Grindal worms

[sharkweek178]

Do you make air holes and do the filter floss thing or do you not bother?

I cut holes in the lid and tape coffee filter over them.

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[sharkweek178]

How do you get the worms off the coir to harvest them? Are they embedded throughout the coir?

I put plastic disks on the culture medium. I put their food under the disks so the worms gather there. A lot stick to the disks. When I want to feed, I dip the disks in a bowl of water and then use a pipette to feed the fish

 

[gwand]

I put plastic disks on the culture medium. I put their food under the disks so the worms gather there. A lot stick to the disks. When I want to feed, I dip the disks in a bowl of water and then use a pipette to feed the fish

View attachment 362552

Cool! Where did you buy your starter culture?

 

[sharkweek178]

Cool! Where did you buy your starter culture?

I got it off a dealer on Etsy.
Just to show the customer service level. I bought a starter culture. Started my cultures. Everything was going great until I got mites. So I started over and ordered another starter. The vendor actually messaged me because she noticed I bought another starter so soon after the first and offered to help me figure out what went wrong.

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

I bought mine from eBay very generous amount arrived today they make me cringe so bad the hairs on the back of my neck stand up but the fish love them

 

[sharkweek178]

I bought mine from eBay very generous amount arrived today they make me cringe so bad the hairs on the back of my neck stand up but the fish love them

I think the wingless fruit fly cultures are worse. But it's like you said, the fish love them. They're good for the fish. And I think of live foods as enrichment for the fish. Think about it. The toys people buy for their dogs and cats, those are simulating hunting and killing prey. We can't buy toys for fish. But we can indulge their hunting instincts in the same way with live foods.

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

I think the wingless fruit fly cultures are worse. But it's like you said, the fish love them. They're good for the fish. And I think of live foods as enrichment for the fish. Think about it. The toys people buy for their dogs and cats, those are simulating hunting and killing prey. We can't buy toys for fish. But we can indulge their hunting instincts in the same way with live foods.

I've not tried wingless fruit flies...I may need to have a look into those

 

[sharkweek178]

I've not tried wingless fruit flies...I may need to have a look into those

Wingless Fruit Flies

I'm taking the plunge. I just ordered deli cups, excelsior and fruit fly medium (I got the Repashy brand). I know my betta and honey gourami will like them. I hope I can get my neon tetras and upcoming harlequin rasboras to eat them too. Seems pretty easy and straightforward to culture...

www.fishforums.net

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

So I've taken 2 big plastic tubs and made sufficient air holes in the lids and on either side of the tubs so that air can circulate properly whilst I stack the tubs a-top each other. I've taped filter paper over them all to keep the worms in and the bugs out (even though I've already spotted mites which came in with the starter culture I bought)...I've decided to try coconut fibre/coir this time and I've halved the starter culture between the tubs. I made sure to carefully mix it all through and I've popped in the dampened kitten food with a plastic sheet on top that I cut from a punnet of grapes (cotton candy variety, highly recommended ).

I've just checked on them and they're climbing up out of the dirt and all over the sides is this normal? Is the dirt too dry? I dunno any suggestions?

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

A lot of the soil is sticking to the plastic, so I'm finding it difficult to harvest the worms without feeding dirt to the fish as well...how can I separate the two? Any tips, worm experts?

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

 

[fish48]

when I get too much soil with worms I just put them in a jug /container of water stir with turkey baster worms will slowly clump together remove any soil that has separated or tip out any remaining dirty water. for what little soil you have in with worms I don't bother to remove it it will go straight into one of my tanks search a small amount of soil will do no harm to fish

 

[sharkweek178]

A lot of the soil is sticking to the plastic, so I'm finding it difficult to harvest the worms without feeding dirt to the fish as well...how can I separate the two? Any tips, worm experts?

I do like @fish48. I dip the plastic in a separate bowl of water then use a pipette to feed my fish. I usually have worms leftover on the bowl. I just dump them out. Plenty more where that came from.