chriscoli
Administrator
Has anyone tries both of these? I've read that Walter worms are smaller and can be used instead of BBS, but other than that what are the differences? Culture technique looks the same.
back when I was doing a lot (15-20 varieties) of killies, I had walter/micro/bannana worm cultures going, along with vinegar eels, bbs, you name it..
in my opinion, the difference between most of the nematodes, is very slight, maybe microns, but not enough to have each one for specific sized fry.
I might suggest a vinegar eel culture for something a bit smaller than bbs, that is extremely easy to make/keep.....
50% apple cider vinegar
50% water
put a slice of apple in the bottle (i use 2 litre soda bottles) put a piece of filter floss in the top and set it on the shelf....
after a time, a mulm will develop on the bottom of bottle....no worries.
if you take a small light and sine it through the bottle from side to side, near the top, you will see tiny worms along the miniscus.
easy to harvest too....
find a long necked bottle, siphon some of the water from the main bottle to the smaller long necked bottle, trying to siphon along the top edge (miniscus) of the colony bottle. Fill your harvest bottle to withing 2-3" from the top and then stuff in some filter floss so that it touches the vinegar water and leaves about 1"+ opening to the top. Add some fresh water to the top of the bottle over the floss...
in a few hours, the little worms will migrate through the floss to the fresh water up top and you can simply suck them up with a pipette and add them to your fry tank. The worms will live a long time in the tank water and they tend to stay in the water column so easy for fry to find.
You can add some fresh water to the top of the harvest container if you take out too much sucking up the worms..when they are gone, you can add the water back to the main container.
Once You know you have worms in your main bottle....start another one to make sure you have a secondary source.... I have kept vinegar eels for many many months, and there is really nothing that will make them go bad like the micros.... just add a 50/50 solution to fill your cultures and need be and a small piece of apple from time to time...
If I can remember, I will bring a culture or two to the next meeting for the mini auctions...
good luck
david
in my opinion, the difference between most of the nematodes, is very slight, maybe microns, but not enough to have each one for specific sized fry.
I might suggest a vinegar eel culture for something a bit smaller than bbs, that is extremely easy to make/keep.....
50% apple cider vinegar
50% water
put a slice of apple in the bottle (i use 2 litre soda bottles) put a piece of filter floss in the top and set it on the shelf....
after a time, a mulm will develop on the bottom of bottle....no worries.
if you take a small light and sine it through the bottle from side to side, near the top, you will see tiny worms along the miniscus.
easy to harvest too....
find a long necked bottle, siphon some of the water from the main bottle to the smaller long necked bottle, trying to siphon along the top edge (miniscus) of the colony bottle. Fill your harvest bottle to withing 2-3" from the top and then stuff in some filter floss so that it touches the vinegar water and leaves about 1"+ opening to the top. Add some fresh water to the top of the bottle over the floss...
in a few hours, the little worms will migrate through the floss to the fresh water up top and you can simply suck them up with a pipette and add them to your fry tank. The worms will live a long time in the tank water and they tend to stay in the water column so easy for fry to find.
You can add some fresh water to the top of the harvest container if you take out too much sucking up the worms..when they are gone, you can add the water back to the main container.
Once You know you have worms in your main bottle....start another one to make sure you have a secondary source.... I have kept vinegar eels for many many months, and there is really nothing that will make them go bad like the micros.... just add a 50/50 solution to fill your cultures and need be and a small piece of apple from time to time...
If I can remember, I will bring a culture or two to the next meeting for the mini auctions...
good luck
david
chriscoli
Administrator
Yup, I have the vinegar eel culture.....I find harvesting them a PITA.
mchambers
Former CCA member
Doesn't it give you a chance to use a pipet?
chriscoli
Administrator
Meh. I get to do that all week anyhow.
I have had both microworms and Walter worms. I could not see any difference. It certainly was not worth it to me to maintain separate cultures of each. One is as good as the other.
Microworms are eaten by smaller fry than can eat baby brine shrimp. Just base on shape a small fry sucking in a microworm like a piece of spaghetti can have a smaller mouth than a fry sucking in a baby brine shrimp.
Vinegar eels are really a microworm that knows how to swim. It probably is a bit smaller but the reason I keep them in addition to microworms is that they can swim and are therefore a good food for fry that do not want to go to the bottom to get microworms. I use VE for rocket killies and rainbow fish. But then I also feed these fish a little microworms.
Microworms are great for catfish. Microworms stay alive for hours on the bottom of the tank. But just a bit of current keeps the micorworms up in the column. However, they eventually settle on the bottom where there is little current.
VE stay alive for days in the aquarium.
Microworms are eaten by smaller fry than can eat baby brine shrimp. Just base on shape a small fry sucking in a microworm like a piece of spaghetti can have a smaller mouth than a fry sucking in a baby brine shrimp.
Vinegar eels are really a microworm that knows how to swim. It probably is a bit smaller but the reason I keep them in addition to microworms is that they can swim and are therefore a good food for fry that do not want to go to the bottom to get microworms. I use VE for rocket killies and rainbow fish. But then I also feed these fish a little microworms.
Microworms are great for catfish. Microworms stay alive for hours on the bottom of the tank. But just a bit of current keeps the micorworms up in the column. However, they eventually settle on the bottom where there is little current.
VE stay alive for days in the aquarium.
It is also very easy to harvest vinegar eels if you use a sponge. Just place a small cube or rectangular shaped piece of sponge in the VE culture. THe VE seem to like to cling to the sponge. You simply lift up the sponge, let most of the liquid drain out, then vigorously dunk the sponge up and down in the tank or in a container of water. If doing the latter you can then use a baster to transfer some VE to various different tanks.
I do sell both microworms and VE. Just PM if interested.
I do sell both microworms and VE. Just PM if interested.
chriscoli
Administrator
Thanks, Frank. I'll have to try the sponge method for dispensing the VE!
captmicha
Members
I've had micro, banana and Walter. Not worth keeping all three. I use vinegar eels if I need something smaller than the micros.
Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
out of the three which one is the easiest to culture
mchambers
Former CCA member
Microworms are very easy to culture. I haven't kept the others, so can't really do a comparison.
chriscoli
Administrator
I had all three at one point, and for practical purposes, I couldn't tell the difference. Now I just keep microworms.
