Hi Lynn
I’ve had lots of rove beetles in my systems over the years. They’ve never had any noticeable impact on the worm populations. My hunch has always been that there are so many other critters in there for them to eat (prime example being springtails) that the worms don’t even necessarily end up being their primary target. I personally prefer having predators in my systems since it really seems to help keep things balanced (far less chance of being overrun by fruit flies and fungus gnats, for example).

Funny the paragraph you shared (from the other site) talks about European Nightcrawler being a misnomer, yet goes on to mention “Hybrid Reds” as another name. Of the two, I would definitely say that’s far more of a misnomer (as is “Pink Reds”). These are definitely NOT hybrid worms – nor are their any composting species that can be bred with one another to create “hybrids” as some would suggest. They are all genetically distinct species. Sure if you have a serious biotech lab at your disposal, and the skills to do it, it could be done – lol – but yeah, for the rest of us it’s just not going to happen!
🙂

Lumbricus rubellus is actually very easy to tell apart from E. fetida/andrei. It does not have any striping, it doesn’t have a yellow tail tip, and most significantly – it has an obviously flattened tail tip, not the conical tail tip that E. fetida/andrei have. Adults of L rubellus also tend to be a fair bit larger than the other “Red Worms”.

When you said “Euros”, I naturally interpreted that to mean European earthworms. What type of red worm are you doing your study with? There are several.
I did find a description of Eisenia hortensis on this website:
http://www.ecrater.com/p/8717787/european-jumbo-red-nightcrawler-worms

“European Red Worms also known as european nightcrawlers, or bulgium red worms “Eisenia Hortensis” make an excellent multipurpose worm that is an excellent compost worm and also an excellent fishing worm. They are also good for use as an exotic pet food, especially where a larger worms are desired.
The name “european nightcrawler” is actually a misnomer. These are not real nightcrawlers by scientific standards and they go by many other names such as hybrid reds, pink reds, Belgium redworms, dutch worms, super worms. They are smaller than Canadian Nightcrawlers, especially in length but they get quite fat when fed properly. These worms are often sold in bait shops as “Red Worms,” but then some times other types of worms are sold by the same name. I know it is confusing that is why I give the scientific names for all of our worms.”
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Thanks for the tip on Eisenia fetida at the end of your message. I thought and have read that they had to be striped all the way down their body. I do have some that have a striped tail tip, but they are dark from that point up to their heads. These I have dug out of a compost pile this weekend and most of them seem to be the redhead worm, Lumbricus rubeilus, another European redworm.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!
🙂

P.S. Eisenia fetida are not always necessarily striped in an obvious manner (but do always at least tend to have striping near the tail tip – which is typically yellow in color)

The pictures of the worms above seem to be that of a Compost Worm, Eisenia veneta. I don’t see it being called a European earthworm anywhere on the internet. It is one of two “Stripy earthworms”, the other being the Red Wiggler, Eisenia fetida, which everyone is familiar with.
From what I have seen, European earthworms do not have stripes like the ones you show in the pictures.