The perfect 'free' food

[Wyld-Fyre]

Hi all,

Just hoping this'll help anyone in a similar situation as mine.

I've got LF Leopard Danio fry's in my tank, and have found a perfect solution to feeding fry. Planarians. Since these worms exist in most, if not all, tanks, I've allowed mine to breed in my snailarium/fry tank.

I've noticed that all my fry from the largest to the smallest have attempted to eat these worms. The remaining fry are now large enough to eat even the longest worms, and have grown quickly on this diet.

The fry are growing fast, and are very colourful. All it takes is to allow the Planarians to eat the left-overs. It's that simple.

Hope this helps anyone.

 

[yhbae]

Is that the little white worms that live in dirty/overfed tanks?

How do you mass produce them?

 

[Wyld-Fyre]

Yep, they're the ones. Small, thin, white, stringy things that live in the substrate/filter media.

For me, success in breeding them has come about by:

1) leaving the tank devoid of adult fishes who'll easily consume a whole bunch of these worms with no problem whatsoever.
2) Plenty of left-over food
3) A nutrient-rich environment

And perhaps:

1) A little warmth (for me via sunlight)
2) Algae (I don't know if they eat algae, but its there)
3) A good substrate fir them to live, and breed in

Mine are doing very well in my 5G fry/snailarium tank. Hope this helps.

 

[yhbae]

Thanks for further details...

Hmm... Do you have any filter going in that tank?

 

[bluefire]

yeah that is good for fry tanks, i have done it a few times, i turn off everything and let the planaria and cyclops go wild. just before adding the fish i do a big water change so the tank is clean and the fry love it

 

[cutecotton]

they dont' need a starter culture or anythign like that?

so..if i just take a 5g, fill it iwth water, left it say outside or something with gravel as a substrate, with no filter and all and som eleftover food on the bottom of the tank..

i'll get worms?

 

[Final Dynazty]

Do they like magicaly appear there

 

[yhbae]

I had it once in my 10g... Basically, that tank had gravels that were almost 1cm in size, and I didn't gravel vac for about 2 months (still did water changes! ). This "allowed" uneaten (or more like inaccessible food) to get trapped in the gravel for extended period of time, and one day I saw this little white wiggly thing! Of course, I went to the board and asked about it, and by the time I found out what it was, the fish has eaten it already...

I never saw them again. I also never let a tank not go through gravel vac for 2 months again either...

 

[bugsy66]

Catfish love to eat these worms too.

bugsy

 

[cutecotton]

can they be harvested? i woudl like some, but i dont' awnt to put gravel and uneaten food in my tank

are you srue i dont' need a starter culture of planaria? i can't imagine worms growing out of nothing in an 5g with nothing but water and food

 

[yhbae]

can they be harvested? i woudl like some, but i dont' awnt to put gravel and uneaten food in my tank

are you srue i dont' need a starter culture of planaria? i can't imagine worms growing out of nothing in an 5g with nothing but water and food

Again, I'm no expert in this topic, but I did end up with one and I certainly didn't seed it... I wonder where it came from...

 

[wuvmybetta]

If I can add my two cents. Please make sure you don't feed them to slow moving or immobile fry. I watched an entire betta spawn be wiped out by a planaria boom in that tank. They eat very small fry.

 

[Wisperian]

*gasp* they do wuv? btw i have lots =)

 

[Wyld-Fyre]

Planarians can live in any type of matter, and can be transferred from one tank to another. The most logical explanation I can come up with is that I had gotten mine through my plants, gravel, or maybe as worm eggs in fish-poo (?)

Anyhow, the best way to let them breed is to, simply, let them be and just adding additional food to the tank. Yes, I do have a filter in the 5G, but as the fry are so small I didn't want them getting sucked up into the filter. This gets switched on for 0.75 parts of the day (most of the day).

As soon as the filter, and lights, come back on again, they'd disappear back into the substrate. I take it they hate the light?

Wuvmybetta. Wow! I had never thought they'd could be carnivorous as well. If this is the case, I wonder why have they not attacked, and eaten, my minute baby snails?