Aquarium Club of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
Courtesy of Paul Bricknell, President
Vinegar Eels
In 1 Gallon Jar:
Use 1/3rd vinegar 2/3rd water
About a 2” cube of apple
One teaspoon of sugar
Then add starter culture
To collect the worms:
Use a long necked bottle, Fill to the base of neck with the culture. Place plug of filter floss at base of neck and just into the culture medium. Fill the neck of the bottle with tap water. The worms migrate through the filter floss into the plain water and can then be pipetted into fry tanks.
Culturing Paramecium
This is a technique I learned from Dan Helwig. It has proved to be simple and effective:
Initially I used clean, glass, one quart mason jars. These were filled with the hottest water from the tap. This ensures there are no other micro organisms present which might destroy the paramecium culture. Immediately add six split peas. After about 5 to 6 days the water in the jar becomes cloudy due to a bacterial bloom. Now add the paramecium starter culture. After a few more days the solution will clear and you will see clouds of paramecium present.
I usually sub-culture every 3 to 4 weeks or when I see the culture declining. Even if you can see no paramecium, just add fresh bacterial suspension or add a few split peas and the culture will come back. Subsequently, I have been using full, square 1.5 litre glass jars. Use about 12 split peas with these.
Using this method I have maintained a paramecium culture for several years.
Grindal Worms (Dwarf White Worms)
The ideal temperature range for culturing Grindal worms is 70 F to 80 F (75 F is ideal). Do not worry if your culture contains few large Grindal worms, the small worms will grow and reach a large size in the new medium within a few days.
A plastic shoe box or any small container can be used to culture the worms. The container should be covered to keep moisture. If the cover is completely air tight, it should have some small holes punched in it with a tiny nail. If the container is transparent, place the culture in a dimly lit area.
Soil medium made of peat moss and potting soil (without fertilizers or chemicals added) can be used to culture the worms. However, the best medium is Canadian sphagnum peat moss. Use half a cup of agricultural lime (natural crushed lime stone-brown in colour) per 2 gallons “volume” of peat moss. Mix the soil with water to the point that a tightly squeezed fistful of soil medium yields a few drops of water. Cover the bottom of the container with two inches of the soil medium. Keep the surface of the soil moist at all times. Place the starter culture on the surface of the soil and dust with a pinch of crushed fish flakes. Using a very fine spray (a house plant mister works fine), lightly moisten the starter culture and food powder. Each day, gradually expand the area on which you sprinkle the food as it is consumed by the worms.
After a few days, nearly the whole surface of the medium should be covered with worms. If not, check the temperature. If the temperature is less than 70F the worms may stay dormant or multiply slowly and most of the food will decay before the worms have a chance to consume it.
Grindal worms thrive in warm temperature and multiply quickly. Therefore, you should keep this in mind during winter months.
The easiest way to harvest the culture is to place a thin 2 to 4 square inches of plastic sheet or glass on the surface of the medium and sprinkle it with crushed fish flakes. After a few days or so, the worms should cover the sheet searching for food. Take the sheet carefully and submerge it in a cup of water. The worms will aromatically leave the sheet into the water. By using an eye dropper or a pipette, you can feed the fishes little by little. Keep in mind that the worms can not live in the water for more than a few hours.
Feed the worms high quality, high protein dies. White bread soaked in skimmed milk is not an ideal food for Grindal or White worms. The quality of the worms depends on the food they consume. You can condition any fish for breeding if you feed it quality Grindal worms. The proper amounts of moisture and food are best found by trial and error. The culture can be somewhat touchy about both of these things, but close attention to them for the first couple of week should suffice.
White Worms (Enchytraeus)
As soon as you receive your starter culture, set up a large culture without delay. The ideal temperature range is 60F to 70F. If you cannot keep your cultures cool, try to use a refrigerator.
A plastic shoe box (one gallon ice-cream containers are ideal) can be used to culture white worms. The container should be covered to keep moisture. Small holes should be punched in the cover for air exchange. Soil medium made of peat moss and potting soil (without artificial fertilizers or chemicals added) can be used. Mix the soil/peat with water and a small amount of agricultural lime (one cup is enough for each cubic foot of soil) to the point that a tightly squeezed fistful of soil medium yields a few drops of water.
Warning: Use only the natural crushed lime stone (brown in colour) agricultural lime. Using any other lime (usually white in colour) regardless of the brand will destroy the skin of the worms and kill them. The natural agricultural lime is mild and increases the pH of the soil slowly.
Cover the bottom of the container with 3-4 inches of soil. Place the starter culture in one corner of the medium. Mix a teaspoon of baby cereal or raw oatmeal with half a teaspoon of skim dry milk. Add some water to the mixture and make a semi hard dough and place it near the worms. Cover the food and the worms with 1 to 2 inches of soil. Add more food when the food is consumed. A variety of food can be used such as uncooked oatmeal, white bread soaked in skimmed milk, dry milk etc. A mixture of crushed oatmeal, dry skimmed milk and baby cereal is ideal. Baby cereal should provide the essential vitamins.
Keep the culture in a cool dim place. High temperatures may kill the worms. When the worms are abundant and the harvest time comes, place the container over a warm (not hot!) surface for a couple of hours. If everything is okay, the worms will see the coldest spot in the culture. Usually creating small balls on the top of the soil or they may even crawl up the container walls.
Some aquarists who raise large quantities of white worms rig an apparatus whereby the heat from a light bulb forces the worms to crawl down through the soil to drop through a wire screen into a waiting container of water. The worms will live for 24 hours or more under water if is well oxygenated and not too warm.
Red Worms
When your starter culture arrives set up a large culture as soon as possible. Keep them cool at temperatures less the 80 F if possible. For best results, culture your Red worms in a large container such as a large washtub or large cooler. Try to culture outdoors if possible.
Fill ½ full with damp peat moss or a mixture of damp peat moss and potting soil (no fertilizers or chemicals) Add half a cup of natural agricultural lime (use only the natural brown lime) for each square foot of culture surface and mix well. Agricultural lime will help in stabilizing the pH of the soil. You may need to add more lime every three months to maintain a suitable pH. Check the pH of the soil before you add any lime. The culture medium should be damp (but not wet). Do not cover the culture but if you do, make sure to drill large holes in the lid to allow for some air exchange.
For best results mix equal portions of uncooked frozen peas and carrots and uncooked “old fashioned” oatmeal and scatter over the bed. Wet feed until moist throughout. Red worms cannot feed until it is moist.
Cover the feed with one to two inches of soil. Chicken laying mesh can be used instead. Cottonseed meal and ground corncobs (shuck and all) are all good feeds. Avoid feeding your worms any kind of meat or high protein feeds. Do not add new food until all old feed has been consumed. Wait at least two to three months before harvest. To reduce this time start with one pound culture or buy at least six small cultures. Investigate!
From here, they may be fed either whole or chopped. Always rinse your worms off before feeding them to your fish. The worms may live in well aerated water for more than 48 hours. In one of my aquariums Red worms lived under water for more then two weeks! This treatment should clean the digestive system of the worms. As with any new food, it will take some time for your fish to adjust to accepting the worms as a source of food. Once your fish realise that the worms are food they will readily accept them.
Fresh Water Rotifers (Philodina)
As soon as you receive your culture set up a large culture as soon as possible. The temperature should be from 65 F to 90 F. One gallon or a half gallon jar is ideal for culturing rotifers. The cultivation of rotifers is quite simple. Please use hard water if possible. Place a small piece of a hard boiled egg yolk (the size of a pea) in a gallon on unpolluted spring water and allow it to remain uncovered overnight. This is then inoculated with the starter culture of rotifers. If you use the ciliates food or daphnia food, use about 1/8 teaspoon (a pinch) per gallon of water. Few grains of boiled wheat or rice can also be used to culture the rotifers. After one week, rotifers will be abundant for harvest. Rotifers usually attach themselves to the walls of the jar. A 30X pocket microscope can be used to identify the species of rotifers in the culture. Try to maintain more then one culture and do not over feed.
You can culture rotifers directly in the breeding tank but be careful not to contaminate the water by overfeeding. To do this, inoculate the breeding tank before or during spawning with one large culture of rotifers. Add a small amount of infusoria food (about 1/8 teaspoon per 10 gallons of water) every two days or you can use a small piece of hard boiled egg yolk instead of infusoria food. After a few days the rotifers will be abundant and ready for hungry fry. As long as the water is cloudy, you should not add any food to the breeding tank.
To maintain a healthy culture for a long period of time, make a 50% water change every week. If the water is clear, feed the culture a pinch of food whenever you make a water change.