Hi Bern,
How is your Microfex (Dero Worms) culture going?
Also, hope Shifu UA can update us on his culture too.
Hope it's ok to ask here because these worms are relatives of each other.
Hi Bern,
How is your Microfex (Dero Worms) culture going?
Also, hope Shifu UA can update us on his culture too.
Hope it's ok to ask here because these worms are relatives of each other.
LIFE IS UNBEARABLE WITHOUT A FISH TANK!!!
Yes, I am also interested to see Microfex culture updates. My Dero culture all died, not sure why, maybe must do something complicated like the Tubi for them.
So far my microfex culture is still being maintained and i've managed to grow enough to give out small starter cultures over the past few months to those who have been interested.
Microfex are pretty much the only live culture that i've managed to keep alive and multiply without much effort for the past 8+ months... even through weeks of neglect too. All my other live cultures like tubifex, moina, micro worms, grindal worms etc have lasted for varying durations (some longer than others), but either they took too much effort to maintain or have to keep resetting, or all eventually died out when i left them alone without care for too long.
Not sure if there are different variants of these worms, but the true Dero digitata species (under macro lens or microscope can see their outstretched finger-like gills waving about) are surprisingly hardy and tolerant of adverse parameters, i've tested their culture water before and found that they can survive and multiply even in water with high ammonia and nitrate levels.
From my experience with these worms so far, there isn't much requirements to maintain them. I still just keep them in the same daiso 1.5 liter plastic jug (can carry and place it anywhere and it doesn't take up much space), drop a sinking wafer in regularly if i remember (if i skip feeding them for a few days they just stop multiplying but still stay alive), and do a 100% water change once a week if necessary. Thats enough to maintain a 50 cent sized ball of microfex which is currently more than sufficient to feed my small fishes as bonus live food a few times a week (though thats probably not enough for those who breed more fishes and need to feed alot more on daily basis).
I've not ramped up their production with more elaborate setups though, definitely not as sophisticated as antjoey's tubifex culturing system with filtration and all. So if anyone wants to mass culture microfex and has the space to do so, i guess it could be an interesting opportunity to experiment with larger setups too.
Last edited by Urban Aquaria; 13th Jan 2016 at 17:44.
Thanks to Shifu UA for the update and very useful information. I am sure many will appreciate the insight gained.
Hope one of these days when I am more settled, I can obtain a sample of Deros for culturing too.
LIFE IS UNBEARABLE WITHOUT A FISH TANK!!!
Heya shifu Ted~~
XD Mine is lot worst than shifu UA... I think mine should be consider under conservation. @_@ I neglected them a lot, currently I left with less than 20 microfex. Very very seldom feed them or WC. Most of my time will be focusing on Daphnia. @_@ Also they seem to be much difficult to maintain. As when I do WC, there will be microfex starts swimming around when I move the container. I gotta put in more effort to prevent any microfex being poured away. Tried brineshrimp net but later having problem returning them back to the container as they will be clinging to the net. Too troublesome.
Daphnia still my beloved "pet" =D
One bro suggested that this idea, could be commercialised for hobbyists or aquarists or enthusiast or fanatics to culture their own tubi. Do you think it is viable?
One way is to assemble a kit consisting of the components of the system with full instructions. You can advertise and sell it online or through lfs outlets. Whether it will be a hit or not will depend on how easy it is for people to buy tubifex rather than grow their own.
LIFE IS UNBEARABLE WITHOUT A FISH TANK!!!
Yeah... on the path to hardcore Daphnian. @_@ still thinking of ways to increase the scales.
XD I think it's a good idea. As what shifu Ted said, make it into a culture kit and it will solve the problem of keep going to LFS to buy tubifex. Also with self-cultured tubifex, I will feel much safer when feeding them to my fish as I know what I am feeding the tubifex. With a cleaner and healthier tubifex, frequent feeding with tubifex will be possible. Also as what shifu Ted said, it also depends on the effort of culturing vs buying.
Thanks for sharing these.
If you're culturing the worms, I've reviewed the literature on the topic. Most academics use mud or sand to culture them - so if you're modifying anything, I guess the "metal tray" component can also be made deeper not just to accommodate the overflow pipe but also to have a substrate of sand/mud. None of the papers compared having a substrate vs not having one, they're mostly reporting on the effects of feed type and population density, temperatures, etc.
Seeing your post is making me wonder if I should try to build a culture system too. Probably not - because there are too many things going on already!
BTW, I do maintain the ones I buy over a period of a week by keeping them at low density in shallow aerated dechlorinated water and doing water changes every day.
Hi boofeng,
did a few changes, change worm tray to ice cube tray and drilled some holes at the end for outflow.
its working well now ! i do not intend to culture them as well. too troublesome . Just keep them longer for the fishes.
also change the jetlift tube to the lift tube used in external breeding box. the up flow is better now. ^_^
added ketapang leaves in water .
change 50% water every 3-4 days . same idea as yours , just keep small worm population to prolong water change frequency.
Nice setups! Have some questions:
1. Read somewhere that tubifex breed by forming cocoons. Saw one setup where breeding worms had a separate tray, with gravel substrate and cardboard for worms to eat an attach cocoons to. Can worms breed in a bare tank, clustered in a ball? Or do they need special setups to reproduce?
2. Anyone know the approx size of a mature worm?
Know that they are hermaphrodites and that male and female organs mature at different ages.
3. Am feeding my ball of worms fish flakes and leftover peas, carrots from the fridge. So far they are surviving but don't seem to be increasing in size (ball size or individual worm size) after 2 weeks.
Any advice?
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