First dip into live food, am I doing it right?

[bushaaayyy]

I don't think the JBL hatchery will be any good for you Dave, it'll produce too many at once unless you're going to freeze them off. You could improve your hatch rates, and shrimp quality by getting some better quality cysts (assuming you are using the standard Hobby ones).

I appreciate the worms might be a hard sell to the other half, but they are very self contained. I have mine in a layer of damp coconut coir in a sealed plastic tub - there are some airholes, but they are stuffed with filter floss so the worms have no way of escaping - not that they ever attempt to, as they remain in the soil, and only surface to eat the food I add (cat food pellets). Even after 18 month of being kept in the same box, there is no odour what so ever either.

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Hi wookii,

Do you need to replace the coconut coir often? Just wondering whether it’s worth ordering 3.5kg of the stuff as it’s only a couple of quid more than 650grams on eBay.

 

[Wookii]

Hi wookii,

Do you need to replace the coconut coir often? Just wondering whether it’s worth ordering 3.5kg of the stuff as it’s only a couple of quid more than 650grams on eBay.

I’ve not replaced mine since I set it up, it doesn’t seem to have changed or broken down at all, and it gives off zero odour. I just stir it around every few months to get more air into it - though I’m not sure I even need to be doing that.

 

[DaveWatkin]

I’ve not replaced mine since I set it up, it doesn’t seem to have changed or broken down at all, and it gives off zero odour. I just stir it around every few months to get more air into it - though I’m not sure I even need to be doing that.

Got two cultures set up last week and both have loads of worms scoffing about 2 cat biscuits a day per culture.

My next question now is how often do you raid the culture for feeding to keep it big enough for growth while still providing food? I believe the eggs take a couple of weeks to hatch and they then take a month before they are big enough to reproduce?

Looking to get my feeding cycle worked out so I know what to feed on what days. Was thinking in terms of days a cycle of artemia, artemia, worms, Bug Bites, repeat. Or can I use the worms more often to reduce the maintenance of raising artemia cultures multiple times a week?

Thanks for all the help so far.

Dave

 

[Wookii]

Got two cultures set up last week and both have loads of worms scoffing about 2 cat biscuits a day per culture.

My next question now is how often do you raid the culture for feeding to keep it big enough for growth while still providing food? I believe the eggs take a couple of weeks to hatch and they then take a month before they are big enough to reproduce?

Looking to get my feeding cycle worked out so I know what to feed on what days. Was thinking in terms of days a cycle of artemia, artemia, worms, Bug Bites, repeat. Or can I use the worms more often to reduce the maintenance of raising artemia cultures multiple times a week?

Thanks for all the help so far.

Dave

How many fish are you feeding?

I have two cultures running, and if I were to feed 2 cat biscuits per day I'd imagine there'd be enough worms to feed my 50 fish perhaps every other day continuously (I've never tried so I can't be sure). As it is I feed the culture once of twice a week with 4-5 biscuits, and harvest maybe twice a week.

You'd have to try it and see - if you find the numbers of worms dwindling, simply increase the amount of food, or start an additional culture.

 

[ScareCrow]

I normally harvest every day for feeding to my young kribs but maybe twice a week for the adults. I normally feed the culture in the evening and then harvest the next morning. Back when it was warmer, I was harvesting 2-3 times a day with no apparent reduction in numbers.
Just read back through the thread and noticed you're in Scotland. You might be able to culture white worms too. Very similar to grindals but quite a bit bigger. I had a culture years ago that was fine in the winter but in the summer I couldn't keep the temp low enough and the fridge was too cold so they were too much of a goldilocks culture for me and I moved over to grindals.

 

[DaveWatkin]

Cheers guys.

I am feeding a small community tank of Harlequin Rasboras (12), Guppies (3) and Black Neon Tetras (3) with Amanos (10ish) and another tank with Chilli Rasboras (15) and Amanos (10ish).

Will see how they get on, there seems to be lots just now so will feed in a few days when my current Artemia culture is finished and see if they like them

What's your method for separating them from the dirt? Got some mesh on top just now, do you place some food above it to entice them on or just gather what are on it from below naturally?

 

[Wookii]

Cheers guys.

I am feeding a small community tank of Harlequin Rasboras (12), Guppies (3) and Black Neon Tetras (3) with Amanos (10ish) and another tank with Chilli Rasboras (15) and Amanos (10ish).

Will see how they get on, there seems to be lots just now so will feed in a few days when my current Artemia culture is finished and see if they like them

What's your method for separating them from the dirt? Got some mesh on top just now, do you place some food above it to entice them on or just gather what are on it from below naturally?

I place the mesh on top of the food, and press it down slightly. When the worms swarm over the food, you can see them filling the gaps in the mesh. I then just lift the mesh out, hover it over a shot glass, and use a pipette with some water in and squirt through the mesh, washing the worms off the mesh into the glass. You should then end up with a shot glass with some water in and the worms in the bottom, and very little, if any soil/coir.

I then just stir the glass up with the pipette as the worms can clump together very quickly, and immediately suck some up and squirt into the tank before they clump up again in the pipette.

They do tend to sink fairly quickly, and if you have a coarse substrate (anything other than sand really), and no bottom feeders, the worms will burrow into the gaps, so feed a drip at a time and give the fish chance to eat them all - particularly for your Chilli tank, as they'll just want to eat in the top half of the tank.

 

[tam]

How do the grindal compare to microworms in size? I've done microworms before for fry, I'm bad at the refreshing culture in time though. The grindal sound easier if they last that long just eating cat biscuits! Threadfin rainbows are probably my smallest mouth fish.