Vikram's live food project

[Romi]

My friend Vikram had been planning to get on the live food train for a long time now. He sent me a message today discussing the mini tubifex native to Delhi that he recently got at the NCR Aquarist meeting organised by Aquapetz. I am answering him on this thread so that those who want to share his culture learn how to keep this easy species of mini tubifex with him first.

Vikram said:

i got a messsage Hi Romi,
Couple of questions
Microfex cultures
1. They seems to grow very slow any way to enhance the rate of growth
2. What else can be fed to these other than oats, what about small boiled eggs, ensuring water quality
3. will it be better to move to small bucket with areation rather than having in small tub with scotchbrite ?



My answer:
1. They are like any live food, they can grow explosively or at snail's pace. The like warm temperatures, but can survive in almost any weather in Dehi. For good growth, give them TLC
2. Vishaal Dalaal, I, Amol, and Amir have tried mixing Bajra flour with oatmeal. Why not try a good quality multigrain atta half-half with the oatmeal and see. Why not PM Vishaal, he is good at improvising.. I just fed ground oatmeal and tetrabits, and 'kuttu aatta'... Sometimes it works great, sometimes not. I think you need to try several options to see what works best with your water.
3. I am a lazy live food keeper. i have urged Tirthankar, Vishaal Dalaal, everyone who ask to try on my behalf. You do it I will be curious to know ... i suspect it will work ... i got god enough results my lazy way...

Please refer to Ishaan's thread for your Grinal question

[vikram]

My worm cultures

Grindal Worms Culture








Microfex Culture

[ishaan]

don't you think you are feeding too much to grindals, and one more thing grind the oats before feeding them

[vikram]

Actually dropped extra accidentally .. however things are under control this is just day 2 of this culture box

[ishaan]

Actually dropped extra accidentally .. however things are under control this is just day 2 of this culture box

i can understand, faced the same once but was lucky enough that dropped just a little bit extra

[Romi]

Vikram, one mistake you made was that the cocopeat you added is too new and too much. The worms can get lost in there. I would have suggested u keep feedinng the worms in Woytek's cocpeat, then when the media starts to explode with grindals, transfer the whole lot to a new bigger box. Then when the worms get used to new box, u add well-rinsed cocpeat (sometimes it comes with salt contamination, and the worms hate it), one spoonful at a time. The next one week is very crucial now. I would suggest you remove the whole oat flakes dropped accidentally before they catch mold/fungus.

Keeping my finger's crossed for your culture now. Wish i was able to spend more time in the meeting telling you about it. This brown cocopeat is often bad news. it is best when it is well rinsed, for several days (fill container with water , leave overnight, rinse, add more water), and it turns black..

Do remember to take a look at Ishaan's thread too.. he is off to a very good start fortunately.

[VishaalDalal]

toomuch water in the microfex culture initially just put enough water to reach the top of scotch brite. also did i see 2 layers of scotch brite in one tub does not help and there was a full thread on this. if there are any further questions please post.

both can be fed anything.

guys Grindals love crushed green peas.

[Romi]

guys Grindals love crushed green peas.

will try that. never did.

[vikram]

Thanks guys for the wonderful feedback .. initiated corrective actions will post pictures soon for further feedback.

@Vishal,
Now I got the reason why my Microfex culture grow slowly.

However I was reading this book "Culturing Live Foods: A Step-by-Step Guide for Culturing One's Own Food for the Home Aquarium by Michael R. Hellweg" in this it mentions to setup and small 5 gallon aquarium with aeration and scotch brite medium at bottom to culture them , any ideas on this?

[VishaalDalal]

Thanks guys for the wonderful feedback .. initiated corrective actions will post pictures soon for further feedback.

@Vishal,
Now I got the reason why my Microfex culture grow slowly.

However I was reading this book "Culturing Live Foods: A Step-by-Step Guide for Culturing One's Own Food for the Home Aquarium by Michael R. Hellweg" in this it mentions to setup and small 5 gallon aquarium with aeration and scotch brite medium at bottom to culture them , any ideas on this?

please send me this book i need to read it also.

Vikram conditions vary region to region also till we don't get our romifex worms classified by the relevant scientific agency it is really not possible to comment.

Aeration would definitely help as this improves the water quality as the stink producing bacteria are mostly anaerobic.