Live Fish Food - Best Grindal Worms Setup
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Keeping pets, any kind of pets, comes with a lot of joy and a handful of chores.
And when it comes to chores, feeding pets is probably the most engaging and important daily task for everyone.
Healthy food is necessary for keeping healthy, happy pets.
Undeniably, our pets deserve the best food we can provide to them.
Many types of aquarium fish enjoy different types of live food.
And some fish eat only live food.
In years of my fish keeping, I experimented with different types of live food for my fish.
Scuds are the best live fish food that can be grown right in aquariums with fish.
I encourage everyone to look into culturing scuds for fish feeding.
My videos about farming scuds are a good starting point for references.
And there are terrestrial springtails and Grindal worms most suitable for feeding small-sized fish.
Grindal worms grow up to 1 cm long and Springtails grow just a couple millimeters long.
It makes them perfect bite size for newborn, young, and small-sized fish.
Grindal worms are ideal high-protein live food for keeping healthy, active fish.
Grindal worms and springtails are absolutely harmless.
I've been growing Grindal worms with springtails in the same containers next to aquariums right in my living room.
Healthy cultures are odor-free.
Here you can see how I stock the cultures on top of each other to save space.
I keep at least 6 cultures for feeding my fish every day all year round.
I take Grindal worms for feeding fish every day from a different container.
It takes about one month for Grindal worms to grow from eggs into mature adults.
Grindal worms reproduce very fast.
I use a soft brush to scoop Grindal worms from the walls of the container.
Rinse worms from the brush in the aquarium.
Fish know the feeding time and usually wait by the feeding spot.
There are more than enough Grindal worms in one tiny scoop for feeding a couple of fish.
Grindal worms can survive in water for up to 15 hours.
Let's setup a new Grindal worms culture.
I cultured Grindal worms and springtails on different mediums.
Tree bark is what I've been using in the last two years.
I prefer to use smooth, peeling bark of the Japanese Zelkova tree.
Cold season is the best time for picking tree bark.
16 oz disposable plastic containers with covers serve really well for my setup.
Poke needle-sized holes in the cover, pointing inside of the container for air circulation.
Break tree bark into parts to make them fit flat on the bottom of the container.
We need just a couple of pieces of tree bark for the whole setup.
Spray water on both sides of each piece.
Tree bark can retain a lot of water.
It would take about a week for the tree bark to get saturated with water at normal room temperature.
Close the lid and let it sit overnight.
The next day, I clean the tree bark from any mold, fungus, or whatever else starts growing.
Use knife and hard brush for cleaning the tree bark.
My springtails and Grindal worms avoid going on these green patches.
Left on the tree bark in high humidity, the green patches will spread around in a matter of weeks, hurting the culture.
Interestingly, Springtails and Grindal worms feed only on certain types of fungus such as yeast.
Most types of mold (type of fungus) are actually harmful to Grindal worms and Springtails.
Physically removing mold is the most practical way of preventing it from spreading.
Make sure to clean each side of the tree bark.
Here you can see about 2 years old culture of Grindal worms with springtails on tree bark.
Splitting the old culture is the most practical way of seeding the new culture.
Simply move a piece of tree bark with all worms and springtails on it to the new container.
Add new tree bark on top of or next to the old tree bark.
Place all pieces flat as much as possible.
Make sure to spray some water on the new tree bark.
Now let's refill the tree bark in the old culture.
I feed a flake of cereal to this-size Grindal worms culture daily.
So, half of a flake or less should do for feeding each half of the culture.
Better less than more to prevent overfeeding.
Crash and sprinkle the flakes only on top where you see Grindal worms.
Cover the containers to prevent cultures from drying out.
The next day.
Here is the important detail -
I harvest Grindal worms for feeding my fish only from the walls of the container.
Even split in half, the old culture yields a lot of worms for the next day’s feeding.
Notice that I put a flat rock at the feeding spot.
The flat feeding spots allow fish to eat food cleanly and work great for making observations.
Even dry fish food flakes eventually sink down to the flat feeding spots where fish and snails can find them.
Hey, my kittens enjoy helping me with aquariums too.
I keep a couple of Everglades Pygmy Sunfish in this tank since last year.
Small and very interesting fish in many regards.
Everglades Pygmy Sunfish’s diet consists only of small-sized live food.
Providing live food for this type of fish is a must.
They enjoy eating Grindal worms.
Culturing Grindal worms on tree bark is one of the reliable resources.
Here you can see the cultures on the second day after the setup.
Brush off any mold as soon as you see it.
Springtails always are the first to explore new territory.
Notice the patch of leftover food on the old tree bark.
Avoid adding new food to this spot.
I am adding food on top of it just to show you what is going to happen.
Normally, I sprinkle food only right on top where Grindal worms are.
Also, we can use a brush to scoop some Grindal worms from the walls or bottom of the container to relocate them to any other place.
I like to put them on the edge of the new tree bark.
It’s very important to keep the culture moist.
By the next day, the patch of leftover food increased in size very noticeably.
Also, Grindal worms started spreading on the new tree bark where I seeded them.
Grindal worms naturally prefer to stay in groups for breeding, and it helps them to survive.
The large gatherings of worms on the walls can be used for feeding fish or seeding on new spots of the tree bark.
Relocating worms from the old tree bark often leaves empty spots for a very prolonged time.
So, I prefer to leave worms where they have already been established.
Sprinkle food only on top of the worms - avoid adding food to the leftover patch.
Moist the culture and close the containers.
By the next morning, the leftover food patch is gone.
Reducing amounts of food is the most practical way of dealing with leftover food.
I see some small patches of leftover food in this younger culture.
Okay, let's brush it off.
I am going to sprinkle a small amount of food only here where I can see worms.
The first week or two is all about finding the proper amount of food for each culture.
Giving less food is safer and prompts worms to start spreading around in search of food.
5 days after the initial setup, Grindal worms in both cultures keep spreading nicely on all tree barks.
All looks very healthy and promising.
Let's feed each culture with one flake this time.
The next day, worms in the new culture spread around in a spider-web pattern.
I believe the web-spreading pattern indicates a low humidity of the tree bark.
Most often I see it in newly set-up cultures with small populations.
Some worms went on the walls where I can harvest them for fish feeding.
There are plenty of worms spread on the tree bark for keeping this culture growing.
In the old culture, worms also start gathering on the walls.
I save them for the next day’s feeding.
And so it goes.
Let's feed the fish.
A small scoop on the tip of the brush holds a lot of worms.
There is enough worms for feeding fish and enough to seed a couple new Grindal worms cultures.
All it takes is just about one month for a dozen worms to get a new culture going.
Grindal worms are very productive for culturing in apartments.
Here you can see the stock of my Grindal worms cultures for feeding fish in this aquarium.
And this is the old culture 10 days after I split it into two parts.
Notice that springtails like to hide in the dark under the tree bark.
The worms, on the other hand, prefer to stay on the top of the tree bark.
I am adding new tree bark to make it ready for seeding new cultures in the next week or so.
This way, I always prepared to provide more live food for any new fish.
I recycle the old tree bark the same way as shown in my previous video about peat moss.
Also, please check my previously published video about culturing Grindal worms on wilted leaves for your weeks long vacations.
Wilted leaves serves for keeping cultures alive without boosting their reproduction.
Grindal worms need daily feeding for continued reproduction.
Have fun and happy fish :)
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