Article The Ideal Worm Culture

by Chase Klinesteker

Worms are a very high protein live food that is eaten eagerly by almost all species of tropical fish. Although they can be overfed because of their high fat content, usually the problem is to get enough of them to feed your fish. George Coy has been making black worms available to club members at SWMAS meetings, and that has been a great help. However, smaller fish and fry cannot eat black worms, and it takes a lot of newly hatched brine shrimp to get them to the size where they can eat them. With the high price of brine shrimp eggs, a good substitute would be in order.

Grindal worms seem to be ideal to fill this gap. They are very thin and only about one-fourth of an inch long. I have seen fry eat worms longer then themselves! Usually after only about two to three weeks on newly hatched brine shrimp, most fry can handle grindal worms. Yet they are large enough for most larger fish to see and eat. Fish up to two and one-half inches to three inches relish them. Still something was needed for larger fish.

I bought a red worm culture a few years ago to feed my larger fish. One day a white fuzz was noticed on the soil surface after feeding oatmeal. I thought it might be fungus, baby red worms, or egg cases, but on close examination they were grindal worms. The two species seemed to thrive together, and when I tried to establish a culture of only the grindal worms, they did not do well at all. Possibly the earthworms aerate and mix the soil for the grindal worms. They both can be very prolific.

The soil that I use is one-half of fine particle topsoil, and one-half ground cellulose worm bedding, which can be purchased at most stores that carry fishing supplies or bait. Both species seem to do well when the soil is kept very moist. Plastic sweater containers or shoeboxes with good fitting lids serve as adequate containers. Keeping the containers on the basement floor next to an outside wall can help, although both of these worms will reproduce well throughout the summer months, a plus when compared to white worms.

For feeding and best production, I sprinkle one-minute oatmeal evenly over the surface every two to three days. The amount of food is dependent on the density of the worms. If the oatmeal lasts more than one and one-half days, you are feeding too much oatmeal. On a good culture with a two to three square foot area, a handful of oatmeal will be gone in twenty-four hours. Many other foods could be used. I have neglected this culture for up to two months and the worms will survive as long as some moisture is maintained!

Although grindal worms are quite small, they can be collected in great quantities by feeding with one-minute oatmeal on the soil surface. In twelve to twenty-four hours, the soil will be coated with grindal worms and they can be scraped off with a spoon and separated by rinsing in cold water two to three times, letting them settle and pouring off the mud each time. Use a clear plastic cup, so you can see when the worms settle to the bottom. They can be fed to your fish with an eyedropper or a small baster.

The red worms that are in the culture appear to be similar to night crawlers in form, but they never get any longer than two to two and a half-inches, and are a perfect size to feed to large cichlids. They can be picked from the soil by hand or with tweezers. For smaller fish…two to four inches…I will cut them up in a cup containing water with scissors into small pieces and rinse them off before feeding.

The grindal-red worm culture feeds almost all sizes of fish, is very productive, and is easy to care for. What more could we ask for?