Tuesday, June 22, 2021

Where to get Live Blackworms




You can buy fish food flakes on Amazon: 

The first time I found a live blackworm was by picking samples of filamentous algae from under the ice in a pond in Central park of NYC back on January 26th, 2018









 Two years later, I rescued wild Minnow fish from a local dry pond. 



I started looking for live fish food for my wild Minnows. 
There was nothing suitable in the local pet stores of NYC. 


I purchased blackworms, also known as California blackworms, on eBay in the first week of December 2020. 
The package arrived 3 weeks later on December 26th, with an expected week delay due to the holiday season.

 The whole culture of blackworms arrived dead. 

A three week shipment is deadly for any live culture in extreme weather. 

I already released Minnows but still want blackworms for my guppies. 
A new shipment of blackworms arrived on January 7th, 2021.

 This time they arrived alive!



I put them in a couple nurseries for quarantine. 


Later on, using those nurseries, I populated all my aquariums with blackworms.






 If I ever have to look for blackworms again I would rather get them from local sources. 
It is possible to find and culture wild blackworms in local ponds during the warm season. 


Blackworms reproduce by fragmentation. 
One blackworm is enough to start your own culture! 



Shopping online is a way to get enough blackworms to start a culture and to feed fish right away. Though, it comes with the risk of shipment delay. 
Blackworms are not likely to survive more than a two week shipment. 

Blackworms may not survive freezing temperature of high altitude airplanes flying even in Summer.
 And Summer heat is deadly for blackworms too. 

So, asking friends and neighbors for a starter culture of blackworms seems to me the best option. 

I have more to share about blackworms in future videos. 

Have fun and happy blackworms :)

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