Buy Grindal worms locally through Craigslist:
or buy Grindal worms on Amazon (paid link):
4 oz jar of soil with who knows how many Grindal worms and a couple pieces of some dry dog food.
Okay, let's open the jar.
Hmm...I see a tiny white worm on the lid.
I suppose more worms hide in the soil.
Let's put it back and spray the soil with dechlorinated water.
Cover the jar with the lid tightly.
I am going to use this disposable plastic container with a lid to make a new home for Grindal worms.
Use a needle to poke holes about one inch apart in the notch around the lid.
The holes should provide enough air exchange in the container for worms to breath.
I think many small holes keep worms inside of the container better than one big hole.
Now let's put some medium into the container for worms to live and to breed on.
Organic soil that Grindal worms come with should do.
Though, I want to try something different...
I put some dry brewed black tea in this container.
I drink tea many times a day.
If Grindal worms like tea as a medium then it would be easy for me to get.
Add dechlorinated water to make the medium damp.
Dry tea leaves take a lot of water.
I use about a dozen tea bags to make a small medium sample here.
A couple centimeters deep layer should do to start with.
Now let's add half of the Grindal worms starter culture on top of the medium I made.
Here you can see more Grindal worms in the soil as I dig.
I spread the soil in a thin layer over the tea medium.
Let's add a couple dog or cat food pellets.
Any dry food pellets should do.
Spray soil and food with water.
Cover both containers with lids.
I keep Grindal worms in my living room next to my aquariums.
A couple days later.
Grindal worms stay close to the food.
Here you can see worms on the tea medium seem to moving away from bright light of my camera.
Interestingly, Grindal worms in the soil stay along the walls of the container.
I don't see them around the food pellet.
Perhaps Grindal worms don't like the tea...
Spray some water to keep medium damp.
I wonder how long the food pellets would last.
March 19th.
I cover the medium in both containers with a plastic sheet to reduce water evaporation.
And now let's close both containers with lids.
Water condensates on the plastic sheets on the next day.
The food pellets get spoiled.
I don't like the smell of dry dog food pellets to begin with.
Wet pellets smell even more noticeably - I don't like it in my living room.
Let's remove the spoiled food pellets.
Let's try Rice Krispies cereal.
I put a couple cereal flakes here and there.
Push the flakes slightly in the medium for worms to get better access.
Spray with water.
Cover with plastic sheets and then close containers with lids.
Two days later on March 22nd.
Some of the food flakes are gone and the others are getting spoiled.
I remove the remains of the flakes where it's possible.
Let's put new food flakes.
We can use a pipette to drop some water on the food to make it softer.
The population of Grindal worms in the starter container did not increase noticeably yet.
Four days later on March 26th.
The food in the starter container is gone.
Some food is still on the tea medium.
I noticed some other critters crawl on the tea medium.
I was able to identify them as Springtails.
I will make a separate video about Springtails in Grindal worms cultures.
For now I just add cereal and spray it with water.
Remove the remains of old cereal to prevent it from spoiling.
Three days later on March 29th.
Grindal worms in the container with the tea medium stay on top in the soil layer.
Looks like the tea medium needs to be replaced with something different...
Now I want to try crushed cereal instead of pellets or flakes.
Hope it helps worms to consume food faster to avoid spoiling food.
I crushed one cereal flake at a time with my fingers.
And spray water to keep the medium damp.
Do the same in both containers.
April 3rd.
I am setting up small containers with different mediums to try with worms.
One container I filled with two layers of synthetic polyester filling.
Here I use a small brush to move a dozen or so Grindal worms into this medium.
Crush a cereal flake on top.
I already added water into the new container to make it damp.
The next container I filled with dry Guppy grass plants from my aquariums.
Brush Grindal worms from the plastic sheet into a cup with water.
This way I separate Grindal worms from Springtails.
Grindal worms sink to the bottom while Springtails stay on the water surface.
Use a pipette or turkey baster to move Grindal worms into the new container.
Crush a piece of cereal on top.
And also I set up a container with herbal tea medium.
So, I've been testing soil, black tea, herbal tea, sea weed, and polyester mediums for Grindal worms.
I had Grindal worms for 3 weeks now.
An adult Grindal worm grows about 1 cm long as you see here.
April 9th, 2021
It's been about one month since I got Grindal worms in this container with soil.
I see an increase in the worm population in this tiny container.
The soil medium seems to work well for Grindal worms.
So, I set up three large size containers with organic soil to culture Grindal worms.
I add about a dozen Grindal worms into each new container.
Feed them with crushed cereal.
Spray it all with water.
Cover soil with plastic sheets and close the lids.
I add some more Grindal worms into each new container on the following day.
The more worms to start with the faster the colony will grow.
I try to feed Grindal worms with Corn flakes and other cereals.
Cheerios cereal seems to be the best among all that I’ve tried so far.
It has the least noticeable smell compared to other cereals or dry dog food pellets.
Smell is a very important point for me since I keep the Grindal worms culture in my living room.
It takes a couple weeks for Grindal worms to hatch from eggs.
And it takes another couple weeks for them to grow big enough.
Once the population grows noticeably, I start collecting Grindal worms to feed fish.
Apparently, adult Grindal worms like to climb on the cover or plastic sheets with condensation.
Rinse the cover or plastic sheets with Grindal worms on it in a cup of water.
Also, I help myself with a brush to pick some worms from the walls of the container.
Now we get to the most interesting part I've been looking forward to - feeding fish!
Here I use a pipette to serve live Grindal worms to my fish at the regular feeding time.
Normally, my fish get homemade fish food flakes in addition to what they can catch in the aquarium.
Grindal worms stay alive underwater long enough for fish to notice them wriggle.
Fish love to eat Grindal worms - you can see fish go in a frenzy after worms as I drop them.
Grindal worms have great nutritional value and are a perfect one bite size for my young and adult fish.
There are different ways to feed fish with Grindal worms.
More about it in future videos.
Grindal worms did not like herbal tea and Guppy grass mediums.
I keep experimenting with other mediums and will let you know results as I get them.
One thing is for certain - fish love to eat Grindal worms!
Have fun and Happy fish :)
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