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Thread: 'Healthy & Clean' indoor culturing of live tubifex worms

  1. #41
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    Re: 'Healthy & Clean' indoor culturing of live tubifex worms

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    You have to remove the dead worms and gunk that they produce. That is their poop and other dead matter. You can give them flake foods etc, nothing much. Just don't overfeed. I typically don't feed my worms. I just leave them as they are since anything leftover after 4 days to a week I just clear out. Some people use a sponge bed or a fine filter pad for the worms, which also works.
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  2. #42
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    Re: 'Healthy & Clean' indoor culturing of live tubifex worms

    I don't culture tubifex intentionally. But I do notice that my tubifex worms survive for weeks (though I don't see them reproducing in large amounts) in aged KTP water where I grow my fry out. They just survive on organic matter / uneaten food in the tank. Same goes for daphnia in the same conditions. I normally introduced a squirt or too of daphnia / cyclops every two weeks and they seem to maintain their numbers for quite long. The fry, on the other hand, are constantly happy and full.
    Cheers,
    Bernard
    Kept (no more ) Betta persephone, B. miniopinna, B. sp. palangkaraya, B. uberis, B. channoides, B. burdigala
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  3. #43
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    Re: 'Healthy & Clean' indoor culturing of live tubifex worms

    For me, I want to consider it as a new project for myself to try and see if culturing can be done by myself. If only culturing bloodworm was of somewhat similar, then that would be my first choice

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    Re: 'Healthy & Clean' indoor culturing of live tubifex worms

    I've had bloodworms in my grow out tank for a while too. They midge flies kept breeding in my grow out tub (since I kept a lid to ensure the air in the tub was moist). The bloodworms were annoying IMO as they made a burrow of silt/organic wastes each and made the whole tub look ugly and made them hard to harvest easily. Uneaten worms (which were quite many) became midge flies and started flying around in the tub.
    Cheers,
    Bernard
    Kept (no more ) Betta persephone, B. miniopinna, B. sp. palangkaraya, B. uberis, B. channoides, B. burdigala
    Pseudepiplatys annulatus, Nannostomus eques

  5. #45
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    Re: 'Healthy & Clean' indoor culturing of live tubifex worms

    Quote Originally Posted by Emokidz View Post
    I've had bloodworms in my grow out tank for a while too. They midge flies kept breeding in my grow out tub (since I kept a lid to ensure the air in the tub was moist). The bloodworms were annoying IMO as they made a burrow of silt/organic wastes each and made the whole tub look ugly and made them hard to harvest easily. Uneaten worms (which were quite many) became midge flies and started flying around in the tub.
    yup. Thats exactly what is happening on my side as well. Sigh... why cant they just be worms and reproduce... hiding is the problem. only pro farmers know how, by cutting off the oxygen supply and forcing them to come out of their hiding places then harvesting them

  6. #46
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    Re: 'Healthy & Clean' indoor culturing of live tubifex worms

    Bloodworm culturing can be difficult since you don't know what the adults feed on. They are probably pollinators of certain plants but I don't know what plants in particular. In any case, when they become an infestation, like what happened at Bedok Reservoir recently, it can be insanely annoying.
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  7. #47
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    Re: 'Healthy & Clean' indoor culturing of live tubifex worms

    For Tubifex, I observe that they are clingers, their whole body must have something to cling on to. If there's nothing to cling, they will cling on to themselves. That is why when you separate them, they will quickly form a ball, a tiny ball if a few worms, a big clump if a lot.

    On my container, they cling fully on all the four sides of it, as there's a thin layer of algae-like substance there. All the worms are red and I assume from this that they are alive and well. Only very few turn white. Since they are natural clingers, I think using coco husk as mentioned by stormhawk, sponge, or other suitable material will provide them with a conducive envrionment to cling on to.
    LIFE IS UNBEARABLE WITHOUT A FISH TANK!!!

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    Re: 'Healthy & Clean' indoor culturing of live tubifex worms

    It is commonly thought that adults of most midge species do not feed, living long enough only to reproduce. However, various species are known to feed on nectar, pollen, and honeydew (the excretions produced by sap-sucking bugs like aphids).

    Another part of the problem with breeding midges stems from the fact that the emergence and reproduction of many species is linked to the phases of the moon and time of day or year. There is very little research on the taxonomy of midges in the region, let alone the reproductive biology of the various species. However, if it's possible for someone to attempt to collect some bloodworms from a drain or pond (bloodworms are usually the most abundant invertebrate in most freshwater bodies in Singapore), raise them to adulthood, and then try to get the adults to breed, it could potentially be a valuable contribution not just to fishkeeping and culturing of live foods, but also to entomological knowledge in Singapore.

    There is a paper on how bloodworms were raised on farms in Hong Kong in the 1970s.

    The swarms that emerge from places like Bedok Reservoir are mating swarms, and they probably occur year-round, just that the population of one species only explodes and turns into a nuisance in January. Oh, and there are several different midge species that form swarms at Bedok Reservoir, but only one particular species is involved in the swarms near the residential areas.

    Here's more info on midges:
    http://lazy-lizard-tales.blogspot.co...us-midges.html
    http://lazy-lizard-tales.blogspot.co...of-midges.html

    As an aside, I usually have thriving populations of tubifex worms in the gravel at the bottom of my aquarium. I think that might be the best way to ensure a long-term supply for the fishes, although it will be hard to get at those worms that have burrowed really deep into the sediment. Probably only kuhli loaches and spiny eels can access those.
    Last edited by Trichopsis; 12th Apr 2012 at 19:13.
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  9. #49
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    Re: 'Healthy & Clean' indoor culturing of live tubifex worms

    I tested the Satellite Box method and it worked. A small amount of worms I used to feed a pair of my killies in the breeder box are still surviving in 3 separate balls. They form colonies in the detritus that accumulates at the bottom. Been that way for the past week or so and they are wriggling furiously.

    Update on the "dirty" tub. The worms are still alive in the peat soup and detritus, along with a population of Moina and Cyclops. Has been that way for the past 2-3 weeks I think and still kicking.
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  10. #50
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    Re: 'Healthy & Clean' indoor culturing of live tubifex worms

    Ketapang tea, Satellite box and 'dirty' tubs will all work without much issues. My new target is keeping them alive for 2 months...
    I'm back & keeping 'em fingers wet,
    Ronnie Lee

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    Re: 'Healthy & Clean' indoor culturing of live tubifex worms

    Ron, some of the remnants still alive after 1 month.
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    Re: 'Healthy & Clean' indoor culturing of live tubifex worms

    Remnants are for kids. I'm talking bulk!!

    I've gone past the 1-month holding many moons ago. Keeping alive just that few worms doesn't justify my time and effort.
    I'm back & keeping 'em fingers wet,
    Ronnie Lee

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    Re: 'Healthy & Clean' indoor culturing of live tubifex worms

    Took a video of my test "muck" pond with Tubifex and Moina happily coexisting together:



    A full shot of the tub:



    Pardon the dusty Eheim air pump. The tub gets about 12 hours of light daily from a Dymax 43 LED light that came with a second hand IQ5 I purchased.
    This used to be a green water tub but I was feeling the itch to experiment and dumped in a small amount of Moina.
    Over the weekend, I was given a pleasant surprise as the colony had exploded in size, given that I had squirted a very small amount of Moina into the tub.
    Seeing as the green water was getting depleted, I decided to add in some Tubifex worms last Sunday to provide a source of nutrition for the Moina.
    So far, the results are good.

    Other test container with peat as a substrate is still alive and kicking. I see Cyclops and Moina in that container along with the Tubifex.
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    Re: 'Healthy & Clean' indoor culturing of live tubifex worms

    4 days post inoculation:



    Might be a little blurry, it's supposedly in the processing queue.
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  15. #55
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    Re: 'Healthy & Clean' indoor culturing of live tubifex worms

    Am amazed how far you guys will go prolonging the feed for your fishes. Kudos.
    Hey Fishy!!! Your So Fine; Your So Fine; You Blow My Mind

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    Re: 'Healthy & Clean' indoor culturing of live tubifex worms



    Update on the test Tubifex colony. It's been almost a month since the Tubifex have been living in the container. Right now it's fairly stable. I stopped feeding the snails altogether for almost 3 weeks now and still the same. Cyclops still in good numbers but no more Moina left.

    This is one 3 "mounds" that contain balls of worms.
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    Re: 'Healthy & Clean' indoor culturing of live tubifex worms

    One question here; are you trying to sustain the worms here or are you trying to reproduce them in numbers?
    Last edited by stormhawk; 22nd May 2012 at 20:12. Reason: removed immediate quote
    Hey Fishy!!! Your So Fine; Your So Fine; You Blow My Mind

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    Re: 'Healthy & Clean' indoor culturing of live tubifex worms

    This is just an experiment to see how long I can keep them in an enclosed environment with little to zero water change.
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  19. #59
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    Re: 'Healthy & Clean' indoor culturing of live tubifex worms

    Thanks for the clarification. But one point to highlight, wouldnt not feeding your snail be a "bad" idea cause there is no waste generated by them to feed the Moina. Just my thoughts though.
    Hey Fishy!!! Your So Fine; Your So Fine; You Blow My Mind

    Ongoing Food Cultures: Vinegar Eels; Grindal Worms; Microworms; and hopefully more

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    Re: 'Healthy & Clean' indoor culturing of live tubifex worms

    They feed on the detritus and sometimes on the tubifex, which is normal for Ramshorns. I remove some snails every now and then to cut down on their population.
    Fish.. Simply Irresistable
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