# Tips on culturing white worms please?



## Michael W (27 Jul 2013)

Hey guy, I hope I'm posting in the right section. I'm wondering if anyone has tips to culture white worms for my angelfish and apistos etc. I haven't sourced any yet as I just want to learn about it more prior to buying any so I don't kill 'em.

Thanks in advance,

Michael.


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## NanoJames (27 Jul 2013)

You can never beat a bit of Dustinsfishtanks mate!


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## REDSTEVEO (27 Jul 2013)

Hi,
If by 'white worms' you mean Enchytraen worms?

I used to culture these and feed them to my Discus fish which usually induced them to spawn. Get yourself a starter culture from a reliable source, you can find them on ebay and the supplier usually provides a set of instructions on how to culture them, but just in case.

Get yourself some shallow wooden crates, the kind you see fruit and vegetables in on the market or superstores. Buy some light soil based compost, some perlite, from a garden centre (not vermiculite) to keep the soil aerated  and some very fine horticultural sand. Mix the compost 3 part soil to one part sand and one part perlite until you finish up with a fine loamy sandy soil mixture. Add just enough water to dampen the mix not saturate it. Fill the box with about 2 and half inches to 3 inches of the sandy soil mix. Make sure the mix is not clumpy, it should not be sticking together even when it is damp. If it goes clumpy add a bit more sand and perlite. Once you get your culture just tip the worms out on top of the soil and let them find their way into the soil.

To feed them you can use a variety of things but the important thing is not too much of anything at once. I used milk based baby food, soft flakes or you can use the cereal 'Ready Brek' Get hold of some spirulina powder and a fine vitamin powder, mix them both into the flakes, but don't over do it, add a little water and a stir into a paste until smooth. Spread this paste thinly in an area about two to three inches over the centre of the soil. The worms will come to the surface and ingest the paste with the vitamins and spirulina which will be passed onto your fish when you feed the worms to them.

Keep doing this until the worm culture has increased in population, at least three times the amount you started with, to the point where you can start harvesting them. Keep the boxes in a shed or garage out of direct sunlight, it is important not to let them overheat in the summer or get too cold in winter, room temperature all the time. You can also use vegetable matter blended to a pulp and do the same thing. Do not feed meat products of any kind.

Have a second box set up and ready to go after about two weeks ready to start another culture. You can keep the first culture for about one month, you will know when it is time to get rid of the old soil mix because it will start to smell with an ammonia type smell from the build up of waste matter from the worms. This will wipe out the worms if kept in there long enough so be warned.

To collect the worms you can either scoop out a chunk of the soil and place it in the centre of a shallow plate and place the plate into warm water, this drives the worms to the surface to escape the heat source and you can then collect them quite easily, give them a quick rinse to remove any soil and away you go. It is a bit of messing around at first but I found the effort was worth it for the benefits I saw in my fish. When feeding them to the fish use a plastic tubifex worm feeder floating at the surface, don't just chuck them straight in to the tank as they will disperse, any not eaten will attempt to bury them selves in the substrate but they will drown and that is not good, it is also a waste of time and effort.

Good luck,

Steve


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## REDSTEVEO (27 Jul 2013)

Hi,

I like the video, and the bread idea with glass on top. I just avoid the plastic boxes because it makes the soil sweat when it gets too warm. The wooden crates allow a bot more aeration, allows the soil to breathe keeping the soil from going off too quickly.

Otherwise great video.

Steve


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## Michael W (28 Jul 2013)

Your right James, I had got the idea of keeping white worms from dustin so I thought why not try the forums to see if anyone has other experiences with it too. 

Steve that is a super guide thanks! Now its time to source the worms. Can you guys also suggest more live foods around the same size of white worms for angels, apistos and bettas just so I can compare the difficulties in keeping different kind of live foods.

Thanks for the help guys!

Michael


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## REDSTEVEO (29 Jul 2013)

Large plastic tub kept outside. Fill with water and add some potato peelings, and any other uncooked vegetable matter. Leave outside for a week or two and wait for the mosquitoes to lay their eggs in the water. Watch them hatch and grow, as soon as they are big enough, net them out and place in a jar of water with spirulina powder mixed in, leave for half an hour for them to ingest the spirulina then feed them to your fish.

Simples!


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