The Mighty Grindalworms

[faithful]

Hey,

My current sub-culture doesn't smell anymore, and has a good population of worms in there. Maybe 1-2 more weeks of daily feedings before you can start harvesting them every 2-3 days? Perhaps you can PM me about this?

It is fairly easy to culture these minus the smell, the problem here is the heat and mite infestation.

I removed the water bath I had in my sub-culture (my main culture's lowest sponge spans the entire tub so there's no "water bath"), and the smell went away. Suppose the smell came from drowning worms.

Anyway, heat doesn't seem to be a problem for me as my main culture is still producing a fair amount - I can harvest and feed almost every night, provided that I didn't forget to feed them. However, mite/springtail infestation seem to be an issue as I always have these moving white dots near the food (oatmeal/kitten kibbles). I understand though that with a strong population, the mites/springtails would find it hard to overwhelm the culture and would eventually die off.

Have any of the more experienced Grindal Worm keepers find out a way to keep these mites/springtails away, or even rid them from established cultures? I have taped Micropore over all my openings and still I find some uninvited guests...

[RonWill]

Micropore is about the best one can use to minimize mite infestation and the only sure way to prevent such, is diligence, in ensuring the general area (where cultures are stored) are clean.

Be watchful for damaged/torn Micropore or pinholes caused by other bugs. Storing cultures in air-conditioned environment seems to reduce mite related issues.

My own culture was barely surviving from neglect and I've have done away with the water bath as well (now just a very very moist base). Re-subbed and going back to damp cocopeat (microwaved and bench-cooled) as culturing medium. I was, and still am, a believer in synthetic media and am convinced that drowning worms is due to poor oxygenation in the culturing boxes.

For those who feel that raising and culturing livefood for fry is a hassle, and IT IS, one is better off with either feeding powdered pellets instead or simply doing away with the notion of breeding fishes.

[RonWill]

However, mite/springtail infestation seem to be an issue as I always have these moving white dots near the food (oatmeal/kitten kibbles)

It's very easy to overlook that a culture is only as 'clean' as the food it's been fed. Simply put, we might unintentionally be introducing those little 'white dots'.

If you have access to a microscope, inspect those kibbles and you might be surprised by what you see. Now, imagine opening a can of long-expired food...

[kentawan]

Hi all,

I am feeding my adult Nothobranchius furzeri and N.korthause only on Hikari frozen bloodworms. So far I have collected a few hundred eggs.

Do you think this is enough? Should I supplement them with live brine shrimps to enhance the egg quality?

[Shi Xuan]

It's good to supplement fishes, especially breeding ones, on a varied diet if possible. Besides frozen Hikari bloodworms and live brine shrimps, you can also feed them daphnia. Frozen beef heart is good too.

[kenshi64]

If I manage to raise my fry to adulthood I wanted to use these, but like with other live food I'm really worried about stink, I've kept micro worms and then I don't mind, so are grindals comparable? The micro worms hardly smelled, until I hadn't changed their media in too long. Thank you!

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[RonWill]

All livefood cultures will stink at some point. If the stench bothers you, then don't bother.

Cultures are not self-sustaining, will require feeding, regular maintenance and re-subs (lest the main culture crashes). Despite how easy it may all appear on youtube, it's still lots of work.

[kenshi64]

Jeez, it appear as if you're cracking down on me in particular! If you read my post again I said I have kept microworms and I did keep culturing and changing the sludge etc for quite sometime without any bother! Not really a noob! I'm talking about not wanting something like bloodworms :# that's a nightmarish stink they develop.

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[RonWill]

Not singling out anyone in particular but a general shout-out to those who are considering livefood cultures.

Microworm cultures are amongst the easiest (after vinegar eels) to start off and maintain but these will eventually smell like burnt rubber (or worse) if it's allowed to deteriorate to that state.

Also, there seems to be a misconception that cultured livefood are "less hassle" and/or can be used as a one-size-fit-all main diet for raising fry, which shouldn't be the case.

[stormhawk]

Late response but the only way to keep out the bugs, unwanted or otherwise, is to use a container with a tight fitting lid (air-tight containers with a rubber seal would be best) and then Micropore. The Micropore part HAS to be inspected regularly, as ants are capable of making holes in it if they want to, along with other bugs. I found a line of ants that bored their way through the Micropore and invaded my microworm culture. Soon after, there were little fly maggots in there, likely fruit flies.

Grindalworm cultures on synthetic media, like coarse foam, will not smell so much, however, once you open the lid you will get a whiff of it, which should not bother anyone used to feeding their fish with dry foods.

Microworms need a well-ventilated container, otherwise it will start to smell like really strong beer. Often the culture crashes not through neglect, but because of the buildup of CO2 within the container, especially with super tiny holes poked in for ventilation. I usually cut out a small piece of the plastic lid, roughly 0.5 cm x 0.5 cm, up to 1 cm x 1 cm, then taped over 3 times with Micropore or some other breathable material. The problem with microworms, is that they explode way too fast in the local tropical weather. A single container will be crawling with worms all the way up to the lid, and a single swipe of the worms is enough to feed ALOT of fry, from a single plastic take-away tub. Impractical for those who have only a few fry to raise, so vinegar eels would be the best option.