How To Keep Tubifex Worms (Live Fish Food)
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
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
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.
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.