The Basics of Pet Goldfish: Earthworms
ByEarthworms are rich in protein and are an interesting dietary change for your goldfish. They are particularly valuable to hobbyists and prized by goldfish during or preceding breeding season. They are also easily obtained. You can either search for them after showers in lawns and around ponds and lakes, or you can cultivate them in your back yard. This is the only live food I recommend that a hobbyist cultivate.
Earthworms can be cultivated by taking a small patch of dirt, maybe a yard or two yards square, and throwing burlap sacks over the raw, tilled soil. Then, taking the garden hose, water the burlap sacks until they are good and wet. Do this every morning of the week. On the seventh day, lift up the burlap sacks, and Bingo, worm city! I don’t recommend that you take too many to feed your fish right away, nor do I recommend that you harvest them more than once a week. The best time to harvest is usually early in the morning, before the dew has evaporated.
After you get them, rinse them off and put them in a jar with holes in the lid, and let them sit for a day or two in some dark shaded area. Rinse them each day so that they will rid their bodies of any earth they have inside of them. Rinse them off again and cut them into small bits. If you have small goldfish, say, less than four inches long, you really should dice them up. If you have goldfish that are, say, between four and six inches long, depending on their size, cut the worms into halves or thirds. Any goldfish over six inches long will be more than happy to swallow the worms whole.
Note: Make sure no herbicides or weed killers have been used in the area where you are collecting your worms. These pesticides will poison your fish.
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