microworms

[sirknight]

Materials Needed:

Starter Culture – can either be purchased online or get some from a hobbyist that already has one going.
Unsalted Oatmeal.
Tupperware container with lid or something similar to hold culture.
Dry Yeast.

The first rule is to keep at least 2 cultures going. When your first culture gets going you should start 1 or 2 additional cultures.

How I do it:

Step 1 - Boil some water and follow the recipe on the box of salt free oatmeal to make a single serving.

Step 2- When the oatmeal has cooled to room temperature put in a pinch of Dry yeast.

Step 3 - Take the mixture and spread it evenly 1/2 inch thick across the bottom of your container.

Step 4 - Put a few nice size holes in the container lid. The holes must be big enough that the worms won't clog it up and suffocate the culture.

Step 5 – add the starter culture to the mix.

Step 6 - Make sure to keep the culture moist with chlorine free water. If it begins to dry in the beginning, add water that has been boiled or bottled water. Once the culture takes off, you shouldn't need to add water unless it is very warm.
Keep your microworms at or near room temperature for maximum production. Microworms are very prolific and in no time at all they will over take the container if not maintained.

Note: Cultures last for about 2-3 weeks. When they start smelling like vinegar or become very watery, it is time to start a new culture and throw the other one out.
When the worms cover the sides of the container, it is a good time to begin making backup cultures!

Harvesting Instructions:

Your culture worms will crawl up the sides of the container and you can wipe them off 2-3 times a day, They will also collect on the lid so you can also simply swish the lid around in the tank. You want high sides on your container the more room they have to crawl the easier they are to harvest.

It is very important to never put culture medium in your tank, it will foul the tank, a little bit will not hurt but don't scoop up a glob of it.

If you are not getting enough worms from the side you can put a paper towel on top of the medium. To do this lightly dampen the paper towel and place it on top of the culture. When you lay it on top make sure this piece has a corner NOT touching the culture. In an hour or so, once it appears to have worms crawling on it you can remove this piece of paper towel and swish around inside your tank leaving tons of worms inside, then squeeze out excess water and put right back in the culture or use a new towel.

Hope this helps

Joe

[jon carman]

Thanks Joe

[ree123]

I would never tell anyone there is only one way to do anything in this wonderful hobby of ours, and I would hope all have open minds for new ideas and new techniques. Having said that, I would like to say that the above formula that sirknight has posted for all to see, read, and referance to is a very good plan for raising the microworms. I however, have had success with them without using nearly as many steps to maintain them. ------------ I simply put some regular oatmeal ( about an inch deep) into a small tupperware container with some tall sides, (a few inches tall), wet it with tap water(not soupy though), sprinkle on some dry yeast, use a q-tip or my finger to swipe some worms from a previously growing culture under the same growing conditions and smear that into or onto the new culture. I cover the container with the lid which has several small nail size holes punched into it. Within a few days I have a new culture growing with worms on the sides of the container for harvesting and feeding. That's it........ Then I just wash out the old cantainer and air dry it for the next culture in a few weeks. Now to add to this, I agree that every 2-3 weeks a new set-up must be made to continue the culture and if I need to buy myself a few days I can always add a thin layer of dry instant white potatoes over the old dieing culture and lightly wet that and it will sustain the old culture for a few extra days until another can be started as described above. I also agree that if you want to feed a lot, the technique of the moist paper towel over the medium for a few hours, then removed and swished into the tank(s) works well too. You do get a lot of worms this way vs. removing a few off the sides at a time with either your finger or a q-tip. My fishroom is kept near 80 degrees, thus my culture is kept at near the same temp's..
Just my technique, mind you. To each their own, and sirknight is correct that his method will work well, but I find mine to be much more simple.
This is a great food for very small fry's first and second meals or as a substitute if you have a lull in the hatching of BBS and still have fry to feed. A good back up indeed and worth keeping a culture going just for that reason, if for none other.
I hope this technique is usable by many or worth working from to develop your own techniques.
:-)

[angel]

That's what it's all about. There's rarely just ONE way to do something. And if it works, it's worth knowing!

[tcollins]

that is really cool, do you just feed anything and everything these micro worms or is it for specific fish?

[jon carman]

Anything and everything. They are great for spawning.