| COMMON NAME AND DESCRIPTION | MAINTENANCE |
| Microworms, Use on fish too small for brineshrimp, or instead of brineshrimp. This does not apply in all cases. |
Use a small container, i.e. a margerine or yogurt container. Puncture the lid. Place a teaspoon of a microworm culture in bottom. Moisten a small piece of bread in milk. Put in container on the culture. In a couple of days, you should be able to see a shimmering layer covering the whole bottom, climbing up the sides. Take from the sides for feeding. Keep in a cool, dark place. Approx. 60 % F or 15 % C. Some people prefer cornmeal moistened with water. Both ways , don't let them dry out. |
| Grindal Worms, an excellent food for babies also, but quite a bit larger than Microworms. |
I use a large rectangular container with one inch of moistened peatmoss, not wet. Put the culture starter in a small area. Use oatmeal pablum to feed them, trying to make sure not to overfeed. Mold will develop if you do. Clean off the mold when this happens. Keep cool and dark. Approx. 60 % F or 15 % C. When you can see them throughout the entire container, they are ready to harvest. Wash in coll water, carefully. |
| Whiteworms, A treat for adult fish, but has a lot of fat content. |
Use a large rectangular container , with 1 inch of boiled, sterilyzed potting soil. Place culture in centre, feed that area, until you can see they are multiplying. This too can mold quite easily. You may feed them crustless pieces of white bread thoroughly moistened with milk. Or oatmeal pablum sprinkled on top. Keep cool and dark. Approx. 60 % F or 15 % C |
| Wingless Fruitflies, ideal for those fish that like surface prey. Killies love them, but my angels are crazy for them too. Be sure to keep a lid on those tanks. |
Culture these in a small, preferably see-through container, i.e. plastic drink cups, small jars. Put a tsp. of wet Instant Drosophila Medium in the bottom. Add a pinch of yeast. Have a square of paper towel to fit over the top secured by an elastic, ready before you add the fruitflies. They may be wingless, but they can travel. 4-7 will do for each culture. In a couple of days, you will have more to make cultures with and plenty for your fish. |
| Brineshrimp | You can hatch brineshrimp in just about any container, quart jar, gallon jar. I use a upside-down 5 gallon water fountain bottle suspended upsidedown. Cut off the bottom, Use a rubber stopper with a hole (from a wine supply store) to plug the neck. Insert airline tubing, in the rubber stopper, this is to drain the brine shrimp through a fine cloth or brineshrimp net. The hose has to be long enough to hang over the top of the bottle (originally the bottom). Gravity rules! Hang an airstone in the bottle. Keep near light. 70-80 % F or 20-25 % C. Add noniodised salt and water as per instructions with brineshrimp eggs. |