Keeping them cold is a misnomer. They do not have to be cold "if" you supply oxygenated water. But if you keep them in a little container at room temperature, they will start to die in 10 minutes. They require a lot of oxygen. The main reason for the long trough in my worm keeper is not to give the worms a place to dance, but to add surface area for bacteria to grow and oxygen to diffuse in the water. They can live very nicely at room temperature as long as the water is moving and has a lot of surface area. No, it is not needed but it allows me to keep more worms, A longer trough would do the same thing. A fish tank does not provide enough surface area.
I added this evaporative chiller to my worm tank not because I am chilling the water. I don't even have the fan installed so it doesn't even chill. But it adds surface area.
The keeper needs to be cycled for quite a while because at first the worms will die very quickly. But after a couple of weeks they will live, and maybe dance forever.
Just keep the water moving over something that will oxygenate it. You can't have to much surface area.
If the pump stops on my keeper, they will all die in no time and they hate that.

I added this evaporative chiller to my worm tank not because I am chilling the water. I don't even have the fan installed so it doesn't even chill. But it adds surface area.
The keeper needs to be cycled for quite a while because at first the worms will die very quickly. But after a couple of weeks they will live, and maybe dance forever.
Just keep the water moving over something that will oxygenate it. You can't have to much surface area.
If the pump stops on my keeper, they will all die in no time and they hate that.
