Grindal Worm question

[knee]

I got a small culture of grindal worms 02/09 and was able to grow that culture. I was able to split the culture into 4 because of how much the population has exploded from the original one. This is my first time doing a live food culture and I’m glad that I was able to keep them alive and thriving.  

Currently feeding them fish food that I don’t use cause I’m a fish food hoarder 🫣

 

Would I need to eventually replace the substrate of the original culture? I noticed that the coco coir is starting to look a bit different already from when I first received them. 
 

I have also taken out some of the coco coir from the original to seed the other cultures and replaced it with some new coco coir. Will that help to increase the life of that culture? I read that cultures usually last a month and then they start crashing. 
 

What’s the best way to harvest them? I just cut up the lid from one of my betta cups and poked some holes in it but wanted to see if there’s a better way. 

[Guppysnail]

If you start the worms to one side you can slowly migrate the culture to the other side. Then remove the old half of the coco and replace with new.  Begin migrating back to the other side. 
 

If you do not replace a portion of the medium the culture will crash. I usually wait until the big boom and start new ones rather than migrate .

best way to harvest is Kay a piece of hard plastic on top of the food. The worms crawl up on it.  A piece of any disposable food container works.  You can either dunk the plate in water, wipe a finger or paint brush on the plastic or if there are tons of babies in the tank just dunk the harvest plate in the tank.

[Schuyler]

Maybe it's not the best practice but when I divide mine I'll take a big section of coir from the culture to start the new one. Then I'll replace that with new coir.

I feed them ground up grain cereal. But they also don't seem to really explode in population

[knee]

On 2/26/2024 at 7:00 PM, Schuyler said:

Maybe it's not the best practice but when I divide mine I'll take a big section of coir from the culture to start the new one. Then I'll replace that with new coir.

I feed them ground up grain cereal. But they also don't seem to really explode in population

Mine exploded in population with fish food. I was shocked at how many I had that’s why I split the culture. I did the same thing you did when I started the new culture in a bigger container and I still had so much left from the original. Haven’t tried feeding cat food or other types to compare but I’m really shocked at how fast they multiplied with fish food. 

[Schuyler]

I'm also a fish food hoarder so I may have to try that!

I've seen them explode when I add some nutritional yeast. I read somewhere that they need a lot of vitamin B.

[kammaroon]

I use scouring pads as substitute and give it a rinse with water once a month after seeing this video: 

I also feed with surplus fish food. 

[knee]

On 2/27/2024 at 12:49 PM, kammaroon said:

I use scouring pads as substitute and give it a rinse with water once a month after seeing this video: 

I also feed with surplus fish food. 

I did watch this video when I got my grindal worms. I might try this when I finish all of my coco coir. I got so much for $7 and I do like the more natural substrate for them. Maybe I’ll get tired of dealing with it eventually but it’ll do for now. 
 

What brand do you feed? I feed mine omega one. I just checked the original culture and it looks like I didn’t take some out to start a new culture. There’s still so much worms in there 

[kammaroon]

On 2/27/2024 at 11:32 PM, knee said:

What brand do you feed? I feed mine omega one.

I’m in the UK, so may not have access to the same brands as you. Currently feeding Dennerle flakes, a German brand.