The Benefits Of Tubifex Worms

     Strangely enough tubifex worms are frowned upon while daphnia are exalted as awesome livefood, I find this odd considering every where that I've seen wild daphnia, I also found tubifex worms. I find them to be a very useful life food, of course i purchase them from a dealer and clean them.

      My method for cleaning the worms is simpler then most methods. I purchase them on my way to work and get them "dry", meaning I don't get any worm water with them. When I get to work I fill the bag with bottled water. If work is slow i may change the water in the bag once or twice. The worms sit in this clean water for about 8 hours. You could replicate this procedure by simply putting worms in            

a container filled with bottled water in the fridge over night. 

     Since I have several nocturnal fish I feed out worms as soon as i get home. I don't worry about quantity, the worms will live in the substrate until the fish find them. I do worry about where i dump them in. I find the worms wont travel far from where they hit the substrate, so if you drop them up front in the tank you'll find any survivors wiggling upfront where any body can see them. I try to drop them towards the back of the tank. 

     What i like about the worms is the survivors will filter the water somewhat while, their physical actions help aerate the substrate, assuming it's sand or soil like. Their ability to live in the tank means the fish get to hunt them down. The fish spend more time actively looking for food and dashing down to gobble it up and less time engaging in bored or socially negative behaviors. The worms can also be used in place of weekend and week long feeding blocks. They'll consume some waste versus making it.

     Naturally they should be fed in conjunction with a quality flake or pellet. Though if squash or cucumbers or other vegetables are taken then one in theory could develop their own diet. I personally rely on flakes to fill in the missing nutrients in the fishes diets. Despite the small size, because tubifex worms clump together fish of any size will take them. Though anything over 3 inches or so misses out on hunting opportunities. 

     I use quite a few different live foods and find tubifex to be the most versatile. Providing not only nutrition but behavioral outlets for small fish. Also since very little waste is produced by the worms, water quality improves versus feeding dry foods that rot very quickly if over fed.