Trying white worms

[Back in the fold]

I’m going to try my hand at raising white worms . I bought a starter culture and it seems to be taking off so now I’m moving it up to a bigger container with more coconut coir . It’s hard to say when I’ll be feeding from this culture but I think a conservative guesstimate is two months . In the time I’m waiting I’ll build a wooden box for the culture . A wooden box is recommended and preferred by almost all guys that raise white worms because the culture gets moisture in it quickly and the wooden box helps keep that under control . Ed Warner’s book “ Success With Killifish “ has detailed instructions for raising white worms . That book can be had from the American Killifish Association and from The Wisconsin Area Killifish Organization (WAKO) . Ruth Warner recently went into assisted living and donated several boxes of the book .

 

[GaryE]

My cultures generally produce in 6 weeks. I can't get the food right.

That's a shame with Ruth - she was an admirable aquarist in her own right. I only met her once, but I got fish from her on another occasion.

I use kitten food, the cheap stuff, with occasional tortilla pieces when I have some going stale. I don't use soil or coir anymore, but pieces of 3M type scrubber pads from the dollar store. Since I went to that system, I haven't had issues with fungus gnats getting in. I also put a piece of wet glass over the food, and the worms congregate on it and that makes an easy harvest.

Right now, I can only feed 5 or 6 tanks every second day with what I have going. A few weeks back, I had 10 times as many, but they go in cycles of boom and bust. They're fatty, but they are very good to get egg production from breeders with.

 

[anewbie]

I had/have two problems with white worms: first mite or gnats get into the culture and 2nd i could never figure out how to harvest them. I still have the cultures though i'm on the verge of throwing them out.

I feed them oat meal cause everyone but me likes oat meal.

 

[Back in the fold]

I’m feeding tropical fish flake food and they’re eating it all up every day .

 

[fishorama]

I fed oatmeal & fish food to white worms. Red wigglers were the problem 1s for me; stinky soil/newspaper compost, veggies, fish food & gnats. I kept both cool in my basement & only fed when doing laundry. They'd have done better if I washed clothes more often.

As I recall the whiteworms clumped up in a dish of water & I could grab them out pretty cleanly.

 

[sharkweek178]

I had/have two problems with white worms: first mite or gnats get into the culture and 2nd i could never figure out how to harvest them. I still have the cultures though i'm on the verge of throwing them out.

I feed them oat meal cause everyone but me likes oat meal.

I got mites in my grindals and couldn't figure it out. I kept them sealed up pretty good. And the air holes were taped over with coffee filter.
Then I figured it out. The mites hitchhiked in on the food. So then I started keeping my worm food in airtight containers or in the freezer. Sometimes I put it in the freezer overnight just to kill any possible mites. Haven't had a problem since then.

 

[emeraldking]

I also wanted to culture them but at some point I found out that I wasn't disciplined enough to keep it all going... So, now I'm getting them from my friend who does have the discipline.

 

[Back in the fold]

I also wanted to culture them but at some point I found out that I wasn't disciplined enough to keep it all going... So, now I'm getting them from my friend who does have the discipline.

That’s the thing with some live foods . They need to be monitored and cared for just like our fish . If you can’t or aren’t willing to fuss over them then you will not be successful at raising them .

 

[GaryE]

I have a friend who is a retired lab technician. She has more live food than fish, and cultures things she'll never need with the fish she likes to breed.
I'm not wired like that, and have had to learn to make live food maintenance part of my routine. This thread inspired me, and I just tried a new food set up to see if I can crank up production. One culture was going well, so I fed 6 tanks whiteworms - all six have things I want to breed in them.
I put very wet (sprayed) glass petrie dishes over the food, and the worms crawl up onto them. I swish them in a margarine container of water, and feed with a turkey baster.
I used some flake the fish aren't crazy about, small chunks of tortilla and some kitten food. Let's see what that does.
It is a bit of a pain in the butt, but there benefits far outweigh the hassle to me.

Around here, lyme disease and deer ticks are an issue - the deer population is enormous and fearless. I hate those ticks, but I do wish I could find an easy to culture, harmless bug about the size of a small tick to feed to fish. So many things are just too big for my little fish. And yes, I have cultured a lot of wingless fruit flies over the years.

My Daphnia tubs have thawed, as of this morning they are ice free.

 

[Back in the fold]

@GaryE Rice flour beetles or springtails .

 

[anewbie]

I got mites in my grindals and couldn't figure it out. I kept them sealed up pretty good. And the air holes were taped over with coffee filter.
Then I figured it out. The mites hitchhiked in on the food. So then I started keeping my worm food in airtight containers or in the freezer. Sometimes I put it in the freezer overnight just to kill any possible mites. Haven't had a problem since then.

I'm using little packets of oat meal that no one wanted - hum i could keep them in the freezer between usage. But it still remains how to get the worms out of the container to feed the fishes (harvest them) which seem beyond my capabilities

 

[GaryE]

Go up a few posts and getting them out easily is explained.

 

[anewbie]

Go up a few posts and getting them out easily is explained.

The only thing i saw was this:
As I recall the whiteworms clumped up in a dish of water & I could grab them out pretty cleanly.
-
But how to actually do that i don't know - does this mean if you put a small dish of water in the culture the worms will climb out of hte culture into the cup? Or does this mean tear down the culture by pouring the whole thing in a pail of water; or ..... i hardly found this an executable easily explained method of harvesting the worms.

 

[GaryE]

Put a petrie dish over the food, with the inside damp, and the worms climb up onto it. A piece of glass also works, but gets food on it. So rooflike glass, sprayed.

 

[anewbie]

Put a petrie dish over the food, with the inside damp, and the worms climb up onto it. A piece of glass also works, but gets food on it. So rooflike glass, sprayed.

Put a moist petrite dish upside down over the food and the worms will climb on it after snacking ?
I'll try that after i order a dish but i find it weird behavior that they would climb up onto the glass. Just seems counter-intuitive but i've never been a worm though most folks think i was one in a previous life.