Earthworms

[Dresden]

Hi, I was reading a Basic Beginer Fish Keeping Guide (I was killing time and I liked the layout) and it mentioned feeding earthworms to your fish (like 4th paragraph from the bottom).

Are they ok for a Betta? If yes, is there anything I should do? wash them to steralize etc? cut em up?

Does anyone on here treat your Betta to these every now and then?


Thank you in advance.

[xxabc]

I've never heard of that...! But really, the idea (to me, at least) is kind of poor. Earthworms, being outside in mud and whatnot, must be infested with germs and other things that could easily kill a betta fish... but this is my upfront opinion. Curious to what others say

[dramaqueen]

Earthworms could contain parasites and could also be contaminated with pesticides if they come from your yard.

[Chicklet]

i wouldn't feed earth worms from my yard, to much chance of contamination.
You can buy earthworm flakes tho,
Sometimes they come mixed with other food flakes
I prefer them alone and then mix them in,

Earthworm are highly nutritious but can cause problems if feed to much or solely.
Such as a fatty chest which can eventually split and their is no fixing a fatty chest once it happens,
I only add earthworm flakes in a ration to other food in approx 10 to 15% and that works very good for my fish.

I might add, It seems very very few people ever think of worming their fish,
Just like Dogs and Cats fish should be wormed on a regular basis too,
I might add this Parasitr clear by jungle, From the worms I have been running into, This stuff is useless and a waste of money against the parasites comming from most fish stores in my area.

[Romad]

Chicklet,

That is one crazy wall of tanks. How many are you up to these days?

[Chicklet]

Chicklet,

That is one crazy wall of tanks. How many are you up to these days?

I'm not really sure it's abit difficult to count them all, I have tanks all thru my house, Not a room left untouched by them,
I try to keep x-tra tanks ready for any new fish, But as fast as I buy one It gets an unexpected residence,

Just spend two days straight working on another wall unit, then I slipped, fell and got a really bad twisted angle,
So now I'm on hold for a few days hobbling around.

[Dresden]

Oh man, I feel your pain. If you are told by your dr to walk make sure it is on a low impact surface!!!

Going out for a walk on the dyke right now myself. :)

[JamieTron]

I would stick with the normal betta worm treats, frozen ones can be found at some pet stores.. Just because as people said before you are not sure what types of microbes the earthworms could have on them. But I would be careful with live worms as treats because sometimes live worms can be a source of parasites in general. I would get from sources that are known to be parasite free.

[Jupiter]

If they're free of pesticides and parasites, I think it would be okay. but getting a regular earthworm from your backyard seems a bit risky imo...I'd just stick to bloodworms and such.