What do you feed to your grindal worm？

[xipo817]

I feed grindal worm to my betta and guppy.
And I feed cat’s artificial food to the grindal worm.
There's no problem at all now, but I am very curious about what other people feed to their grindal worm.
I will appreciate it if you would answer my question.

 

[AbbeysDad]

I don't currently culture Grindal worms, but I do culture White Worms. The 'secret' is that worms consume organic matter but derive their nutrition from bacteria and protozoa that feed on the decaying organic material (this is similar to micro worms that feed on yeast that feed's on the oat or potato media) ...and to a degree, some of the 'food' is cultured in the worms own gullet.
So basically any very moist organic material will work as food for their real food. Some use cat or dog food, but one could make a case that bread or any grains and/or veggie waste could be used.
Now for the White Worms, I use yogurt and a mix of whole wheat flour, chicken starter, and corn meal (thinking of replacing the chicken starter with powdered oatmeal). The live culture yogurt (in the cooler white worm cultures) brings 6 beneficial yogurt bacteria the the food table, but perhaps not a good choice for Grindals at room temperature.
I powder the grains in my Magic Bullet - remember, the worms don't have teeth so a wet powdered mix is much better than chunks.

 

[Colin_T]

My microworm cultures were 2 litre icecream buckets with 1/4 inch of boiled oatmeal in the bottom. I add a couple of tablespoons or microworms from another culture and leave it for a week. Then sprinkle a bit of bakers yeast on the worms.

Grindal worm cultures were 2 litre icecream buckets with 2 inches of peat moss in. The worms were added and left for a week. Then I put a small amount of baby cereal on the peat and put a bit of glass on that. Leave the culture until the food is gone then add some more.

I used to get some interesting coloured moulds growing in those cultures if I put in too much food. The mould seemed to grow on the cereal.

White worms were treated the same as grindal.

 

[GaryE]

I use kitten food, as it rarely turns into fungus balls. I've tried many things over the years, and most get you something. The current set up is pretty productive.

 

[xipo817]

Thanks everyone!
I didn't think much about importance of bacteria and protozoa.
I think I will try using yogurt.
I hope no mould will come out.
They smell really bad.

 

[AbbeysDad]

Thanks everyone!
I didn't think much about importance of bacteria and protozoa.
I think I will try using yogurt.
I hope no mould will come out.
They smell really bad.

Be advised: Yogurt may no be a good choice for grindals as at room temperature, yogurt will quickly spoil and smell really bad! It works well for white worms but white worms are cultured in much cooler temperatures.

 

[Colin_T]

Yogurt may no be a good choice for grindals as at room temperature, yogurt will quickly spoil and smell really bad!

Speaking of yoghurt, I bought a 1 litre container of yoghurt years ago. I put it on the window sill to age for a week before I ate it. I forgot about it and a year later I saw it. I decided to check the expiry date and that was long gone. I checked the ingredients for preservatives and there were none. I decided to open it and see how gross it was. Low and behold it was fine. No mould, no bad smell. It had a thin skin over top and tasted like normal fresh yoghurt.

I contacted the company and asked how this was possible. They didn't know. All they said was don't eat it. I ate some and was fine. All I can assume is that the culture was nice and sterile when packed and because it was sealed up airtight, it didn't go off and nothing bad got in, so it stayed fresh. I must point out that this is in Australia and it sat on the window sill for a full year including summer where we have 40C+ temperatures.

I had another container of yoghurt on the window sill and the lid blew off a few days later and the yoghurt was all tangy. I guess it was fermenting from yeast.

 

[AbbeysDad]

They didn't know. All they said was don't eat it. I ate some and was fine. All I can assume is that the culture was nice and sterile when packed and because it was sealed up airtight, it didn't go off and nothing bad got in, so it stayed fresh.

Some products labeled as 'yogurt' are in fact sterilized cultures (or thickened milk/cream like products) with no living bacteria. This really isn't good worm food and even isn't as good for you as yogurts with living pro-biotic bacteria cultures. I suspect that the yogurt you described may have been one of these products.

I make my own yogurt using a starter that contains 6 beneficial bacteria cultures.

Live yogurt made from milk will likely spoil, mold, and may smell pretty bad at room temperature.
If the OP is going to try live culture yogurt with Grindal worms, I suggest making a trench and burying the yogurt. HOWEVER, I'd do an experiment to test and not do several bins at once/first.

 

[xipo817]

Well I am keeping them at around at 30 degree celsius and there is no problem at now.
My yougurt is also made from milk and bacteria by my father(lol).
He is into yogurt thesedays.

 

[AbbeysDad]

Well I am keeping them at around at 30 degree celsius and there is no problem at now.

30°C (86°F) is a bit warm for Grindals that do best around room temperatures of 70°F - 72°F or a bit cooler. ■

 

[xipo817]

30°C (86°F) is a bit warm for Grindals that do best around room temperatures of 70°F - 72°F or a bit cooler. ■

Oh really？
I think I will make them cooler then.