I collected a bunch of worms and threw a few in the tanks. The cichlids were pigs and grabbed then right up, even when the pieces were too long to swallow.
The real surprise was the guppies. I have some guppies in the tank with a bichir and threw a piece of worm in there. The bichir went and hid, while the guppies swarmed the worm and relentlessly picked at it. It was too big to put into their mouth, but they must have been getting something off of it. By morning the worm was gone, so I am guessing that the Bichir had a midnight snack to finish it off.
I deffinately will be throwing more worms into the tanks in the future.
Linda
PS I guess that all of the trash in my yard is good for something since all I had to do to get worms was move the various toys and things that are all over the yard.