grindle worms + vin eels

[cutecotton]

hi guys i am offically addicted to fish. and i have ordered a culture of grindle (grindel?) worms and vin eels from a seller named "Waldo" off aquabid (anyone know if he's reliable i never ordered on ab before).

anyways, it was a good deal. $2.50 with shipping included. So i wrote him a check and mailed it (since i don' tkno whow to use paypal).

now, before those worms get here can anyone tell me how they should be taken care off? Ie. what culture stuff i should have ready for htem when they come back?

also, what are the sizes of grindle worms and vin eels? i want to feed them to my betta fry bu ti dont' know how big/small they are.

as well, between microworms and vin eels, which one would you recommend?

 

[shrks1fan]

Vinegar eels are easy...I assume he'll be sending you a culture. So what you need is a clear bottle, put apple cider vinegar and water in it (the ratio is different for different people, most do somewhere between 50/50 to 100% apple cider vinegar), put some apple shavings in the solution to act as food for the eels. Put the culture in the solution. Put a cover on that allows air into the bottle, eels need oxygen. Set it aside for a couple of weeks, check it occassionally to see if they've bloomed (solution will be murky and a very close look you will see millions of tiny squiggling eels).

Now the culturing is the hard part, but I was told of a way that has turned out to be so easy! Get a long necked bottle, like an olive oil bottle or vinegar wine bottle, something that is long necked. Pour your eel solution into this bottle (you can always start your culture in this bottle) just up to the neck. Get some filter floss or cotton and time some thread around it (so you can later pull it out easily) and put the floss into the neck of the bottle so that it's just barely touching the solution at the bottom of the neck. Carefully pour some treated water into the neck to almost fill it. The water will stay seperated from the solution (it will stay in the neck of the bottle). Check back in a couple of hours and the VE's will have worked their way up into the water to get to the oxygen. Now all you have to do is get an eye dropper and suck some of the water (with the eels) out and put it in your fry tank. It's so easy! The method of trying to filter them through coffee filters was a pain in the you know what, as I never knew how many I had, and you lost lots through the filter. This way you know how many you're getting, it's easier to spread around the tank and you don't lose any.

The culture should stay strong for almost forever, Lol.

Hope that helps...as for Grindal Worms, I have no idea, I've never had them.

Linda

 

[endparenthesis]

http/www.petfish.net/grin.htm
http/www.petfish.net/veels.htm

Microworms are so easy to culture that if you have the foods above you might as well throw in some microworms too for variety.

 

[cutecotton]

wow thansk a lot for the help!!

okay i get how to make the culture now..but how to harvest it...you sorta lost me a little there let me re-read that again and try to get it in my brain.

in the vin eels, do they crawl up the side of the containers like microworms do? btw i already have mw cultures going, my fry are eating off that and whew do they smell or what but they are very easy to maintain, which is why i like them.

Hoepfully someone here can help me witht he grindles, i hope the clutures will make it on time thanks again

 

[endparenthesis]

By the way, that site also has a MUCH better way of harvesting microworms than scraping them off the sides.

 

[cutecotton]

really? i read the one about the grindle worms, sounds like i can do it excpet what is coconut fiber

 

[shrks1fan]

wow thansk a lot for the help!!

okay i get how to make the culture now..but how to harvest it...you sorta lost me a little there let me re-read that again and try to get it in my brain.

in the vin eels, do they crawl up the side of the containers like microworms do? btw i already have mw cultures going, my fry are eating off that and whew do they smell or what but they are very easy to maintain, which is why i like them.

Hoepfully someone here can help me witht he grindles, i hope the clutures will make it on time thanks again

The vinegar eels swim in the apple cider vinegar/water solution, so they don't crawl, they swim

If you have any specific questions on my explanation of culturing the VE's, just ask. I realized when I typed it, it's hard to explain in type. So ask where you're confused and I'll try to clarify. I can even take a picture of mine and post it.

Linda

 

[cutecotton]

thanks for the advice linda

this is what i imagine it as so far...if i start my culture in a long necked bottle (say wine bottle), and i culture it for a weke or two. now i have a bunch of ve swimming all over the cluture. so to harvest i take some cotton or something (woudl a sponge work?) tie a thread around it so i can take it out, and put that sponge into the neck of the bottle so it's barely tocuhing the culture.

now i pour water in, and it should stay on top of the culture right? what ddid you mean by treated water? and afterwards the worms will crawl out of the culture and into the soaked sponge.

so can i just take the sponge and swish it in my fry tank?

I think i get how to manage the ve...i'll have to buy some kind of apple cidar vinegar tho. Regular vingear doens't work does it?

i checked out the grindle worms tuff, seems pretty easy i hope.

Btw, does hte ve culture smell? a lot? like microwroms?