White Worms for food

[Tamberav]

We have 14 cultures total, this one impressed me this morning while we were feeding. We have gotten so good at these now, we started selling all of our excess on Etsy.

Do you ever rinse the cultures? Mine seem to be doing really well but the bottom seems to have water/liquid in it and is smells yeasty but that’s is ofc from the food :)

I am not sure if I am supposed to rinse and drain them every so often.

 

[Snoopdog]

Do you ever rinse the cultures? Mine seem to be doing really well but the bottom seems to have water/liquid in it and is smells yeasty but that’s is ofc from the food :)

I am not sure if I am supposed to rinse and drain them every so often.

We rinse one if they crash, or in the process of crashing. Normally it is a day after we hit critical mass, the culture in my picture is likely getting close to crashing. When they crash basically the worms liquify and put off a god awe full smell. Another reason to rinse one is if they get mites, we do not often get mites but you can get mites all kinds of ways, we are almost certain mites can come in on the food, like bread.

Our process is this during a rinse.We will rinse one under tap water for a few hours, very light stream, not enough to lose the worms. Then we leave the container with maybe a half an inch of water above the soil. The live worms will rise to the top to breath, we will then put a piece of mesh in. The live worms will attach to the mesh. We then take that mesh and move it to a new culture with fresh baked soil. The live worms will leave the mesh and burrow down in the soil to avoid the light. We repeat this process until no worms come out of the old container.

 

[Faria]

Mine doesn’t crash like that. What I’ve noticed is that after a certain period, the worms will get smaller and smaller. That’s when I flush the container!

 

[Skep18]

We have 14 cultures total, this one impressed me this morning while we were feeding. We have gotten so good at these now, we started selling all of our excess on Etsy.

What temp do you keep them at? Just in a room or do you have a fridge for them?

 

[Snoopdog]

What temp do you keep them at? Just in a room or do you have a fridge for them?

We have two large wine chillers, 62 degrees fahrenheit.

 

[BetteMidler]

I got a culture that came in today, dumped it on tops of some fresh soil in a larger container. Do I simple decrust the bread and cut it down to smaller pieces before adding yogurt & yeast on top? I'm going to try to leave them in my closet, it is on the north wall of the house & gets cool through the nights.

I tried some small balls of worms in both my quarantine & main tanks. The fish took a minute to figure out it was food, but did eat them. To include a two week old four eyed butterfly that I have never seen eat any food yet. It has decimated all the tube worms, Aiptasia, and who knows what else that was on the live rock. Hopefully, the worms can get him interested in other foods. I need to figure out a feeder for him. The other fish are just too aggressive at eating than it is.

 

[WvAquatics]

I got a culture that came in today, dumped it on tops of some fresh soil in a larger container. Do I simple decrust the bread and cut it down to smaller pieces before adding yogurt & yeast on top? I'm going to try to leave them in my closet, it is on the north wall of the house & gets cool through the nights.

I tried some small balls of worms in both my quarantine & main tanks. The fish took a minute to figure out it was food, but did eat them. To include a two week old four eyed butterfly that I have never seen eat any food yet. It has decimated all the tube worms, Aiptasia, and who knows what else that was on the live rock. Hopefully, the worms can get him interested in other foods. I need to figure out a feeder for him. The other fish are just too aggressive at eating than it is.

You can uncrust the bread. You will want to spread the yogurt on a whole piece. Spread the yeat and put on top of the dirt. No need to cut the bread down the worms will eat the bread whole.

 

[Snoopdog]

Just part of the haul today...

 

[AndrewE]

Just part of the haul today...

I'm going to buy a culture. Do you still sell them?

Does anyone have any input on black worms? They seem a lot harder to keep but I would deal with it if they are as good or better. I can set up an automatic water change for them with rodi so that won't be an issue, I'm just wondering if there's a difference.

 

[AndrewE]

Just bury it.

So I read your entire post... thank you.

I have some questions. I know this is an old post but hoping for a response.

Do you have any experience with black worms? I do understand that they're harder to keep but I can set them up with daily automated rodi water changes (I do automation for a living).

As far as white worms, I see bread with yogurt is best to feed them. We try to stay as organic as possible (including our animals) will keto bread work? It's the only beard that doesn't have added sugar, as far as I know. You put the yogurt on the bread, sprinkle yeast, and put it in the container. After a few days, just bury it, it's that correct?

Also, I want them to be as healthy as possible so I'd rather be proactive with the dirt. Should I rinse it monthly? I can rinse and drain it if needed. I would think the container should the covered at all times, is that correct?

Should the worms be rinsed with water before feeding to the fish? I have a 120 gal reef tank so hoping all the animals enjoy it.

On to the clams, what kind of clams do you feed and how often?

Do you feed any other food? Flakes don't thrill me but I do use them along with frozen brine, plankton and some other commercial frozen foods.

 

[Snoopdog]

I'm going to buy a culture. Do you still sell them?

Does anyone have any input on black worms? They seem a lot harder to keep but I would deal with it if they are as good or better. I can set up an automatic water change for them with rodi so that won't be an issue, I'm just wondering if there's a difference.

My wife does, look for whitewormlady on Etsy or Ebay

 

[Snoopdog]

As far as white worms, I see bread with yogurt is best to feed them. We try to stay as organic as possible (including our animals) will keto bread work? It's the only beard that doesn't have added sugar, as far as I know. You put the yogurt on the bread, sprinkle yeast, and put it in the container. After a few days, just bury it, it's that correct?

Also, I want them to be as healthy as possible so I'd rather be proactive with the dirt. Should I rinse it monthly? I can rinse and drain it if needed. I would think the container should the covered at all times, is that correct?

Should the worms be rinsed with water before feeding to the fish? I have a 120 gal reef tank so hoping all the animals enjoy it.

I can answer some of that. I do not think the bread having sugar is that big of a deal. I think the grainy breads will likely last longer. No need to ever bury the food, they will eat it down to the crust. Yes, worms are picky bread eaters like humans and will absolutely leave crust on breads. The container should always be covered, when the soil starts getting full of dead worms, worm waste they will start leaving the soil and crawling up the sides. This is when you know you only have a few days before you will need to either split the container or get them out an alternate way. There are ways to get them out without needing to split the container like flooding them and giving them an exit out of the soil, like plastic canvas. We will be creating a website in the future devoted to worm cultivation, but it will be later in 2025 before we have it done.

We normally will take a small cup of salt water, get the worms off the tops and sides of the container with our finger and release them in the salt water. It is just an easy way to gather them.

 

[NoLarvatusplease]

I’ve always read that they don’t do well in temps around 75F+. Their ideal temps are in the 60s. In the summer my home is frequently in the 80s. I REALLY don’t want rotting worms in my room.

I have a Grindal worm culture, but I’d rather have a white worm culture, if they’d do well in the 70-80 range.

Stop reading so much and just culture them

 

[Jasonak]

IMO worms are about the best food you can feed along with clams. These foods contain bacteria "That our fish need" to stay healthy along with the fats, minerals and everything else to keep them healthy.
I hear all the time that worms are to hard to keep and they have to be kept cool. No, they don't, they want to be kept in the same temperature you live in. If you live in Death Valley and you have no AC, internet or fresh water, move.

For the rest of you that live on a volcano and the lava laps at your front door,
Can't you get a cheap Styrofoam cooler, put the worms in there with a small freezer pack and change it once a day? Suspend the freezer pack so the worms don't crawl on it. I mean Really! :eek:

Your fish don't really care if you have to go a little out of your way, especially after they were sitting there, or rather floating there, minding their own business and some Jiboni in a canoe listening to RAP music jumped near them with a huge net from Walmart and scooped them up. Ate most of them, sold some to a market that puts them in a can labeled "Dolphin Safe", and threw the rest in a bucket that he hauls gas and salami sandwiches in to a wholesaler where they sit in the sun in a cement tub with floating Toyota tires for a week with no food, then they are put in a bag and shipped over 47 hours to a store where the guy throws them in a small tank and puts a sign on them that reads $49.95, two for $50.00, and no guarantee. :oops:

Then you come along and the guy puts them in a small bag that you keep them in for two hours while you eat at Bonefish Grill. After that you throw them in an observation tank, because they haven't been observed enough, then dip them in insect repellent, tarter sauce and gasoline to remove flukes and flounders. Then quarantine them for 6 months while feeding them expired flakes.
Lady GaGa wears a fluke dress and no one dipped her.
And you have the nerve to complain that you can't find a place to store a couple of worms. :rolleyes:

Then you wonder why you are constantly on the disease forum with sentences that always start out with the word "HELP". :cool:

The worms don't want to freeze, just be at room temperature like 71 or so like I want to live. Where do you guys live? Mars?
My worms are in a Tupperware tub in my workshop. It is hot in there now and I don't see them sweating.
I am fed up to here with excuses. My hand is under my chin. Just get with the program and your fish will live forever with no help from you. Stop bothering them and let them be.

Start a white worm culture. All you need is a Tupperwear tub like your wife stores her underwear in. Remove her underwear and tell her the cat ate them and use the tub. Make some holes in the top in case the worms want to breathe. Put in some wet "potting soil" not top soil, not saw dust, not real dust from your vacuum cleaner, not gravel or sand. Potting soil, preferably without fertilizer. Throw in the starter culture of worms that you Google. Put in half a slice of bread, I use grain bread but I think they would eat your socks. Put some full fatted yogurt on it and wait a couple of weeks. Your neighbors will be so impressed with how many worms you have, and how often your wife has to go and buy new underwear.

Feed them to your fish and they will live for almost 5 days in salt water so mandarins, crabs and almost everything else except pipefish will feast on them. You will never again have to go on a disease thread.

Pipefish dont like them ?

 

[Paul B]

No all the years have been keeping pipefish, they don't eat them. Some try, but they spit them out, as I would. :squinting-face-with-tongue:

 

[salty joe]

What do pipefiish eat?

 

[Paul B]

Any tiny living creature they can fit into their tiny mouths. Except worms.

In the sea they live on fish fry, small shrimp, amphipods etc.

 

[afboundguy]

I still love it when my mandarin would eat so many white worms they stick out of its mouth :rolling-on-the-floor-laughing:

 

[SalinityNoob]

Now you really didn't read the post did you? :cool:



Here is some info about them. But you can find them online.

How to raise white worms for tropical fish food

How to raise white worms to feed to tropical fish

www.w9xt.com

I’ve always read that they don’t do well in temps around 75F+. Their ideal temps are in the 60s. In the summer my home is frequently in the 80s. I REALLY don’t want rotting worms in my room.

I have a Grindal worm culture, but I’d rather have a white worm culture, if they’d do well in the 70-80 range.

Your home is in the 80’s during the summer? Jesus

 

[smitten with ocean life]

just found this thread and placed an order with the white worm lady!