Microworm Cultures

[JxsPxxle]

Has anyone ever cultured microworms? I have ordered a start culture and I hope to branch it into two cultures. I know what to do, I think but does anyone have any advice and/or ideas for the best way to do this?

 

[Munroco]

Easy to keep, and all you would have to do would be to split your original portion into 2 parts. I use oatmeal mixed with a little water so its slightly damp, then sprinkle with brewers yeast.

 

[JxsPxxle]

Easy to keep, and all you would have to do would be to split your original portion into 2 parts. I use oatmeal mixed with a little water so its slightly damp, then sprinkle with brewers yeast.

I’ve heard they can smell bad. Do your culture/s smell bad?

 

[Essjay]

The culture will go off and start to smell after a couple of weeks so start another one before this happens. When I had microworms I had two on the go at once with one started a week before the other so there was always one useable at any time.

 

[JxsPxxle]

Thanks for the advice, hopefully it doesn’t smell because it is going to be in my bedroom but I will make sure to discard old cultures to try and prevent this from happening.

 

[Munroco]

I only notice a smell when I take the lid off to feed fish. But yeah, definitely have cultures at different stages to keep them going.

 

[Colin_T]

MICROWORMS

Microworms can be cultured in instant porridge. Get a small plastic container and spread a thin layer of oatmeal across the bottom. Add enough tap water to just cover the oatmeal and then put it in the microwave for a couple of minutes. After a minute in the microwave you remove the container and stir it up before putting it back in the microwave for another minute or so. Remove the oatmeal and mix it again before spreading it out in several small plastic containers (1-2 litre icecream containers work well for this). You have a 5-6mm (1/4 inch) layer of oatmeal on the bottom of each container and let it cool, this only takes a few minutes. Then you add a teaspoon of microworms (from a starter culture bought online or at pet shops) to each container of oatmeal and put the lid on it. Allow the culture to grow for a week and the worms will spread over the oatmeal and grow up the sides of the container. Use your finger to carefully wipe some of the worms off the side of the container and wiggle your finger about in the fry rearing tank. The worms are tiny and wash off in the water and the fry eat them.

You can add more than a teaspoon of worms to each culture if you have access to a lot of worms but a teaspoon is the minimum you want to add. Drip the worms around the porridge/ oatmeal so they cover more of it faster.

You can feed dry Baker's Yeast (available from any supermarket) to the worms to help give them a boost. Normally yeast is only added one time, a few days after a culture has been started. You can add yeast every few days but too much yeast can cause cultures to crash so I normally only add it one time or if a culture is doing well, I might add it once a week while the culture is doing well.

Have several cultures going and start new cultures each week. Keep cultures cool but not too cold, and avoid really hot weather. Normal room temperatures that suit people, are ideal for microworms.

If a culture does not have many worms, you sometimes get fungus growing over the oatmeal. You can take worms from this culture and use them to start a new culture before throwing the furry culture away. Wash the culture containers out in hot soapy water (dishwasher) between uses. Open the cultures up each day for a minute to let fresh air get into them. You do not need to have holes in the lid of the culture and insects will sometimes get into the cultures if you do have holes in the lid.

When cultures start to go off, the oatmeal worm mixtures starts to turn brown and then black and it smells unpleasant. Start new cultures before this happens and dispose of cultures that have gone black or dark brown.​

 

[AbbeysDad]

I find that my micro worm cultures are better (and less stinky) using instant mashed potatoes instead of oatmeal. And I just mix with warm (110F) tap water. I mix it so it's a bit soupy, add a sprinkle of bakers yeast and skim the top of an exiting culture to sees the new one. Now many wait for worms to climb the sides of the culture container (btw deli cups work great). I often skim the surface of the culture to collect worms...so the fry may get a little potato, but that's okay,