Micro Worms - Live food for Betta fish fry

Micro Worms – Live food for newly hatched betta fry

 

Microworms (Panagrellus redivivus) are tiny white colored worms which are widely used by Aquarists and betta hobbyists as feed for the newly hatched betta fish fry.

 

Size

They are 50 Microns in diameter and just over one millimeter in length. Because of this size, they are ideal for many species of newly hatched fish fry.  They are barely visible to the naked eyes. But can be easily cultured at home.

 

Culturing micro worms

They live in room temperature over a substrate of Porridge or bread with a little bit of moisture content. Micro worms can be cultured in airtight plastic containers. This will avoid other insects and predators like rats, ants, and mites from entering the container. But the container should be opened at least once in 2 days to add fresh air and to release the fouling smell.  Pls wear a mask while you do this and do not open the container while you are inside your home- trust me it really smells bad.

Harvesting and Feeding to your Fry

Harvesting micro worm is simple. I use an ear bud to touch the upper surfaces of the container or lid where the worms crawl up, and then dip the bud in the Betta fry tank water. This leaves out helps to keep the water cleaner. Few people rinse a drop of the bread / oat substrate before feeding to the fry, However still there are higher chances of fouling the water in the betta fry tank and that will lead to mass die out of the fry.

 

When to feed Micro worms to the Betta fry?

Once the fry start swimming freely and they have consumed their egg sack nutrition, they will start looking for feed. Typically this happens on the 4-5^th day after the eggs are hatched. At this time the fry start feeding on live micro-organisms like micro  worms, infusoria. This is the right time to start feeding Micro worms to the betta fish fry.

 

Maintaining the culture:

Run at least 2 cultures in parallel so that if you happen to loose one, another will help. Kepp the container lid properly shut, so that no predators, insects or rats enter inside / tamper the culture. This will lead you to losing the culture. Open the lid and add small quantities of bread or oat meal that can be consumed by the worms in 5-7 days. Add a little bit of baking yeast. They develop faster by feeding on yeast. Change the culture and start new very 15 days to ensure you have a fresh culture going all the time. Last but not least, keep it out of reach of children.