Contents

Foods

Live Foods

Anguillula silusiae, Microworm

Size: This worm reaches about 4mm (1/8 in.).

Environment: This species survives happily rotting fruit where its yeast diet is plentiful. In artificial culture it thrives on wet oatmeal and yeast.

Uses: This live food species is an excellent first live food for most large fry and all but the tiniest of killifish and rainbowfish fry. It has the advantage of surviving aquarium conditions for longer than foods such as brine shrimp nauplii so that it can be fed in abundance to the fry without fear of water fouling. Fish fry are attracted to the sinuous, wavelike motion the worm makes as it swims through the water. Unlike its smaller relative the vinegar eel, this worm tends sink to the tank's bottom making it a good food for bottom hunting fry.

1)  Place a 1cm (0.4 inch) layer of wet oatmeal in a shallow container with a loose fitting lid (if the lid is tight fitting, then punch a dozen or so holes in it). Do not add too much water since watery cultures are not as productive. The oatmeal should be damp and pasty but not runny.
2)  Sprinkle a tablespoon of activated yeast over the damp oatmeal.
3)  Inoculate by pouring a starter culture of microworms onto the oatmeal or by scraping worms from the side of a healthy culture with a spatula and wiping onto the oatmeal.
4)  Place the container in a warm (25-30°C or about 75-80°F) spot out of direct sunlight.
5)  Within three or four days there will be enough worms to harvest. A culture is ready to harvest when the worms migrate in a whitish sheet up the side of the container.
6)  Harvest by scrapping the worms off the side of the container with a spatula or cake icing knife.
7)  Feed by dipping the spatula into the aquarium or by suspending in water and pouring into the aquarium. It is not necessary to rinse the worms if they are harvested as recommended.
8)  Continue harvesting as long as worms are crawling up the sides of the container in adequate numbers.
9)  Cultures usually last only 10-14 days although periodic stirring of the yeast and the addition of dry oatmeal if the medium becomes runny can temporarily rejuvenate a culture. It is usually simpler to sub-culture when a culture becomes less productive. In fact, microworm cultures should be sub-cultured frequently since cultures can crash and become unproductive rapidly.

Page last modified December 24, 2007.
Copyright © 2007, Goliad Farms, LP