Grindal worms

[sharkweek178]

One of the easiest live foods to culture. This is a great starter option for live food. Let's talk about them.

I use plastic food containers. I cut holes in the top for air then tape pieces of coffee filter over them to keep critters out. Inside I use coconut fiber for medium. About an inch. I got some plastic disks off Amazon for collecting the worms. Some people use plastic mesh. Some people use green cleaning pads as a culture medium. I tried it and didn't get the best results.
I feed mine mostly premium kitten food. Sometimes I give them a vegetable based flake fish food. Or rolled oats.
I put the food under the plastic disks. A lot of worms stick to those disks. So at feeding time, I dip the disks in a bowl of water then use a pipette to feed my fish. Couldn't be easier.

This is a fairly new culture. There will be a lot more worms soon.

 

[GaryE]

I culture mine on scrubber pads, with weekly mistings. They climb out onto inverted petrie dishes.

 

[sharkweek178]

I culture mine on scrubber pads, with weekly mistings. They climb out onto inverted petrie dishes.

The only medium I would recommend against is peat moss. Not that it doesn't work. It's that it's not good for the environment.

 

[GaryE]

I found coconut coir and dirt slimed up quickly compared to the scrubbers. Their downside is they don't retain moisture as well. I used peat before we'd considered the problem, and it was on par with coir. But I won't go there again.

The bottom line is that white and grindal worms are rich foods, but excellent ones for any fish breeder. I don't have access to blackworms, but grindals are great for stimulating egg production.

You just have to keep mites out of the cultures. That can be frustrating.

 

[connorlindeman]

scrubbers

Like a sponge?

 

[GaryE]

Like a sponge?

Sort of. The 3M thin scrub pads are good. They have no sponge, although another version we get in dollar stores is attached. It's usually dark green and about 1/4 inch thick.

 

[sharkweek178]

Like a sponge?

Like these things...

 

[sharkweek178]

You just have to keep mites out of the cultures. That can be frustrating.

I lost my first cultures to mites. I couldn't figure it out. I keep the cultures sealed up pretty well. Then I realized. I kept the dry kitten food that I feed them in the original bag clipped with a clothespin. Not exactly air tight. The mites hitchhiked in on the food. So I got an airtight container to keep their food in. Haven't had a problem with them since/
Sometimes when I feed my worms, I'll get distracted and leave the lid off the food container for a while. When that happens I just put it in the freezer overnight to kill any mites that might have gotten in there. Haven't had a problem with them since.

 

[GaryE]

I had an issue with tiny flies that got in no matter what. I managed to eliminate them before the winter. I imagine next summer, I'll have to be vigilant. They come from outside.

I haven't had mites for a bit. It's a reason why I chose a substrate I can take out and rinse.

 

[Back in the fold]

I use coconut coir and vermiculite in a 50 / 50 mix . The vermiculite makes the coir less dense and prone to compacting and holding excess water . I use plastic laid on top to collect the worms but I’m changing over to glass . The plastic gets a weird film on it that’s hard to clean off . It doesn’t hurt anything , it just bugs me . Once every two weeks I thoroughly mix my cultures up with a fork . I think this eliminates anaerobic spots . The medium is shallow and the worms bounce back in a couple days . I feed bread cut up into 1/4 inch squares and soaked with water . This tends to mold when the room temperature rises but since I feed several of these small pieces I can remove the moldy ones and leave the others . I watch how fast the bread disappears . There’s a fine line between over and under feeding . That , to me , is the only tricky thing with Grindal worms and maybe maintaining the right dampness of the medium . I’ve never had mites or other pests in my cultures and this may be due to my changing half the culture medium every three months . Smell your cultures every time you open them and be alert for a change in the smell . It should always smell like fresh coconut coir .

 

[sharkweek178]

I use coconut coir and vermiculite in a 50 / 50 mix . The vermiculite makes the coir less dense and prone to compacting and holding excess water . I use plastic laid on top to collect the worms but I’m changing over to glass . The plastic gets a weird film on it that’s hard to clean off . It doesn’t hurt anything , it just bugs me . Once every two weeks I thoroughly mix my cultures up with a fork . I think this eliminates anaerobic spots . The medium is shallow and the worms bounce back in a couple days . I feed bread cut up into 1/4 inch squares and soaked with water . This tends to mold when the room temperature rises but since I feed several of these small pieces I can remove the moldy ones and leave the others . I watch how fast the bread disappears . There’s a fine line between over and under feeding . That , to me , is the only tricky thing with Grindal worms and maybe maintaining the right dampness of the medium . I’ve never had mites or other pests in my cultures and this may be due to my changing half the culture medium every three months . Smell your cultures every time you open them and be alert for a change in the smell . It should always smell like fresh coconut coir .

I'm going to try stirring one up.

 

[sharkweek178]

I had one that developed mold. So I took the moldy pieces out and it actually seemed to extend the life of the culture.

 

[Back in the fold]

I'm going to try stirring one up.

I got the idea from my micro- worm cultures . I stir those up every other day . The Grindal’s need it to keep their medium fresh . That’s my own idea that occurred to me when I wondered if they are producing worm castings like other worms . That worm waste might be the cause of the excess moisture that creeps in . Red worms in vermiculture produce that liquid worm tea and I wonder if something similar is going on with the Grindal’s . That’s also why I remove a third to a half of the medium every three months and replace it with fresh . You can also use the old stuff to start a new culture . I keep three cultures going but I’m beginning to think six might be better because I could not harvest any one culture too often and let the population build up . I could feed Grindal’s every day and the fish would love it .

 

[sharkweek178]

Anyone else using coconut fiber? Specifically those bricks? Are there any tricks for breaking off smaller pieces of the bricks? I saw away with a serrated knife until I can break a piece off by hand.

 

[Back in the fold]

Anyone else using coconut fiber? Specifically those bricks? Are there any tricks for breaking off smaller pieces of the bricks? I saw away with a serrated knife until I can break a piece off by hand.

I use coconut coir . I got a ten pound block from Uncle Jim’s Worm Farm and I break off however much I need . If it’s too much I store it in gallon size zip lock bags .