Banana worm are are essentially a small nematode worm they live in the root system of the Banana tree and are considered a pest by growers.
Because of their hardiness and ability to reproduce at an alarming rate. They are smaller than the normal Microworm and can be given to very small fry up to larger juveniles.
The are cultured the exactly the same way as you would be doing if you were culturing the more popular Microworm.
The advantage of feeding Banana worm over Walter and Micro is that they live for longer in freshwater which gives the fry more time to consume this type of food, they are larger and can be given to larger fry before going on to such foods as graded Grindalworm.
My initial Banana-worm starter culture
The items you will need to culture these small nematodes are as follows;
Small ventilated plastic containers (culturing vessels)
Oatmeal cereal
A small portion of Banana
Artists paintbrush
First I place 1 cup of oatmeal cereal and three cups of water into a microwavable bowl and cook in the microwave on full power for around three minutes.
Meanwhile I chop up a banana and mash it up into a fine paste.
I remove the cereal from the microwave and mix it up a little. You are looking to get a nice consistency of paste here, not too stiff and not too runny. Once I've got the consistency the way I want it I then add the banana paste and mix the whole lot together.
I then spread the mixture out into a shallow ventilated (holes drilled in lid) plastic tub to a depth of around 1cm (10mm)
Banana-worm culture mix
All that's left to do now is to inoculate the new mix with some of the old or starter culture medium and then store on a warm place 20-26'C
As with all nematodes of his ilk the worms will start to crawl up the sides of the culture vessel where they can easily be transfered to the fry tanks by means of a small artists paintbrush.
How a maturing culture should look.
N.B. Please use a different brush for Banana, Walter & Microworms to avoid cross contamination of the cultures
This is a nice easy nematode to culture in your own home and provide a good nutritional addition for fry when fed alongside other conventional fry foods.
Regards
BigC
Because of their hardiness and ability to reproduce at an alarming rate. They are smaller than the normal Microworm and can be given to very small fry up to larger juveniles.
The are cultured the exactly the same way as you would be doing if you were culturing the more popular Microworm.
The advantage of feeding Banana worm over Walter and Micro is that they live for longer in freshwater which gives the fry more time to consume this type of food, they are larger and can be given to larger fry before going on to such foods as graded Grindalworm.
My initial Banana-worm starter culture
The items you will need to culture these small nematodes are as follows;
Small ventilated plastic containers (culturing vessels)
Oatmeal cereal
A small portion of Banana
Artists paintbrush
First I place 1 cup of oatmeal cereal and three cups of water into a microwavable bowl and cook in the microwave on full power for around three minutes.
Meanwhile I chop up a banana and mash it up into a fine paste.
I remove the cereal from the microwave and mix it up a little. You are looking to get a nice consistency of paste here, not too stiff and not too runny. Once I've got the consistency the way I want it I then add the banana paste and mix the whole lot together.
I then spread the mixture out into a shallow ventilated (holes drilled in lid) plastic tub to a depth of around 1cm (10mm)
Banana-worm culture mix
All that's left to do now is to inoculate the new mix with some of the old or starter culture medium and then store on a warm place 20-26'C
As with all nematodes of his ilk the worms will start to crawl up the sides of the culture vessel where they can easily be transfered to the fry tanks by means of a small artists paintbrush.
How a maturing culture should look.
N.B. Please use a different brush for Banana, Walter & Microworms to avoid cross contamination of the cultures
This is a nice easy nematode to culture in your own home and provide a good nutritional addition for fry when fed alongside other conventional fry foods.
Regards
BigC
