Goliad Farms, LP - Enchytraeus albidus, White Worm

Goliad Farms, LP

8497 FM 622
Goliad, Texas 77963

Voice 361.645.2252
Fax 361.645.2258
Email goliadfish@goliadfarms.com

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Foods

Live Foods

Enchytraeus albidus, White Worm

Enchytraeus albidus, the White Worm, is a small, white earthworm. It is an easy to culture live food that is an excellent size for many tropical fish and is especially good for conditioning breeder fish. It is a good organism to culture for those who have cool cellars.

Size: This worm reaches about 2.5cm (1 in.).

Description: This worm is a small, white terrestrial worm that lives in moist soil. The photo to the left shows white worms climbing onto the side of a plastic culture box from the moist potting soil medium they were raised in.

Environment: This species thrives in cool, damp neutral soils and survives happily in culture containers with moist potting soil.

Geographic Range: Its range is temperate North America.

Uses: This live food species is an excellent live food for most tropical fish. It is an excellent conditioning food for breeders. Most fish learn to love this live food and eagerly devour them. This species of worm prefers cooler temperatures than most of its relatives and is a good organism to culture for those who have year-round cool cellars.

Culture: Culturing white worms is simple in plastic storage boxes with loose fitting covers. The author uses shallow under-the-bed type storage boxes about 2 feet long, 6 inches high and about 14 inches wide. Culture instructions follow:

1) Place about 5cm (2 inches) of moist, but not too wet (the soil is properly moist if holds together when and only a few drops of water are expressed), potting soil (no additives!) in a plastic storage container with a loosely fitting lid (if the lid fits tightly, then punch a few dozen holes in it).
2) Mix in a little agricultural lime (found at nurseries). About 1 teaspoon per square foot of soil surface.
3) Place a starter culture of worms in one corner of the container.
4) Maintain the temperature between 15-20°C (59-68°F) and make sure the soil does not get too dry. The soil should always be damp. The author prefers enough water present in the soil to cause condensation on the sides and tops of the plastic culture box.
5) Initially, feed only a small amount of oatmeal in the corner where the worms were place. Then feed every other day as much as the worms will eat.
6) Within 2 months there should be enough worms to harvest. Harvest by picking the worms up by hand when they cluster on the food. Healthy cultures can be harvested heavily, as much as half the worms every other day.
7) Multiple cultures should be maintained in case some competing organisms (mites, white flies, etc.) become common enough to affect production and to avoid the complete loss of your cultures due to overheating, drying out, over-harvesting or other disaster.

Additional Information and Photos and Sources: For more information on this species, photos and proven sources, which we recommend, for this live food, click on one of the following links:
http://www.livefoodcultures.com/whiteworms.html
http://www.lfscultures.com/p18a.html