Grindal Worms (Enchytraeus buchholzi) Culture
Features
Grindal Worms (Enchytraeus buchholzi)
Small white living non-parasitic worm
Approximately 8 - 10mm length up to 15mm & approximately 400 microns diameter.
Small live food that helps entices feeding behaviour for juvenile and adult fish.
Perfect for juvenile and adult fish for picky eaters, conditioning for breeding and enhancing natural feeding behaviour.
Larger than Micro Worms.
Grindal Worms will sink to bottom of tank.
Nutritional Analysis
Dry Matter - 70% protein, 14% fat, Carbohydrates 10%, Minerals 5.5%
Can be enriched by gut loading worms with vitamins & fish oil.
Ingredients / Culture Media
Grindal Worms (Enchytraeus buchholzi)
Coco Coir media OR Sponge OR Sphagnum Moss (depending on availability).
Product Details
STARTER - 130mm x 210mm clear plastic bag containing seed culture with media.
LARGE - 650mL takeaway container (approx. 170mm x 115mm x 47mm). Culture contains a large sized portion of seeded media for faster start up.
Shipping
Live products are shipped by FREE Express Post shipping ONLY on Monday or Tuesday.
Please note: Starter cultures are shipped in a Express Post envelope, with minimal protection during transit to keep price low for customers. Refunds will not be provided for any damage during shipping. We recommend purchasing our Large culture which has extra protection for shipping.
HOW TO CULTURE GRINDAL WORMS
Requirements
Starter culture
Container with sealable lid
Coco Coir, Potting Soil, Peat Moss (We recommend Coco Coir)
Glass or plastic panel
Dechlorinated, RO or distilled water
Cotton wool, filter floss or paper towel
Fish Pellets
Method
Rinse coco soil media in Dechlorinated, RO or distilled water until the substrate is moist.
Spread evenly inside container with a depth of at least 1 - 2 inches.
Seed with starter culture.
Place 1 - 2 fish pellets into culture as a food source.
Place glass panel or plastic panel over the culture. This is used for harvesting later.
Make a small hole in lid of container as a breather hole. Stuff hole with filter floss or cotton wool. If not available tape paper towel over the outside of hole to cover. This prevents pests from entering the culture.
Harvesting
Once culture is established worms will begin moving up the sides, and underside of glass / plastic panel. Taking your finger, cotton wool bud or brush you can remove worms from panel and feed directly to tank.
Worms can last approximately 8 - 12 hours and reported even up to 20 hours inside the tank. Ensure you don’t overfeed.
Re-Culturing
Cultures will become exhausted after a few months depending on size of culture and feeding. Cultures will become stinky and dirty. Time to re-culture.
Remove panel with worms from culture. Aim to remove as many of the worms as possible for the original culture.
Repeat steps outlined in method and seed new culture with original worms.
Feeding
Feed worms with fish pellets. We feed our Grindal Worms with 9mm sinking pellets. Worms can be gut loaded with a range of foods such as algae wafers and vegetables.
Only feed what can be consumed in 1 - 2 days. Ensure not to overfeed.
Recommendations
Grindal Worms can be easily gut loaded with a range of foods. Be careful not to overfeed. Additional feeding will exhaust the culture media quicker with build up of worm waste.
We recommend starting minimum of 2 cultures. This allows a backup culture if one crashes, and prevents overharvesting of your main culture.
Store away from direct sunlight in temperatures approximately 20-29 degrees celsius.
Other culture media can be used, such as potting soil and peat moss but are more acidic and may impact your culture. We use coco coil, and works well for us. Soil-less cultures can be established using sponges, please do further research if you wish to explore this option.
