Some pics from my phone..
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Thought I'd share my latest "project".. Started a Naidid worm colony. I have gotten very interested in various live food culture and the mad scientist in me has been experimenting again. You probably have seen these worms in your tanks from time to time. They are swim around like a tiny snake undulating in the water. They are harmless tank denizens that live off the detritis waste in the tank. The live in filters , substrate if you have it. You often see them if you medicate the fish when it irritates them. If you have substrate they may poke out of the substrates a bit if the dissolved Oxygen is low. High numbers may indicate you need to up your maintenance. I have one tank of pleco fry here that are eating machines and waste making demons. As a result theres always mulm and the sponges always need cleaning. Where the tank is I use a bucket to do water changes. I saw a few of these worms and started collecting them. I now have a pretty decent colony going. They behave similar to blackworms and They are a fraction of their size. Perfect size for alot of small fry.
I figured it was worth trying to culture them and so far its been going well. They are particularly fond of my pellets which they form a feeding ball around. I believe they use Chemotaxis (chemical signals) to find their food...which explains the clumping.I think they also give off a chemical signal because they will ignore some food if I spread it out...preferring to feed in a mass of worms
You can read more about them here..
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/130960-Naididae
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics...ences/naididae
al
Last edited by brewmaster15; 02-17-2024 at 06:01 PM.
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>>>>>I am a science guy.. show me the science minus the BS
Al Sabetta
Simplydiscus LLC Owner
Aquaticsuppliers.com
I take Pics.. click here for my Flickr images
Some pics from my phone..
20240217_162415.jpg
20240217_162433.jpg
20240217_162559.jpg
20240217_162634.jpg
AquaticSuppliers.comFoods your Discus will Love!!!
>>>>>I am a science guy.. show me the science minus the BS
Al Sabetta
Simplydiscus LLC Owner
Aquaticsuppliers.com
I take Pics.. click here for my Flickr images
I haven't quite figured out a species yet but for now I will just call them Naidid
Last edited by brewmaster15; 02-17-2024 at 06:02 PM.
AquaticSuppliers.comFoods your Discus will Love!!!
>>>>>I am a science guy.. show me the science minus the BS
Al Sabetta
Simplydiscus LLC Owner
Aquaticsuppliers.com
I take Pics.. click here for my Flickr images
They don't really like the microscope light it throws off alot of heat. In this pic you can see the worms abandoning the pellet of food. As soon as I remove it from the microscope the return to the pellet.
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Al
Last edited by brewmaster15; 02-17-2024 at 09:03 PM.
AquaticSuppliers.comFoods your Discus will Love!!!
>>>>>I am a science guy.. show me the science minus the BS
Al Sabetta
Simplydiscus LLC Owner
Aquaticsuppliers.com
I take Pics.. click here for my Flickr images
Let me know how it goes. It's not a food that rings my bell, though.
Mama Bear
I wish I had a better microscope I really can't take a decent pic through the eye piece.
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AquaticSuppliers.comFoods your Discus will Love!!!
>>>>>I am a science guy.. show me the science minus the BS
Al Sabetta
Simplydiscus LLC Owner
Aquaticsuppliers.com
I take Pics.. click here for my Flickr images
AquaticSuppliers.comFoods your Discus will Love!!!
>>>>>I am a science guy.. show me the science minus the BS
Al Sabetta
Simplydiscus LLC Owner
Aquaticsuppliers.com
I take Pics.. click here for my Flickr images
I don't really know. I have pleco fry and newborn Mystery Snails that might eat them, but they do well with what I'm giving them. But I no longer have Discus fry.
Mama Bear
Oh I see. For me they are perfect for alot of different fish fry... they are tiny. I havent found any nutritional analysis but these are in the same family as tubifex I would guess similar profile. And since cultured from my tanks I dont have to worry about heavymetals, parasites, toxic bacteria etc in tubifex and they are a fractiin of a size of tubifex and blackworms. Its a win win if culture well.
AquaticSuppliers.comFoods your Discus will Love!!!
>>>>>I am a science guy.. show me the science minus the BS
Al Sabetta
Simplydiscus LLC Owner
Aquaticsuppliers.com
I take Pics.. click here for my Flickr images
To funny I’ve got tnese guys growing like crazy in my shrimp and hillstream loach tanks. I feed to fry and my community tank. Pulled these out of the shrimp tank yesterdayEC9FA46A-2453-4B5D-89B8-6AB7DADB1338.jpg. Was wondering if these would be good for discus fry?
Lol..looks like mine. no reason why you could not feed them to your discus.
AquaticSuppliers.comFoods your Discus will Love!!!
>>>>>I am a science guy.. show me the science minus the BS
Al Sabetta
Simplydiscus LLC Owner
Aquaticsuppliers.com
I take Pics.. click here for my Flickr images
Hey AL I am really curious on what the nutritional value would be on those.
Just Call Me Chuck
Disclaimer : I am an old man and all this information is from the top of my head so any mistakes noted I claim the 5th
Haha, cool Al. Very industrious of you. Do you know how rabidly they multiply? I’ll better the sump in my 500gal Malawi tank is a veritable worm farm