Live Whiteworms

[Paul B]

I just fed my tank Clams, mysis, LRS and live whiteworms which I have aprox a million.
I honestly have no idea how people stay in this hobby without feeding live worms. I have been using worms since they were invented by probably Ralph Nader a long time ago.

Whiteworms stay alive in salt water for almost 5 days, Like Duh...Whats not to like. Everything except pipefish eat them, I almost ate them myself a few times when I was really hungry.

You buy a starter culture for like $15.00 and from then on they are free except for a little dry cat food or bread and yogurt. But they grow 10 times faster on cat food but I don't think you can feed the worms to cats.

You probably shouldn't feed live worms if you quarantine because if you wanted to quarantine the worms for 72 days they would hate you. But for the other 18,000,000 people in the hobby, live worms are the best thing since Face book
(which I feel is the stupidest thing they invented for people with a face, or a book)

The worms do not bury themselves in the substrait in salt water, I am not sure why. But they stay there and just kind of do the Macarana dance inciting the fish like they have a death wish. Mandarins, scooter bleenies copperbands and just about everything else goes nuts for them and they are a perfect food, especially if you are trying to get your fish and keep them immune from everything except global warming and maybe Kim Kardashian.

Here are some Jewish worms eating a Matzo.

 

[Andy V]

Do you have any resources you can point to where I could learn more about their cultivation and nutritional breakdown? Thank you!

 

[Robert M]

I’ve never seen a white worm setup. How do you separate the worms from the dirt/bread/food when it’s feeding time? Do you need to rinse them some how or can you pick them off the top of the substrate?

 

[Chris A.]

They’re usually on surface

 

[Paul B]

When they grow by the millions they climb up the sides or cling to a piece of plexiglass on top of the dirt.
When there aren't to many , I pick up the dirt with the worms and put them in a net and run water over them. That eliminates much of the dirt.

Then I put that in a container and keep adding tap water and when the worms settle, I dump out the dirt over and over because the worms sink a little faster than the dirt.

Then I suck them out with a baster just over any dirt that is left because they are lighter than dirt.

You do end up with some dirt mixed with the worms which I see as a plus and I dump that in the tank.

The little bit of dirt won't hurt anything.

But yes, blackworms are much easier in that regard.

 

[jcherepo]

From my experience I use tweezers to pick them off the surface. Paul is right, fish go crazy for them and cat food is definitely like miracle grow compared to bread and yogurt (I tried both). My problem now is the tiny gnats. I started over a few cultures and microwaved the coconut fibers to sterilize. It lasted for a couple of months, but now gnats came back. Maybe I could feed the gnats to the fish too...

 

[Paul B]

I also have gnats. For some reason worm cultures always get gnats. Maybe if you heat the soil in an oven before use like what is recommended but I never did that.

Every couple of months I flood my culture and stir it. The gnats, or whatever they are float and are easy to pour off. Then I pour it in a net to dry and slightly squeeze it to eliminate most water.

You can't drown the worms and I would leave the thing flooded for an hour.

Add more soil and go out to dinner. Wash your hands first.

 

[FREAKINRICAN69]

I also have gnats. For some reason worm cultures always get gnats. Maybe if you heat the soil in an oven before use like what is recommended but I never did that.

Every couple of months I flood my culture and stir it. The gnats, or whatever they are float and are easy to pour off. Then I pour it in a net to dry and slightly squeeze it to eliminate most water.

You can't drown the worms and I would leave the thing flooded for an hour.

Add more soil and go out to dinner. Wash your hands first.

Will rodi or saltwater rinse be better than reg tap water in rinsing?

 

[jcherepo]

Thanks Paul - I am going to try flooding it and see where that gets me. At one point I tried putting in a shot glass of brandy in the container to catch the flies, but that seems like a waste of good brandy, so I haven’t done that since! Besides, I think the worms liked it too much...

 

[Paul B]

No, just flood the thing in a container that is not the flat thing the worms are in. Lie a coffee can shape you can mix it up without spilling all over the place.
The flies, bugs, terranchula's, Godzilla larvae, whatever will float.

Keep pouring it off or leave a small stream of water on it for a while.

Then put in a net and you may have to add more soil.

Use tap water. They are worms, not Supermodels.

 

[TheBigBadReefer]

Just started a culture myself, all the fish love these things. I use yogurt, bread and yeast flakes

 

[Paul B]

Add dry cat food. The worms multiply 10 times faster, and they also spit up hair balls.

 

[Robert M]

I’m thinking about culturing worms to add to my dedicated growing tanks for phyto, pods and sea lettuce. However, I’m a little conflicted that my fish will be eating locally-sourced farm-to-aquarium fresh food while my kids dine on the usual macaroni, chicken nuggets and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches sourced from Costco. Hmm...

 

[Joe Rice]

Add dry cat food. The worms multiply 10 times faster, and they also spit up hair balls.

Do you moisten the cat food? Do you just toss the cat food on top or mix in into the substrate?

 

[jcherepo]

Do you moisten the cat food? Do you just toss the cat food on top or mix in into the substrate?

I don’t. The food absorbs moisture from the soil.

 

[Paul B]

I do, I spray it with the plain water I spray the soil with. But like Jcherepo said, it is probably not necessary.