Hi all.

I have been busy getting my fish breeding tanks going and have been off the site for a while now, but am back in the land of classifieds :-)

I have just got myself a micro worm culture and was hoping a fellow fish breeder could give me some pointers in the best way to keep the culture going and how best to get the most harvests from it for the fry??

My dwarf blue acara's have just laid and I want to ensure that the fry survive so want to get it right this time. I have been advised to use the micro worms as they will be small enough for the acara fry to eat, but was also wondering if anybody uses the liquid fry for egg layers, as the instuctions are quite vague in my opinion??

Cheers.......

I can't believe that noone on here uses the micro worm cultures?

for me nick, its too much faffing about i like things nice n easy...ive tried breeding worm cultures with no luck + daphnia better results but still too much faffing

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WHO'S YA DADDY

I use a clear ice cream box with holes in the lid: 2cm layer of oats, pinch of yeast and warm water. Mix it all together. Add teaspoon of culture and wipe down sides. Wait two days and then have enough to feed about 50 fry three times a day per box (collect the worms form the sides and lid). Restart every 4-6 weeks.

I've found that to be the best way of keeping them and I've tried a few.

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Kat

Thanks for that What is the best stuff to use as a base for the culture and what temp should the culture be kept at. I got a culture from my local fish shop but it needed to be restarted as it was quite old, so I got a tub with holes in the lid and used some Readybreak. Is this okay or do you suggest something else?

Thanks for the comment, I need to ensure that I have it ready as my dwarf blue acara's have laid and I want to ensure I don't lose any

Any brand of oats will do, makes absolutely no difference! You can also use anything similar to oats or even replace oats and yeast with bread, but I have personally only had good success with the method I have described above.

Can't tell you the exact temp for best results, but under the sink and in the fishroom are best for me.. somewhere relatively warm and dim

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Kat

Thanks Kittykat, you are a star. Will let you know how I get on, but before I put it together, how met do you make the mixture, stodgy or more watered down and how do you best harvest the worms? I have hear they will go up the side of the container, and although I can see plenty of worms in the top of the mixture, non have yet gone up the side walls to harvest easily

I go for something halfway edging towards strodgy. Usually the reason worms don't go up the side is that there's not enough water, so try adding a few drops on top. I tend to harvest just with my finger, but have used a paintbrush in the past (go for a cheap one as the worms will eat away at it eventually).
Alternatively I have heard of people having success with putting a square of tissue on top of the culture about 2x2 inches in size and on top of that putting a 1x1 square. You should be able to then lift up the smaller square and rinse it in the tank to get the worms off, but I've never had much success with this method as I've found that bits of culture would still get carried onto the small square.

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Kat

Thanks Kat for your help, will give it a try