If you're into breeding fishes, especially egg-laying species, then chances are, whatever fry food you have is likely to be too big for the young fry to consume.

Of course there are other early fry foods; like infusoria, paramecia and rotifers, but microworms (MWs) is generally acceptable over the first week or so.  The worms are real tiny, survive for about half a day in water and is low cost to maintain.

It is however, not intended as the only diet and should be supplimented with BBS.

Shipping a culture.

A friend in need?  So how does one pack for shipping off a MW Culture (MWC) via Express Post?
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Take half a teaspoon of media from a established culture, spread it out in the middle and bury the starter worms with about 1cm of dry oatmeal.  Cornmeal is also acceptable.
 

Pack new filtering wool between media and lid.  This is to prevent media from being tossed around during shipping. Place the container in a ziploc bag, pack it up and send starter culture off on a Monday, if possible, so that it doesn't sit around at the Post Office (it may not be air conditioned). Oxygen is vital!  The spaces in the wool acts as reserve air. A culture with too many worms in too small a container is likely to die before it reaches it's destination.

What to do when you receive the culture.

Say 'Thank you?  Of course!  At least let him or her know whether the culture made it.

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Get hold of 2 larger takeaway containers.  Remove filter wool.  Dump media into big container.

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Add cool* water to the starter container.  Stir it up, pour over and mix the media to a stiff consistency.
* Previously boiled water to remove contaminants but allow to cool first... you don't want to kill the worms!

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If you've added too much water and the media is runny, add more dry oatmeal.  I like mine that stays put and doesn't drip.

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Take half of the mixed media and spead it to a 2nd large container.  It's advisable to start off 2 cultures in the beginning, so that in case one crashes or is fungused, you have a backup culture.

Since the worms are active only at the surface of the media, having it thicker doesn't makes sense... it just waste money!  A 1cm thick media base is more than sufficient.

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These worms are quite oxygen hungry and as the culture becomes more productive, this becomes critical.  A culture can also crash from suffocation.  Ventilation holes can be pin-pricks through the lid and will prevent fruit flies from contaminating your culture.  Alternatively, a 'V' slot can be cut into the lid for more air.

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But since the 'V' slot will allow all sorts of bugs to contaminate and breed into your culture, filter wool (that came with the starter culture) can be used to block the opening, but yet allow ventilation.

When you're done, store the cultures in a cool dark place or under your aquarium stand.

I check all my new cultures for fungus and crashes, once every 2 days and while I'm at it, I'll give the media a good stir.  Don't ask me why it works, but it helps to speed up worm count!

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MW reproduction will start to pick up by the 4th day and one can find them crawling up the container wall.  Harvest daily to allow new worms to multiply.  After a week or so, as the media is consumed by the MWs, it will start to go runny.

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Add fresh media to stiffen.  When done, sprinkle a little yeast over the mixed media to boost worm reproduction.

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...and I mean sprinkle sparingly.  Continue to harvest.

A culture maintained this way will last about 2 mths.

A 'Preserved' culture
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When the fry are ready for larger foods and MWC is no longer required, don't throw it away!

MWCs can withstand dessication, ie. drying out completely.  Sure, the worms will die off but there are egg capsules that can be revived.  A few 'new' worms is all that's needed to help restart a fresh culture.
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