The California Blackworm

Very interesting. I've heard Walstad's name many times, but I've never seen the name of her book. I'll have to see if I can pick up a copy.

It sounds like they mainly prefer sandy substrate. Would they survive in a gravel bed? I've never heard of using them this way, but then I try to avoid wormy things, lol! I'll have to bookmark this thread, good read.
 
bazil323 said:
Very interesting. I've heard Walstad's name many times, but I've never seen the name of her book. I'll have to see if I can pick up a copy.

It sounds like they mainly prefer sandy substrate. Would they survive in a gravel bed? I've never heard of using them this way, but then I try to avoid wormy things, lol! I'll have to bookmark this thread, good read.
Click to expand...

Actually a friend of mine has one of those inhumane little betta cube-tanks (like 2.5 liters) with gravel at the bottom. Amazingly, the thing seems to be cycled and the worms I give him live for months at least in the gravel. I know because sometimes I go a month or two before it occurs to me to check on the poor thing and I always find worms and mulm in the gravel.

I think the essential thing for the worms is that their be a source of organic material undergoing healthy decay (as opposed to waste water, which those yucchy tubifex worms love so much) and a medium they can burrow into. I know some people raise them in very shallow water pans lined with unbleached paper towels, which decay and provide the food. They live in mud and in decaying plant material in the wild.

Come to think of it, I don't know how they'll do in play sand or pool sand, which are a bit finer and denser packing than the coarse river sand I use, which I buy from my LFS. The river sand doesn't pack down much at all and its grains are fairly smooth. I've no idea if the worms will be able to burrow in finer sand or if they'll tolerate sharper, more abrasive sand. Also, I don't know if disintegrating mulm will sift down into the finer sands as well as it does in the river sand. Gravel will trap PLENTY of mulm and surely that is why the worms can live so well in it.
 
Where Blackworms come from

In the last few years the Blackworm Farms have dwindled down to two. All Blackworms are farmed by either Aquatic Foods or another California supplier. Contrary to what is being told out there, there are only two Blackworm farms and both are in California

Here are some pics of the Blackworm Farm.


The first pic is of our three production ponds


http://www.simplydiscus.com/library/...images/cbw.jpg


The 2nd is our main harvesting pond. Worms
from the production ponds are moved to the
harvesting pond for 30 days.

http://www.simplydiscus.com/library/...mages/cbw2.jpg

This photo is of our guys harvesting the Blackworms.

http://www.simplydiscus.com/library/...mages/cbw3.jpg


This photo is of our cement purging pond.
Here we leave them for 5-7 days in a bare bottom
cement pond. ( no food allowed)

http://www.simplydiscus.com/library/...mages/cbw4.jpg

This photo is of our indoor falicity. Here we clean a 2nd and 3rd
time. What you see in this pic are 30 100-120 lb holding
tanks. We hold the cleaned worms here for 7-10 days.
Then transport them to our Airport wharehouse where they
are held and chilled down to 40-45 degrees and then shipped
via Fed Ex or out of Los Angeles airport.

http://www.simplydiscus.com/library/...mages/cbw5.jpg


Anyone with any questions about our Blackworms
feel free to email to blkworm@aol.com

Jennifer
http://aquaticfoods.com/Blackworms.html
 
Thanks dancbw! Awesome post!
 
Wooooooooooooo:) Very interesting:):):) It just shows that anything can become interesting if you know a bit more about them:)

Thanks DeeDeeK for your very informitive posts!
 
I find the li'l guys in my filter floss, inextricably, when I change it. How do they make the leap from the substrate to the filter intake three inches up I'll probably never know.

Hey, I just found out the worms' blood is not haemoglobin based but instead has erythrocruorin, which is similar, floating freely in the plasma! No red blood cells - cool!
 
Hey, I started a new and related thread called something like "How Freshwater Deep Sand Beds Work." Here's the link: http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2222867#post2222867

I can't think of anything else to write right now about cali blackworms!

What I am thinking of is consolidating the material from this thread and writing an actual, researched article and freelance submitting it to various magazines. If I ACTUALLY DO THIS, I'll post it here. Am also thinking about the same thing, but with the FWDSB thread instead.
 
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