Tubifex is a popular living food for fishes, they all love it.
But its popularity is declining. The bloodworm is taking
the place because tubifex can be infected with a parasite
that is dangerous for fishes. Also: Tubifex nowadays is
harder to get, so more expensive.
Tubifex in a tub, what you see is sand with a lot
of tubifex above it, and a very little debris.
How to catch tubifex
This is done by sweepnetting through the bottom of a pond.
In this way you collect a lot of mud and leaves and
little tubifex. Put this in a jar and put some sand above
it: The tubifex will crawl throuh the sand to the surface.
and form a big bal of worms. Collect them
and keep them cool in the fridge, between a
wet old newspaper.
How to feed youre fishes
This is usually done by a floating sieve.
In this way the worms wont dissapear
in the bottom of youre aquarium. Dead tubifex
remains in the sieve.
Tubifex, a live in the mud
These worms only flourish if there habitat remains uniformly
cold throughout the year. If it warms up during the summer
these worms do not survive well. They are also an easy prey
for other animals, mostly fishes and salamanders. They prefer
a low or almost zero oxygen environment as this keeps
there predators away. So if you clean the bottom of a ditch
and remove the dead leaves, the tubifex will dissapear.
Tubifex contains much proteine and is rich on
fat, it is cheap living food for fishes and salamanders.
Tubifex, a small, threadlike worm, living on the bottom of
youre pond living between the fallen leaves and eating them.
The biggest advantage of these worms are there ability
to live in places were there is absolute no oxygen,
There they are save for there biggest enemies: salamanders,
fish, and waterinsects.
Tubifex surfacing in a pond, this only happens
on the end of a warm day at the end of the summer,
in a swallow pond.
The water is depleted of oxygen and the temperature
at the bottom is raising. The tubifex are the last
to leave ,all the other animals are already dead.
Only some bacteria are happy with this situation.
Naididae
The family of the Naididae or Tubificidae are
clitellate oligochaete worms living in fresh water
All clitellate worms are hermafrodetic. They live
a hidden live mostly as bottom dwellers.
Some members are well known like the
tubificids, with a live in the mud.
Some live on waterplants. Reproduction is
mostly done asexualy by paratomy, that
starts by the forming of budds and end
by the splitting of the body
in two worms, a large and a small one.
On this website you can find ; sludge worm or Tubifex tubifex. chaetogaster limnaei
