depending on the conditions. It would be about close to a 4 inch circle before it is safe to harvest. Then I would harvest about a dimes size every 2 weeks. This is the bare minium. 

I usually have about a tenis size ball of worms and I can harvest about a quarter size amount of worms every week. Sometimes more.


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## zebo (Feb 10, 2008)

Hi MartialTheory,

Thanks a bunch!


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## MartialTheory (Dec 20, 2007)

no prob. just add to my rep!! lol!


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## zebo (Feb 10, 2008)

HI MartialTheory,

I finally started my culture of black worms.

Will they survive thru winter?

erm, they can only survive in water right?
Will they climb out of water?

Thanks.


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## MartialTheory (Dec 20, 2007)

Hi zebo. They will survive the winter only if the temperture doesn't drop below 65 degrees. Or at least thats the lowest I ever kept it at.

And no they will never climb out of the water. 

Good luck culturing!


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## zebo (Feb 10, 2008)

Thanks MartialTheory


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## MartialTheory (Dec 20, 2007)

No problem just add to my rep. lol!


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## zebo (Feb 10, 2008)

Hi MartialTheory,
The worms were doing alright until recently. Some have started turning white. Some died.

The water smells very foul even though I change water every day.

I have been leaving it out in the sun for more than 5 hours thinking winter sun isn't harsh on them. Also becoz Java Moss looked like they were dying and I thought it might need more light.

I gave them some mushrooms. I dunno if its the caused of the foul smell and sudden change in their color and deaths.

Your advise is appreciated. Thanks.


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## ZooTycoonMaster (Apr 23, 2008)

Will CRS and RCS eat live blackworms? Or will they get away and hide in the gravel forever and multiply and take over the tank:|


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## Naultinus (Jun 18, 2011)

I know this thread is old, but here's how I culture my blackworms 

I use a 50x25x25cm tank, and a 1cm layer of dark pea gravel. I find a temperature of 18-23°C works best for the worms. I just use plain tap water, and I fill the tank to the top. I also run an air pump in the tank. The pH is around 7.5-8 I think.

I feed them flake, frozen brine shrimp, mysis shrimp and daphnia, and sometimes I feed them mashed cooked carrot. When I feed the worms I turn the air pump off so the food doesn't get disturbed. I suck the food up with the turkey baster (I defrost the frozen food in warm water first, and I put the flake in warm water to soak it) and then I gently squirt the food onto the gravel. Then I turn the air pump back on.
I never feed them dead fishes or fish poo. I only feed them what I would feed to my fishes.

When I harvest them I sometimes suck them up with a turkey baster and feed them straight to the fish. But the best way I have found is to use a gravel vac and siphon them into a bucket. I wait until they have settled on the bottom of the bucket, and then decant the dirty water. I pour the dirty water down the drain, and then refill the bucket (with the worms still inside) with fresh water straight from the tap. I then wait until the worms have settled again, and decant the fresh water back into the tank. I then feed out the amount of worms necessary for my fishes, and pour the rest back into the tank. This way I am able to easily harvest them, and do a small water change at the same time which keeps the water nice and clean.

I find that with this method the culture reproduces really fast, and I am always able to feed my fish every day. Blackworms are extremely easy to culture, IMO more so than white worms and the like. Also I have no problems with culture die-offs, and the local water supply doesn’t have any chlorine so that’s why I am able to get away with using tap water. And as long as water is being changed at least every few days, then there won’t be too much of an ammonia build-up and so it isn’t necessary to cycle the tank (from my experience).

I highly recommend having a go at culturing blackworms. They are super easy to culture, and are a great way of naturally enhancing the colours of your fishes. They are also a great conditioning food and I find them especially good for feeding my Apistogramma. I use them as the staple food for my fishes. Also one of the things I love most about them is that there is no smell!


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## MartialTheory (Dec 20, 2007)

Hey Naultinus,

Thanks for the input. I have maintained the culture for keepsakes. Not even large enough to feed my fish at the moment. But I am trying something different. I am trying to grow them without substrate. The part that's really hard is to harvest them. Its really annoying and I never really found a good method. So just testing to see if I can still culture them without some gravel. They will be homeless but I hope they can still breed.


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## Naultinus (Jun 18, 2011)

I know somebody who has tried doing that with success so you shouldn't have a problem 
Havesting them is incredibly simple. A gravel vac or turkey baster works fine for me.

Also I have changed a couple of things about how I maintain my culture; I removed the worms from the bucket before refilling it, and I feed what I need to to my fish and then top up the tank and put the excess worms back in, and I am now just feeding them Omega One flake (50/50 mix of their Veggie and Freshwater flakes). These flakes don't cloud the water at all and the worms love them and consume them extremely quickly. I have also noticed that they are a lot fatter and more red-looking when fed on Omega One flake.


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