Discover Worms
Microworm Culture Instructions
Microworms (Panagrellus redivivus) are small non-parasitic nematodes that grow 1 mm long. They make great live food for small fish, fish fry, axolotl babies and frog tadpoles.
Your microworm culture and media will be inside of a plastic bag, inside of a deli container. The plastic bag is for shipping only and the culture should be dumped into the deli container as soon as possible. The worms do not need their media to be very deep. They only inhabit the top layer and are more easily harvested if there is free space up the side of the cup.
After 3-4 days at room temperature the worms will begin crawling up the sides of the container. At this point they can be easily harvested by wiping them off the inside container wall with a Q-tip, paint brush or moistened finger.
After 3-4 weeks you will need to make a new culture. This can easily be done with oatmeal, cooked rice or instant potatoes. Mix up a 1/2-1 inch layer of media in a new container and add a scoop of microworms/media from the old culture. The media should be very moist but not soupy wet. You can also add a pinch of active yeast to your new culture.
White Worm Culture Instructions
This is a starter culture. It will need to be moved into a larger container soon after receiving. Will take 2 - 4weeks in larger container before you'll see worm population really start to grow. Please read the instructions below.
Fish of all sizes will devour these highly nutritious white worms (Enchytraeus albidus) with excitement. They are a great live food for conditioning fish for breeding and easy to culture yourself at home. White worms are not only great for fish but aquatic amphibians as well.
Culturing white worms at home is a simple matter. What you have received is a starter culture. That means it's a section of dirt with worms and worm cocoons that is taken from a mature culture. This starter culture can remain in its shipping deli cup for a period of time but will grow and do better in a larger container. Large, shallow food storage containers work great. Cut a 1 inch hole in the plastic and insert a piece of sponge for circulation. Put an inch or two of potting mix in the container (organic preferred). It should be moist but not saturated with water. Make sure soil is loose and not compacted from squeezing out water. Gently mix the starter culture into the larger container of soil.
Store this culture in a cool place, ideally around 55 degrees F for optimal reproduction. A basement floor or wine cooler usually works great. Your refrigerator will be too cold.
Feed your culture every few days. I like mixing it up with oatmeal, plain greek yogurt, nutritional yeast, fish food, rotten veggie scraps and so on. While the culture is new, feed it very little. As it grows, you'll have to increase the food.
As time goes on the culture will become saturated with water and foul. Before it gets too bad, you'll want to start a new culture. Take a section of soil with worms from the old culture and mix it into a new container as explained above.
It’s common for white worm cultures to attract grain mites. These harmless mites can be found in flour, rice, and pet food. Also, very common in worm and fruit fly cultures. The reality is, mites really don’t have a significant impact on white worm production. Their competition for food is negligible. If the mite population becomes too high for your liking they can easily be scraped off the surface of the soil with a spoon.