Starting and maintaining a Microworm Culture

Hi all

I had a few enquiries about this and thought a thread might be usefull.

What you will need:

An ice cream container or smaller with lid.
Oats (non-flavoured, no salt)
Sugar
Instant Yeast (available at any supermarket)
A starter culture of worms off course.

Cook the oats to a smooth consistency and let it cool down to room temp (important)
For three cups of cooked oats I add about a third of a sachet of instant yeast (the type to make bread)
Add about 2-3 teaspoons of sugar and mix well.



Add this mixture to your tub (enough to cover the bottom with about a 2cm layer) and try and keep the sides clean.



Add starter culture and cover with a perforated lid. The worms need air off course. If your holes are too big houseflies and fruitflies will lay their eggs in it. (In winter time this is not a problem but will be in summer) Use a fine mesh or pantihose in summer. The lid however stops the culture from drying out too much.



Place in a room temperature spot out of direct sunlight and away from your dog...

In a few days the worms would have multiplied to thousands and will crawl all over the top and up the sides of the dish. This is where I collect them from with an earbud.




Rinse earbud in tank with fish and voila - live food full of protein. Ideal for small fry that can not take BBS upon hatching. The worms live in water for about a two days - perfect for when you accidently overfeed...

After a few weeks (temperature plays a big roll) the culture will become smelly and its time to start a new one. Also, the more sugar and yeast you add the quicker it will spoil...

Obviosuly do not use the same earbud to collect different worm species, you will contaminate your cultures and will have a mix or one will dominate and eliminate the other one...


Some people use bread and other mediums but I find oats is the most stable and easiest.

Not my pic this one but to give you an indication of size:

 

Thanks for sharing!

:beer:

 

Baie nice.

 

Very nice and easy to understand

 

A different way that I would do it but still nice.

I have my culture going for 2 years now - Can I give you a advise ? not the best
but use it or not its all ok

Drill smaller holes, else flies will get in and lay eggs, and have maggots (which could be used for food as well)
and the smaller hole will also release less smell (do remember these tubs do last at least a month) you can imagin
the smell that it produces

 

Thanks @BBQ maybe I should ahve been more spesific above and point out that these holes are too big... Yep, they will get into even a small hole. Best thing I found is pantihouse - nothing gets in or out...

How else does yopur method differ? (I make a point of it to learn something new every day:smile1

 

This thread made me very interested in maintaining a live culture for food for the fishes. Were did/can you get a starting culture?

 

My would require no cooking and a pinch of Yeast only

1. Boil water
2. pro nutro (original, no flavour)
3. mix boiling water to pro nutro and form to a slush
4. add a thin layer of extra boiling water (1-2mm on top of the slush)
5. pinch of yeast (1 pack lasts me like 2 years)
6. no suger needed also (save extra $$)
7. cool off to room temp, take some worms from old culture directly, no waiting required
else slush does mould if you leave too long, but even if there is mouldy stuff, the worms will eat it.

 

@silverj87 ether go to petshops that stock it, selling from R100-R150 per tub
or get it from fellow fish keepers for free/small fee

 

My chances are zero to find it at the lfs here. Will try to see if I can find someone willing to share some worms with me

 

@silverj87: Where are you from? See you did not add a location.

@BBQ: Thanks for sharing your insight and method also. Always good to have more than one way to keep and breed these little buggers.

 

@silverj87 many people have cultures, update your laocation maybe someone close has them for you... I have three - Micro, Banana and Walter. They can also be posted in a padded envelope.

 

Very much the same method... Thanks for sharing

 

That's quite expensive I think. I ask R100 for all three. I dont want to/need to make money from my hobbies but I have stopped giving it away because the vast majority of the freebie people end up stuffing you around...

 

What's the three your talking about?

 

all three species, micro, banana and walter species.
If im correct the bananas are the smallest of the 3?

 

They won't make the adult fish sick? I'm planning to make it a source of live food for my adult fish like guppies, mollies, angels, danios and barbs

 

see above and above...

 

What do you mean by sick?? introduce nasties - extremely unlikely as it is a clean and confined culture. Probably too small for grown fish as a staple diet and you will be better off with white or black worms if worms are what you want

 

hi Francoisve, any chance you'd be willing to post to East London ?