CULTURING AFRICAN WORMS by Murray Nott N.A.D.S. (originally published in "Our Discus" magazine, North American Discus Society Volume 3 Issue 3 1990).
Two recent articles in N.A.D.S. outlined the culture and uses of micro and white worms. I use both of these as live food sources for my fish and found the articles both interesting and informative. These are my foods of choice, along with brine shrimp and daphnia for both baby and young discus. For adolescent and mature discus, I prefer African worms. (This is what I bought them as, from another enthusiast, which look very similar to "Red Wrigglers".) Large Discus that tend to "graze" on white worms attack these annelids. The mature adult worms are too large to feed most discus so, I cut them with a razor blade into 1 inch pieces. Discus can handle the young worms whole.
Feeding African worms has the following benefits: they are easy to culture with low maintenance, they survive and reproduce at room temperature. They are nutritious and bring out the predatory instincts in discus increasing their activity levels. Finally they are large enough to deal with easily.
If your discus are unfamiliar with live foods, they may not take these worms at first. They will grab the worm, shake it, and spit it out. However the battle of discus and worm does not last long. Once a few have been swallowed, the battle is between the discus in the tank. The worms will actually be pulled from the mouth of any discus that leaves part of the worm dangling for more than an instant. My discus attack this food with more tenacity than any other food I have fed. After a feeding, the general activity level of the discus remains high for the rest of the day.
Let me explain how I raise these delicacies. I started with three worms and placed them in a 2ft X2ft X 1ft deep styrofoam box. This had first been filled 10 inches deep with a 50/50 mix of sterilized soil and peat moss. I keep this box in the basement at 64 F, although the worms have also done well in a room at 72 F. The worms are fed sparingly at first; about a tablespoon of starchy food a week but, once the culture is thriving, the feed needed is about 3/4 of a cup a week. Keep the soil moist but not wet. The soil should compress but be crumbly to the touch. The worm food often provides sufficient moisture. I keep the styrofoam top in place as this keeps moisture and the worms in and flies and other pests out. The food I use is varied: left over breakfast cereal, mashed potatoes, pasta (cooked) or any other left over starchy food.
I feed the discus live worms from a box one morning a week and then add food to the culture later that day. If any food remains in the worm box, from the previous feeding, do not add more. I find burying the food works best.
You will produce enough worms to feed 25 adult discus about once a week. If you wish to feed more frequently, set up more boxes. I feed small worms (1" to 1 1/2") for one feeding and mature worms (2" to 3") that have been cut up, at the next. These worms can be fed straight from the box or set in a container of moist moss for 24 to 48 hours to empty themselves. I prefer to feed them straight from the box and increase the roughage. However, if you are a cautious person, transfer them to peat moss first. An adult discus will eat 1 to 1 1/2 adult worms per feeding or 3 to 4 (1 1/4") worms. These worms remain active for at least 12 hours in water, even after being cut up. They might live longer, but not in a discus tank.
The following is a list of suggestions, in point form, that apply to many live food cultures.
1. Many live foods cannot be cultured at room temperature so supply the proper environment or do not start the cultures.
2. Always use sterilized soil, it's cheap, replacing those breeding discus aren't.
3. Use extreme care when feeding wild collected food to discus. Know what your doing.
4. Obtain your culture starters from someone already feeding them to discus.
5. If the culture smells like you wouldn't eat it, the discus won't either. Tainted food can cloud your tank or worse.
6. Keep your culture medium fresh and clean and keep back-up cultures in small separate containers.
7. If the food, for live cultures, isn't totally consumed don't add new food until you remove the old first.
8. Raise only heat tolerant annelids because most worms require lower temperatures.
9. Raise your own live food so you are sure it is safe.
10. Feed a newly cultured live food to only one tank for a period of time. (just as a precaution)
11. Predatory fish respond well when fed live food.
12. Improve your fish'd quality of life, by feeding live food.
In closing, remember not to deplete your live food breeding colonies. If it takes more than 1 minute to collect 30 worms, you are over harvesting. The biggest benefit of live food is its roughage content and the trace vitamins and minerals it provides.
