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Micro Worms

Contents:

  1. Borelli spawn ; Micro worms
    by Brad Hudson <bsh/wwonline.com> (Sat, 03 Jan 1998)
  2. Live foods
    by <IDMiamiBob/aol.com> (Thu, 13 Aug 1998)
  3. Pertensis Fry
    by Alysoun McLaughlin <alysoun/patriot.net> (Mon, 24 Aug 1998)
  4. Pertensis Fry
    by "Helen Burns" <hlnburns/thefree.net> (Thu, 3 Sep 1998)
  5. Nematodes and microworms
    by IDMiamiBob/aol.com (Thu, 22 Oct 1998)
  6. Microworms (was BBS)
    by "Phil Eaton" <peaton/hotmail.com> (Mon, 21 Feb 2000)
  7. RE: Microworms (was BBS)
    by "Phil Eaton" <peaton/hotmail.com> (Mon, 21 Feb 2000)
  8. Re Microworm Cultures - Defense Fund
    by krombhol/teclink.net (Paul Krombholz) (Mon, 13 Aug 2001)

Borelli spawn ; Micro worms

by Brad Hudson <bsh/wwonline.com>
Date: Sat, 03 Jan 1998
To: apisto/majordomo.pobox.com

Leo Reinhard wrote:
> 
> Borelli spawn
> 
> This is day 6 of the spawn. As of yesterday the female is no longer hanging
> out in the spawning cave and in fact she seems to wander around the tank.
> There are 2 other caves in the tank as well as a large clump of Java
> moss.The tank is at 81 degrees.
> Which of the following scenarios do you think is most probable:
> a)      She has moved the fry or they have migrated to another spot.
> b)      She ate the spawn.
> c)      The temp was too high and caused the death of the fry.
> d)      Some other possibility.
> 
> Micro worms
> 
> I started a micro worm culture 3 days ago using mixed baby cereal as a
> medium. There can be seen a shimmering movement on the surface when viewed
> from a certain angle.The mixture has a slight odour which was not there the
> first day.
> How do you harvest the worms with out getting some of the cereal? When will
> the culture be ready for harvest.

Culturing Micro worms is very easy, take a q-tip and scrape the sides of
the container with out touching the cerel, Now swish this into the tank.
If you want to be sure you dont get to much cerel into the tank swish
them into a small jar first to help rinse them off a bit. You need more
info foloow the link in my signature text to my web page on Micro Worms
-- 
Brad Hudson
Mississauga Ontario Canada
bsh-at-wwonline.com
Mail Order Starter Culttures
http://www.angelfire.com/biz/startercultures/index.html
IRC Channel manager #aquariumchat
http://www.angelfire.com/ca/aquariumchat/index.html
ICQ #3324566


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Live foods

by <IDMiamiBob/aol.com>
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1998
To: apisto/majordomo.pobox.com

Alysoun writes:

> I got my first culture of microworms this past weekend, though, and I
>  was shocked to realize just how simple they are.  A layer of food, stuff
>  you probably eat yourself anyway, with some yeast dumped on it, and a
>  new spoonful of the old culture every so often.  Leave it on a shelf,
>  scrape some off the sides of the container when you feed, and ignore
>  it.  No airstones running, no mixing salt water, no outdoor pools, and
>  it's all in a sealed container with no risk of nasties getting loose in
>  your kitchen.  How much simpler can this get? 

You need to start a new culture once a month.  The old one will sour in about
5-6 weeks, and then you've lost it unless you started another.  And you don't
need to dump in yeast when you start the culture.  The yeast will transfer
along with the worms when you start it up.

I've seen or used white bread, corn meal, and oatmeal (uncooked) for the base
of medium.  Any other ideas?

Bob Dixon


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Pertensis Fry

by Alysoun McLaughlin <alysoun/patriot.net>
Date: Mon, 24 Aug 1998
To: apisto/majordomo.pobox.com

Mayalauren-at-aol.com wrote:
> 

> I'm not set up for hatching brine shrimp, so if you have any suggestions as to
> what else I should feed them, I'd appreciate it!
> Jason
> 

I use microworms with my fry and it seems to work really well.  I
supplement these with frozen baby brine shrimp available at any decent
fish store.  At risk of inciting a riot, I hate raising baby brine
shrimp.  I've done it, it smells, it's too much work, and it's messy. 
Too much for me to handle after a long day at work!  Back to microworms,
if you can find a starter culture, they're really easy to keep.  Take a
small container like a baby food jar, poke a hole in the lid and stuff a
cotton ball or two in the hole and fill the jar 1/4 - 1/3 full of mashed
potatoes.  Other starchy things like oatmeal or creamed wheat work as
well but I think mashed potatoes are the easiest.  Put a little baker's
yeast in and wait a couple of days.  You'll see the worms crawling up
the glass.  You can scrape them off the glass, rinse them and siphon
them into the tank near the fry and watch the little ones go at it. 
Every month or so the culture needs to be restarted on new media to keep
it from fouling.  Follow the above instructions and take a small clump
of the previous culture in the new one.

I believe microworms are available commercially called "Nemos" or
something like that but if you hunt down an apisto or killie keeper near
you that has them, they'll be more than happy to share since the
cultures are so easy to maintain.  

Congrats on the fry!

Andrew Blumhagen


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Pertensis Fry

by "Helen Burns" <hlnburns/thefree.net>
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1998
To: <apisto/majordomo.pobox.com>


-----Original Message-----
From: Alysoun McLaughlin <alysoun-at-patriot.net>

>yeast in and wait a couple of days.  You'll see the worms crawling up
>the glass.  You can scrape them off the glass, rinse them and siphon
>them into the tank near the fry and watch the little ones go at it.
>>Andrew Blumhagen


You don't have to rinse the microworms provided you haven't touched the main
culture.
I culture my micro in margarine tubs using instant porridge oats
(Ready-Brek) here un UK.
I alternate my fry feedngs with newly hatched brine shrimp and microworm
culture.
Helen


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Nematodes and microworms

by IDMiamiBob/aol.com
Date: Thu, 22 Oct 1998
To: apisto/majordomo.pobox.com

Andrew writes:

> Is it possible for an adult fish to become infected with microworms?  <snip>

Microworms feed on yeast.  There is not enough yeast in your fish to sustain
them.  If they were the same as nematodes, people would not be feeding them to
their fish
  
<snip>>  The main reason I ask is because I have a tank which once held fry
that
>  were fed microworms.  Since then, I have seen some half inch long, very
>  narrow, white worms swimming in the tank.  I want to put another pair of
>  fish in the tank to breed but am concerned that they'll become infected
>  with these worms.
> 
These worms are too large to be microworms.  I have had them too.  They tend
to stick on the glass a lot.  I have seen some gouramies eat them, but other
than that, they seem to have no effect on the tank.  I have come to associate
the appearance of these worms with overfeeding,  They won't hurt your fish.
Controlling food levels and continuous monitoring of water conditions will
reduce them to nothing.  I think they are introduced in the egg stage with
flake foods but I am not sure.

Bob Dixon


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Microworms (was BBS)

by "Phil Eaton" <peaton/hotmail.com>
Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2000
To: apisto/majordomo.pobox.com

Raf,

I'm not familiar with the BBS, but I have kept microworms for the last year. 
  Of all the cultures I have, it is the most forgiving, and the easiest to 
propagate.  I got a starter from a guy locally, and now have more than I 
could ever use.

To propagate the culture, I will use 1/4 cup of leftover oatmeal (cooked), 
add a slight amount of water (1 tsp.), and add just a dab from the previous 
culture. (just a couple of drops will do.)  Within a week, you'll have the 
little things from side to side and trying to crawl out the vent holes in 
the container.  One container I neglected for over 4 months, and when I 
opened the lid, they were a solid wriggling mass completely covering the 
oatmeal substrate!

Phil Eaton


----Original Message Follows----
From: "Raf Mols" <Raf.Mols@med.kuleuven.ac.be>

As I'm not so familiar with the english language, I wonder if BBS (bay brine
shrimp???) is the same as artemia. If it is not the same, can somebody 
explain
me what it is in how to obtain it. An other question is, how I should grow
microworms and were you can find a starter culture.
Thanks in advance.

By the way, are there other belgian apisto-mailing list users?
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RE: Microworms (was BBS)

by "Phil Eaton" <peaton/hotmail.com>
Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2000
To: apisto/majordomo.pobox.com

Ken,

As a matter of fact, the first culture I received supposedly had a "pinch" 
of dry yeast mixed into the culture.  The guy I got it from told me I 
wouldn't need to add yeast to the next culture if I took my sample from the 
original culture.  They need very little if any from what he told me.  I use 
less than 1/4 tsp. from the original batch, and that has enough worms and 
whatever else they need to get going very quickly.

I have duplicated the culture probably 10 times to give away, and I have 
never had a growth problem without the yeast, and I don't have any 
overwhelming odors coming from the cultures.  If I use too much oatmeal, a 
little mold will form on parts of the oatmeal, but after a couple weeks, the 
mold goes away, and the odor with it.

Another time, I had larger openings in the lid and some sort of gnat or 
fruit fly got in and laid eggs on the oatmeal.  I had little maggots about 
3mm long, and microworms in the same culture.  (the fish ate the maggots, 
but weren't too fond of them, I just had to try it...)  Since then, I make a 
few slits in the lid instead of larger holes.  No more maggots.  And the 
maggots did produce a slightly different smell as well.

I would try it again if I were you, and make one batch up with no yeast at 
all and see what happens.

Happy worm farming!

Phil Eaton
Dallas TX


----Original Message Follows----
From: Ken Laidlaw <kl@roe.ac.uk>

Does your method produce any odour?  The once I tried it  the smell was
disgusting and my wife was none too pleased, especially after I told her
that there were worms involved in there.  My recipe included using yeast
which was where most of the smell came from.
Ken.

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Re Microworm Cultures - Defense Fund

by krombhol/teclink.net (Paul Krombholz)
Date: Mon, 13 Aug 2001

       From: J Miller <ruddigar_99@yahoo.com>
       Date: Mon, 13 Aug 2001 00:54:32 -0700 (PDT)



>  My thread-fin rainbows eat them, I'm sure my dwarf and pygmy corys
>eat them as well, since the worms sink to the bottom and can stay alive
>for a couple of days.


Adult guppies eat them.  Baby guppies can grow to adult size in only a few
weeks with a steady diet of microworms.

I have found it useful to collect microworms from the culture with wet
paper strips that I stick to the walls of the culture.  The microworms
climb up on the paper much more readily than they will climb up the bare
walls.  I pull off the strips, dangle them in a cup of water, and the
microworms all fall off into the water and settle out.  They can then be
sucked up with an eyedropper and put in the aquarium.  You can get a lot
more microworms out of a culture using the wet paper strips.



Paul Krombholz, in soggy central Mississippi, where we had another inch or
two.  The frogs are getting less enthusiastic.  (What?? we have to breed
again?  I'm pooped!)  


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