Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

there are many species of salt water worms
anybody aware of fresh water species we could breed?

frank

Tiger compost worms.... breed like mad in our growbeds...

are they water worms?

frank

yeh tiger for me and a few others..
but the names I don't know, all are prolific..

Not sure what you mean by "water worms" Frank.... or their technical description...

But they live and thrive perfectly happily in oxygenated growbeds... munching up all them beneficial solids....

I only see your posts Rupe...
but now I know...
there are other worms that can infect Hydro systems reducing production...
some where in my memory
But i am sure the fish would eat them

I'm not sure but I think the original question was asking if there are any "water worms" appropriate for a fresh water aquarium sort of thing as they do with Marine Aquarium.

Most of the answers have been kinda off topic as most of us have composting worms in our grow beds as part of the system but not necessarily in our aquarium or fish tanks. Though earth worms and composting worms can survive underwater if it has plenty of O2 dissolved in it providing the fish don't eat them.

I don't know the answer to your original question. I assume there must be some sort of water worms that inhabit fresh water but I know nothing about them or their suitability to the aquarium trade.

If you're going to have an aquarium TCL... you might as well put fish in it....

Add a growbed... and put the worms in that....

thanks, TCL
I am indeed inquiring about the existence of aquatic varieties of worms

frank

As a food source.. for consumption....

Or as fish food... or some other purpose???

Black Worms (Lumbriculus Variegatus) do quite well on what comes out of the fish tank. I have bunches that live in the gravel and eat what ever makes it down there. They are a standard tropical fish live food and are available most places that specialize in live foods for fish. They can also eat rotting cellulose. Most places I've seen that cutlure these use paper towels as well as catfish pellets to feed them, but mine get what comes out of the fish.

Googling suggests three basic type of freshwater worms....

Flatworms (planaria), roundworms (nematodes), and freshwater earthworms (oligochaetes). Nematodes and oligochaetes are long and thin and writhe like snakes.

Nematodes are often parasitic... and often host in mosquitos and transfer disease to humans and most animals....

Others are found as internal parasites of fish and many plants.

The larger parasitic nematodes are referred to as roundworms, and the smaller parasites as threadworms

Other info from various goggle links...


Freshwater true worms (annelid worms) are separated into two kinds of worms which are bristle worms and leeches. Bristle worms, as their name suggests, have bristles on their body segments to help them move.

Most species of freshwater bristle worms live in mud and vary in size from 2mm to 75mm. Leeches do not have bristles. They move in another way. A leech has suckers front and back and it moves them by ‘looping’.

A leech adheres to fish by using its front sucker and then loops its body so that the rear sucker is close to the front one. Then the leech attaches the rear sucker to the fish and releases the front sucker. It then extends its body to a maximum length and re-attaches the front sucker as far as possible from the rear sucker. Leeches usually grow to about eight centimetres in length.

Both leeches and bristle worms are fairly common freshwater inhabitants. Some experts have recorded close to 200 different species of leech and bristle worm in England.

The Freshwater free-living Flat Worm is commonly found in freshwater environments such as ponds.


The flatworms and freshwater earthworms sound like the only "nice" worms to me...

Havent checked for a while but in a filtered water sump on the return line from my grow beds there is 12 inches deep of worms living under water jaymie and steve have seen it

actually living under water?
that's the kind I'm looking for

any idea what species, F&F ?

frank

actually living under water?
that's the kind I'm looking for

any idea what species, F&F

?Yes red ones and they riggle [no sorry frank they are just ones that migrated from the growbeds] and before the growbeds the wormfarm givern to us orignaly by the shire as compost worms