Live White worms

[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. ;Smuggrin

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. ;Drool

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. ;Bucktooth

Here are some Jewish worms eating a Matzo.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

I agree. White worms are awesome!!!!!

 

[sixty_reefer]

Are they easy to culture indoors without freaking out the missus?

 

[Paul B]

Don't tell her. My wife of 46 years doesn't even know we have a fish tank.

I live in New York and they are in a tupperware box under my workbench. I wouldn't put them on the kitchen table or my wife's underwear drawer but they can live in the same temperature you do.

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

Where can I get a culture of these?

 

[Bfragale]

eBay sells them:

White worm Starter culture Organic fish/frog/newt food FREE SHIPPING! | eBay

WHITE WORM Starter colony. white worms are easy to raise, and your fish will love you for doing so! White worms are smaller cousins to earthworms that are part of natures janitorial crew.

rover.ebay.com

Was looking into getting them. I’m in Los Angeles, warm summers. Do you have to keep them in a chiller or would they do ok just in a dark cool place?

 

[Paul B]

I don't keep them in a chiller. They hang out with me at the same temperature. I wouldn't put them out in the sun, but as long as it doesn't get into the 80s they should be fine.

If it gets real hot, I put them in a cheap styrofoam cooler with an ice pack and change it every day or two.

 

[ca1ore]

Oh man ….. culturing melanogaster fruit fly, Hydei fruit fly, springtails …. and now I just ordered a white worms. Plus crickets and super worms. Getting out of control; sure hope they don't get out and eat the dog!!!

 

[Magellan]

Looks tasty, I can see why you were tempted

 

[Tuan’s Reef]

I would probably use this if the crawlers don’t freak me out.

 

[WVNed]

 

[Paul B]

Thats pure health

 

[Mortie31]

Just ordered a starter batch off eBay... worth a try as long as they don’t stink the house out... well more than me and the dog lol

 

[eggplantparrot]

Just ordered a starter batch off eBay... worth a try as long as they don’t stink the house out... well more than me and the dog lol

can confirm, does not smell

 

[Rybren]

How do you collect the worms, Paul? When I was cultivating them I found that it was hard to not get a lot of dirt mixed in with the worms.

Black worms were much easier. Unfortunately, I can't get either one these days.

 

[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.

 

[Rybren]

Thanks Paul, That's basically what I was doing. I'm getting lazy in my old age and was hoping that you had come up with a quicker solution.

 

[Gareth elliott]

Oh man ….. culturing melanogaster fruit fly, Hydei fruit fly, springtails …. and now I just ordered a white worms. Plus crickets and super worms. Getting out of control; sure hope they don't get out and eat the dog!!!

Next you need to recreate Arthropleura, precambrian millipede that grew to over a foot wide and 7 feet long.

 

[Radman73]

Sweet, been looking for a self-sustaining food source AND my wife is gone for 6 days. Perfect time to experiment. Do they need light? Or just potting soil and a food source?

 

[eggplantparrot]

Sweet, been looking for a self-sustaining food source AND my wife is gone for 6 days. Perfect time to experiment. Do they need light? Or just potting soil and a food source?

they run away from light, keep them in the dark.