Re: Microworms in you Grindals?

[Dave Millman <dave at tactics_com>]

At 03:39 AM 4/18/2003, Kim wrote:

> Dave,
> Regarding your Grindal worm culture, I've been thinking about your
> observation that
>         "... it briefly looks like you poured a bit of milk in the tank 
> because the
> juvenile worms are so thick. ..."
> I've grown and fed very successful grindal worm cultures over the years, and
> I've never observed such thick juveniles.  I have observed what I would
> describe as you did when feeding MICROWORMS.  Do you think there's any
> chance that you've got a combination culture of grindals and microworms?
> If your original interpretation of the milky cloud is correct, then my
> grindals have never had such juvenile-heavy populations.
> Thanks in advance for considering this.

Kim,

My tendency to hyperbole catches up with me at last!

The "cloud" effect is brief but real. My daughter and I recently tried to 
estimate the number of Grindle worms we feed the big tank nightly. On 
several successive nights, we each picked a single fish and counted how 
many worms that individual ate before the worms were gone. All the fish in 
the upper and middle tank get between 20-40 worms, so with 45 such fish we 
are feeding 900-1800 worms per night. Of course, adult worms make up a 
small number of that total-perhaps 10-15%. The 35 cardinals and rummy nose 
are eating the large majority of juvenile worms after the larger adult 
worms have been picked off by everyone. We excluded our catfish and loaches 
from that estimate-even though they love scavenging remaining worms from 
the gravel, we couldn't figure out how to count those.

Although I have never raised microworms, a friend at the Silicon Valley 
Aquarium Society (www.svas.info) accidently infected her grindle culture 
with microworms, so I've seen the two in one container. Darn, those 
microworms are ...micro! I'm confident my culture (and the cultures I've 
split off for friends) are pure grindle. I purchased my original culture 
from www.livefoodcultures.com, a recommended supplier.

I feed and harvest the worms using plastic needlepoint grid which is laid 
on top of the medium. I sprinkle baby oatmeal on top of the grid, and 24 
hours later the grid is crawling with worms and a bit of remaining food. 
Too much food, and clumps of oatmeal end up in the tank when I swish the 
grid. Too little food and the worms have finished eating it and retreated 
to the medium before I get there to swish them in the tank. This method 
ends up feeding MANY more juveniles than other methods which rely on 
somehow removing adult worms from the surface of the medium.

I plan to write an article with photos for our club newsletter soon.