Australian Blackworm colonising my shrimp tank

[ineke]

Hi All,

I recently changed my 34 litre tank from fish to shrimp. I used to have Bettas in there and fed them live black worms. I have now noticed blackworms waving there heads in the gravel in my tank. Will they be a problem with the shrimp. What would be the best way to get rid of them? I have tried a gravel vacuum and although it does get a few worms they mostly move out the way. I am still cycling this tank and wonder if I remove the shrimp -although this would be hard as there are babies in there- and wash out the gravel would that interfere with the cycling? would that pose more of a problem than the worms? I can't put any of my fish back in there because the babies are only 2 days old and would make a tasty treat!

Any thoughts would be appreciated. Do the shrimp eat worms?

Cheers

Ineke

[fishmosy]

I purposely introduced blackworms into many of my tanks to keep the substrate cleaner. In these tanks my shrimp thrive and I've noticed no interactions between the worms and shrimp (primarily RCS). However larger native shrimp will have a go at blackworms, I've noticed I have almost no blackworms in the tank where my longirostris are, and never see the worms poking above the substrate like I do in other tanks.

definitely do not take your gravel out and clean it, particularly if you are still cycling the tank. You'll do far more harm than good. Note that blackworms can reproduce by fragmentation so you only need to miss getting a couple if fragments and they will appear again.

if you are going to keep only shrimp in this tank from now on you are better off doing nothing in regards to the worms even if you want them gone. As you'll be feeding the shrimp far less than what you were feeding the fish, there should be a natural decline in the number of blackworms as there will be less food available for them.

[BlueBolts]

1-2 years ago, I too deliberately introduced live black worms into my tank......never saw any negatives, and the shrimps totally ignore them. All you need to do is to reduce the feeding, or use a little dish when feeding your shrimps, so that the blackworms can get to it, and within a few weeks, they'll all disappear.

[ineke]

Thank you for that Fishmosy looks like you are becoming my shrimp hero LOL. I knew they were OK in with fish but just wasn't sure about the shrimp. Will stop worrying and enjoy

Cheers

Ineke

[ineke]

Thank you Bluebolts I have cut right back on feeding - just an algae wafer every 3 days and a flake or 2 of fish food - plus today trying out the banana taste test and they seem to be enjoying that but I have it on a skewer so can get it out easily

Cheers

Ineke

[BlueBolts]

Cool, just make sure the food doesn't touch the gravel ..

[ineke]

Will do and probably will feed even less for a while as I have just put another plant on a rock in the tank. It was in my community tank and has a bit of algae on its leaves so that is keeping them happy at the moment

Thanks