White worms (Enchytraeus albidus) are a great source of food for the aquarium. They are about 70% protein, 14.5% fats, & about 10% carbohydrate. The white worm in size is about 3/4" to one 1/2", somewhere between Tubifex & Grindal worms. Fish love them, & they are appropriate for a immense variety of carnivore fish, even the smaller cichlids.
White worms are simple to raise. A plastic shoebox from the dollar store will meet the needs of most aquarists. As worms require to breathe, the container should not be airtight. Cutting a small hole in the lid & placing a piece of breathable foam in the hole will suffice to permit oxygen to reach the worms.
Fill the container about 3/4 full with peat moss as the medium. The peat moss ought to be wet, but not soaked. Check by squeezing a small bit of the medium in your hand. If a few drops emerge, then you have it right. If water emerges from the mass in a stream, you have it wet.
Add your starter culture of worms. Finding an appropriate starter culture can sometimes be difficult. A lovely source can be from auctions at local fish clubs, or from a fellow enthusiast. Also, looking in the classified in the back pages of magazines like Aquarium Fish Journal or Aquarium USA can sometimes lead to a lovely resource.
Place a piece of wet crustless white bread on top of the medium for compost. Cover this with a sheet of plastic the size of the slice of bread. The plastic aids in keeping the bread from drying out. It is a lovely suggestion to bury the piece of bread in the medium when first beginning a culture to prevent mold from occurring. Permit the worms a week to establish before feeding them. Check on them on a every day basis to insure that they are eating the bread.
White worms will require to be housed in a icy dark place, free from insects. They use an apartment sized refrigerator with a temperature control sensor that maintains the temperature at 55-65 degrees Fahrenheit.
of the best foods for white worms is Gerber's Kid Oatmeal. Add a pinch of active dry yeast to the mixture. The trick is to feed the worms to insure they prosper, but not a lot that it will start to mold. A lovely rule of thumb is to feed only what they will consume in days. A small trial & error work is necessary here. If mold occurs, basically spoon it out of the medium, & replace the food, using less the next time.
White worm cultures will "crash" if the population becomes too large. This can be noted by the worms attempting to crawl up the sides of the container. Simply dump the medium onto a sheet of newspaper, separate the medium into two parts, and you have another culture to fall back on if the first crashes. Get another shoebox, top to 3/4 full with dampened peat moss, and you have the insurance of a supply of white worms.
To harvest white worms, simply wait until a nice clump of them are underneath the sheet of plastic, pluck them out with tweezers or your fingers, and clean appropriately before feeding to your fish. rinsing with dechlorinated water, by pouring from one container to another will do the trick, removing any soil or left over food. You can then feed the worms to your fishes.
The biggest thing to remember about growing white worms is to never let the medium dry out. It is also a good idea to have two cultures growing at the same time, in case one of the cultures "crashes." Keep an eye out for mold, feed the worms appropriately, and you will have happy, vigorous fish!
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