Wanted: Starter culture

[Laeris]

Looking for daphnia or similar for CPD and possibly rosy loaches. Would like to keep it under $20 with heat pack to Colorado. Shipping next Wed. for preference.

 

[FWFishTanks]

I have white worms but they may be too large

 

[Laeris]

I wonder if they'd even eat worms. They don't mess much with stuff on the floor. Picky buggers.

 

[Hunter73]

I bet they would. My CPD's eat frozen blood worms.

 

[FWFishTanks]

I bet they would. My CPD's eat frozen blood worms.

If they can eat bloodworms i'm sure they could eat white worms, and these white worms breed like rabbits somyou wouldnt have a problem starting a colony

 

[Laeris]

What do you feed them? @_@

 

[FWFishTanks]

What do you feed them? @_@

These are very easy worms to culture. A container with moist dirt, and some people add a little of lawn lime as well. You can feed them many things, but fish food works great! They like to be around 60 degrees Fahrenheit

 

[keegster803]

These are very easy worms to culture. A container with moist dirt, and some people add a little of lawn lime as well. You can feed them many things, but fish food works great! They like to be around 60 degrees Fahrenheit

I don't wanna hijack this or anything, but if you have some for sale, I'd gladly buy some


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[Fresh2o]

My CPDs eat various flakes, FD tubifex worms, FD bbs, frozen bbs, frozen blood worms (a bit large though). I've fed them frozen daphnia but cannot recall how well they were appreciated.
At my local monthly fish meeting there was presentation of raising daphnia. I did not pay too much attention but recall that Prime is lethal to them. The suggestion was to add tank water removed after a PWC.


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[Laeris]

The worms sound lovely simple and less prone to die off compared to our friends the daphnia ._. Do you know the scientific name so I can do some research?

 

[Laeris]

I think white worms will be a definite option in the future! No A/C or cool places to keep them in this old house. Thank you very much for mentioning them, definitely food for thought

 

[FWFishTanks]

They are very easy worms to culture and I love them! A great live food option for sure

 

[Laeris]

They don't die off at 80F? This house was built in 1900 and the windows are unfortunately set so they don't actually catch a breeze. I love the warmth, but things that prefer cool, moist places will need some kind of life support I'm not confident I can provide. Of course, I only have anecdotal information, but I'll happily take a larger sampling of the same. The basement might just about do in summer, if they can survive 75+ in worm dirt stuff. Has anyone had luck keeping them in mid to high 70s?

 

[FWFishTanks]

I have only kept them in my basement at around 60 degrees. What is your fridge temperature?

 

[Laeris]

Very, very cold. They'd freeze.

 

[brennae]

They live in low to mid 70s yes

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[Laeris]

Awesome! So if I keep them in wood trays of worm dirt in a foam fish box, I should be golden. Have tons of yeast, oatmeal and algae (mm mm vitamins) products I can paste together and ceramic dish for them. Thanks tons for the extra information. I can see worms will be easier than daphnia!
Last question is... Who is selling?


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[brennae]

White worms need plastic shoe boxes of peat with some lime mixed in and I feed them fish food. You just dampen the peat. They must have air holes.

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[Laeris]

That's one method I read of. Others included plastic trays of kitchen green scrubbers in perforated thick plastic bags, kitchen sponges in plastic containers with air holes and soil in wood trays. One blogger warned off using peat and garden lime because it's easy to overdo the lime and that'll kill the poor worms. You're quite successful using it, as you have multiple thriving colonies XD

My takeaway is the material varies but the bottom line is damp, neutral, porous living space that's kept cool and dark, remove any moldy stuff immediately, don't let the colony get too large or it'll poison itself. Harvest off the food/food tray/glass feeding gimmicker because it's easier than digging around, damaging them.

I loathe the idea of not taking care of living things properly. If you have a fail safe ratio for peat and lime you're ok with sharing, I'd be thrilled to rack a few dollar store containers instead of making trays. This is, by far, one of the cheaper methods out there.

The foam box stays. I don't have room for a second fridge, so I need a container to put the worm housing in that I can put a lunchbox sized freezer pack under. The lid doesn't get sealed, just placed over the top to keep cool air in. The basement gets close to 80 in summer, which is why I worry about keeping these guys in the first place. My fridge freezes things on the top two shelves, lower down isn't much better. I rent, so I'm not shelling out for a replacement.

Maybe worms are a terrible idea! Hahahaha ?


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[FWFishTanks]

White worms need plastic shoe boxes of peat with some lime mixed in and I feed them fish food. You just dampen the peat. They must have air holes.

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I just use dirt and my colony is thriving