Live Whiteworms for Mandarins etc.

[Big G]

Best line ever in a movie, Roxanne, starring Steve Martin. "Worms, Roxanne, Worms!"

 

[Greenstreet.1]

Big thank you @Mr. Paul B it was great meeting you again my tank and I thank you for the worms [emoji218]

 

[Paul B]

Vaughn I hope those worms live a long and happy life. Until the fish eat them of course.
It was a pleasure meeting you and your two beautiful kids.

If you need more worms, let me know

 

[Greenstreet.1]

Happy to report that they are doing things already.

 

[Paul B]

Wow, they look happy. Just pour off that standing water or they will drown in a few days. Or put it in a net and let it drain

 

[ReefTeacher]

Paul,

can we see a picture of you culture? I think you run yours with more water than most and I want to compare. I've got to get these worms to multiply! Other people can do it!

 

[drukkosz]

Paul,

Thank you for another great write up. what is your little feeder made of?

 

[Greenstreet.1]

Wow, they look happy. Just pour off that standing water or they will drown in a few days. Or put it in a net and let it drain

Will do. They are doing great so far

 

[Paul B]

Paul,

can we see a picture of you culture? I think you run yours with more water than most and I want to compare. I've got to get these worms to multiply! Other people can do it!

Paul,

Thank you for another great write up. what is your little feeder made of?

My culture looks just like the picture Greenstreet posted but with much less water. There should be no puddle of water on the bottom. I soak mine occasionally then I let it drain in a net for a few minutes, then dump it back in. Sometimes there deodorant wears off and they may stink a little so I wash them like that. It also eliminates any mites. I think the worms like it. I think the smell may come from the soil because in years they never smelled. But I just changed their soil so I think that is it.

Drukkoze, which feeder? The mandarin white worm feeder is just an acrylic tube. There are some small barriers in it just so the worms stay there and son't wash out.

 

[drukkosz]

Yes the white worm one, I need to find a tube like that somewhere I like your idea. Thank you

 

[jd371]

After a slow start I'm starting to see more worms in the culture box. I tried feeding a few to my fish yesterday and all they did was look at them as they sank to the sb, I guess they are used to Black worms and will take some time to start eating these. Whats the best way to collect the worms without getting the dirt mixed in with them?

 

[Greenstreet.1]

You can use the bread as a way of collecting then. Soak it as always put it on top of the Dutt do not cover it with dirt close the container in a few
Hours worms should be all over the under side of the bread take it out and collect the worms.

 

[Eddie Rogers]

following

 

[Paul B]

Yes the white worm one, I need to find a tube like that somewhere I like your idea. Thank you

In Home Depot they sell flourescent tube covers that are very cheap. They cover flourescent tubes to prevent damage.

After a slow start I'm starting to see more worms in the culture box. I tried feeding a few to my fish yesterday and all they did was look at them as they sank to the sb, I guess they are used to Black worms and will take some time to start eating these. Whats the best way to collect the worms without getting the dirt mixed in with them?

I put some dirt and worms in a container and run tap water on them about five times. Each time I let the worms settle and pour off the dirt. You are left with a lot of worms and large pieces of sticks and whatever is in the soil. Let it sit for 5 or more minutes and the worms will clump up on each other making it easy to suck them out with a baster thing. Pour the rest of the worms and dirt in a net, let it drain a minute and dump that back into the culture box.

 

[klp]

I have been feeding new born brine shrimp, blackworms and white worms to my mandarins for many years and they are all excellent foods. My mandarins get live foods as do all my fish every day which I believe is a big key to this hobby for a number of reasons, but I just want to discuss whiteworms for now.

About 5 years ago (I have a horrible memory so it could have been during the Nixon years or last Tuesday) I started a whiteworm culture. It was like $15.00 (remember the thing about my memory) and you get a bunch of worms in a little dirt.

I put them in a plastic shoebox with some bread and kept it wet and after a couple of weeks you have thousands of worms, maybe millions but I am still counting.
The absolute best thing about live white worms is that they stay alive in salt water like at least two days. When you feed live blackworms, as soon as they hit the water, they do this little macarana dance and croak before they hit the bottom so slow eaters like mandarins eat a couple then go and take a nap while the rest of the worms are eaten by crabs, snails, manatees or whatever you are using as a CUC.

White worms are also "Free". Well, after you buy a culture anyway. Every week or two, (6 months if I forget about them as I sometimes do) I put half a slice of frozen multi grain bread in the container with some full fatted yogurt and a little nutritional yeast on it. I then spray some plain water on, RO/DI if you are a compulsive nervous wreck, and put the thing in the dark.

When I open it it is full of worms just dancing and singing all over the place. Thousands of babies also.

When you get too many, they clump up on the sides of the container where you can put your girlfriends finger in there to scoop them up. Most girlfriends love that as my wife would.

But if you don't have enough for that, I take out a clump of worms and dirt and put it in a container. Run some tap water through it a few times and pour off the fine dirt leaving big particles of dirt and worms. Leave it along for a few minutes, maybe go and watch Oprah give away Cadillacs, to homeless cats. The worms clump together so you can suck them out with a straw. I use a baster thing.
Then take the rest of that dirt and strain it in a net and dump it back in the worm container.

Squirt the worms in your tank, especially where your mandarin is and he can feast for days. Mandarins can't eat too much at one meal, especially if it's lent.
It's a great and healthy food that lasts for days. The worms won't dig in your sand and get lost because, well, I don't know exactly, they just don't.

Here is my mandarin eating white worms in his little diner. I built this to keep the copperband away and he hates me for it.

Fantastic! Simple, effective a perfect solution so thanky! I never liked the idea of a newly hatched brine shrimp feeder, although a good solution, as it was constantly raising baby brine shrimp. This requires less attention and is possibly better for them.
Questions:
How often do you feed your mandarin white worms?
With their small mouths have you ever seen or know if they can eat fully grown amphipods? It would seem a better solution than copepods if they could.

So far the white worms are still living in salt water after I dropped some in a little salt tank where I keep a few hundred asternia stars until I decide what to do with them. It's been 5 days. I am glad I found this out so you can put live white worms all over your reef tank and the fish can take all the time they like to find them. These should keep mandarins very healthy and well fed for a long time. I thought the worms only lived a few hours, but I was wro,,,,n,,,,,g, wro,,n,g,,, wrong

Not wrong just less right...

 

[Paul B]

Klp, I feed worms to my fish about every two days because I also feed clams. But they get new born shrimp every day. They need the shrimp because they can only eat two or possibly 3 worms at a meal as they don't have a real stomach. For that reason, they won't live on the worms alone.

That reminds me, do you know what a honeymoon salad is?,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Let,us,alone,,,Get it, Lettuce.

 

[TheEngineer]

This isn't exactly much of a harvest, but I needed to change out the bread in the bin and I wanted to see if I could get any worms off that were eating it. I filled a take out soup container with a little RODI and swished each piece of bread in it. There was a lot of dirt in the water, but I just let it settle for a few minutes. When I came back there was this little ball of worms all tangled up. I scooped them out into a separate container so I could rinse it a few more times to get the dirt out. This is only two weeks to the day after starting my culture, so I'm not harvesting anything yet. Just wanted to see if I could get something out of changing out the bread

I dropped these into my QT and the fish in there went nuts for them! Can't wait until I can actually harvest some meaningful amounts. I poured off the rest of the water in the soup container and dumped the soil and few remaining worms back into the bin.

 

[Paul B]

Don't worry about the dirt. You rinsed it a few times, it is great. mud is good, forgetaboutit

 

[cracker]

I'm seriously considering this. Already did some research & plugged in the Dorm fridge I had in the garageee . It was just sitting there so mine as well put it to use . I'm sure this fish will appreciate it .
From what I gather the moisture ought to be about soil in a flower pot after a good watering, or wetter?
I got the whole wheatbread , yogurt & good yeast part covered. I assume I could add just about anything else like fish oil or vitachem etc.
I can even pilfer a couple of plastic shoe boxes from my Mother's house. She would never miss them ! Wonder about the situational ethics involved with stealing from one's mother .

 

[Paul B]

I wouldn't add fish oil. Did you ever smell that stuff. I take it myself and cats follow me all over the place. The thing should be damp but not enough so that there is water pooling up on the bottom. I also stir it with a spoon that I am not going to eat lunch with so air reaches the bottom.
I freeze the bread just because it keeps forever. I use the bread that got stale and we are throwing out. My worms eat about a slice in a month so they are not real expensive to feed.