How To Keep Tubifex Worms (Live Fish Food)

ByLinda Updated on

These hermaphroditic red worms are an excellent food source for your fish and are easy to keep once you have established their habitat.

When choosing starter worms, it’s best to look for the larger varieties of the Tubifex worms as they are easier to cultivate.

Setting Up Your Tubifex Worm Bin Tank

Items Required For Tubifex Worms Tank Bin At Home DIY

When choosing a spot at home for your worms, it’s best to pick one relatively close to water and electrical points to ensure your pump can easily be plugged in and water changes aren’t a headache.

The rectangular containers can hold 15 to 25 liters (4 to 7 gallons), depending on your available space. Choose containers that can be easily stacked on top of each other. The container at the bottom will contain the water, pump, and plants, while the top container will contain the overflow, substrate, worms, and water.

Choose a submersible water pump that will allow you to adjust the water flow. You don’t require a heavy flow; you mainly need water agitation. You will combine the pump with the corresponding size aquarium PVC hose, so get the size hose that goes with your water pump.

You can choose any fine-grit sand or substrate you can find; make sure you get enough to cover the area of the container inside at a height of approximately an inch (3CM), as the worms will move into the grit after day one. The sand/substrate must be rinsed before being added to the top container.

Scissors might come in handy when cutting the hose or plants, but you will need something like a box cutter to make the hole in the top container large enough to fit the PVC pipe through.

You can use a glue gun to seal off and secure the PVC pipe to the container. Some also use epoxy or silicone; it is up to you. As long as the PVC pipe is secure and the container is waterproof, this will work great.

The PVC pipe you choose can be one you have lying around at home; the length of the PVC pipe will depend on the depth of your container. You have to position the pipe so that it is lower than the top of the container so the water can go into the pipe and act as an overflow, guiding the surface water to the bottom container.

As mentioned earlier, your Aquarium PVC hose must be the size your water pump requires and long enough to pump water into the top container from the bottom container where the pump is located. This hose will feed the worms their water from the bottom.

Hornwort plants are a great addition to the water in the bottom container as they help add additional filtration and contribute to the general habitat of the Tubifex worms.

How To Build A DIY Tubifex Worm Bin Tank At Home

How To Build DIY Tubifex Worms Bin Tank At Home

Above, I tried to illustrate how the bin/tank setup is supposed to look; the top container will be sitting horizontally over the bottom container. From the front view, it should look like a capital “T,” if that helps.

  • Step one is getting the hole into the top container. The position should be to the left or right side of the bottom of the container. See the picture above (top right) as an illustration.
  • Step two is securing and sealing the PVC pipe to the top container to create the overflow pipe. As mentioned, this pipe should be lower than the top of the container to ensure that your pipe will end at the water level and extend a bit from the bottom.
  • In step three, you will rinse your chosen substrate to remove any excess debris and contaminants. After rinsing, you can stack your containers so the container with the PVC pipe is at the top and add the substrate to that top container. Ensure your substrate is about an inch (3CM) thick in the container, as the worms will migrate into it.
  • In step four, you can fill your bottom container with water, add dechlorination drops or prime to remove chlorine and connect the submersible pump with the silicone pipe. You can also add the plants to the bottom container now, and if necessary, secure the submersible pump with some rocks.
  • In step five, you can now guide your silicone pipe to the top container so the water runs into it. Keep filling the bottom container with water until the overflow pipe starts working.
  • Steps six and seven involve adding your starter Tubifex worms to the top container and providing them with food.

What Do I Feed My Tubifex Worms

Tubifex worms are easy to feed and keep happy. You can add fish flakes every second or third day, spirulina powder (as an extra supplement), and sinking pellets. You will notice that either the flakes or the sinking pellets work better for you; unfortunately, it is a bit of trial and error.

How To Harvest Tubifex Worms At Home

After day one, the Tubifex worms will move into the substrate, so you will have to scoop up some of the substrate into your fish net and rinse the worms under your silicone pipe water in the top bin.

You can then directly transfer your worms to the fish tank or cut them smaller for the fish you want to feed. If your fish struggle to gulp them up, you will quickly see whether they need the worms in smaller chunks and make adjustments for the next feed.

Linda has been keeping and breeding aquarium fish since 2022, when she found her passion after spending some time with her first tank. After enjoying her various fish personalities, her love for the hobby grew.

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