Grindal Worms

[ishaan]

hi guyz, i want to keep dario dario so i needed live worm cultures for them before getting them, so asked our live food expert(romi bhaia) to send me romifex worms, he was going to send me grindals and romifex but due to some reasons he wasn't able to send romifex and now i am "forced" by him to make a journal on the keeping these worms. So lets start with the preparations.
Following items are needed for culturing grindal worms:

1). Some containers - i have used transparent plastic containers

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2). Culture Media - I will be using cocopeat

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[ishaan]

3). Food - Got quakr oats for them , and then geeeee...... powdered them in mixy

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Got the starter culture on 1/3/13 @9PM and called him to get some more instructions and then without disturbing the media within the box , just sprayed some water on the media and sprinkled some powdered oats on the areas where maximum worms were present

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[ishaan]

2nd day ( 2/3/13)
Opened the box in the morning and saw a lot of grindals in the areas where i sprinkled the food and the food disappeared so added some more food

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opened the box again at night and got a bit worried to see some bigger sized worms in the culture and i need help regarding these, i am taking about the bigger/thicker worms, you can see them in the pic.

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Need suggestions , please point out my mistakes

[Arjun Tandon]

Can't say much at this stage
Isn't it supposed to be a little less wet??
Be wary of mites! But since you are using cocopeat, that shouldn't be a problem
Mites seriously out-competed my white worm culture

Spread the media when you feel like. That should allow the worms to use it fully

And yes! There are two cases in which you will see a lot of worms:
1. when there a lot of worms
2. when the media is too wet!
You'll soon figure out the difference between the two. For some time, I felt that if I keep the media wet, the worms increase. But that's just worms surfacing for air

Still, let's wait for some experts to chip in

[ishaan]

Can't say much at this stage
Isn't it supposed to be a little less wet??
Be wary of mites! But since you are using cocopeat, that shouldn't be a problem
Mites seriously out-competed my white worm culture

Spread the media when you feel like. That should allow the worms to use it fully

And yes! There are two cases in which you will see a lot of worms:
1. when there a lot of worms
2. when the media is too wet!
You'll soon figure out the difference between the two. For some time, I felt that if I keep the media wet, the worms increase. But that's just worms surfacing for air

Still, let's wait for some experts to chip in

i don't think its too wet , its just because of flash that its looking like that, i haven't spread the media because i was advised not to spread it and leave the culture as it is

[Arjun Tandon]

Then it's fine. Maybe it's the flash
And do you know the reason for not spreading it?

[ishaan]

Then it's fine. Maybe it's the flash
And do you know the reason for not spreading it?

i did as i want instructed , lets wait for reply from romi bhaia who asked me to do that

[Arjun Tandon]

ok

[zico_aqua]

did you keep it airtight?? if not you definitely have fruitfly larvae growing in there..crap..those buggers crashed my culture twice..not the third time..now it's going guns!

[ishaan]

did you keep it airtight?? if not you definitely have fruitfly larvae growing in there..crap..those buggers crashed my culture twice..not the third time..now it's going guns!

yes its airtight, saw only one worm on the day they arrived but now there are many