Enhancing the nutritional quality of nematode cultures:

The nutritional quality of nematodes can be enhanced by the use of media enrichment or a bio-encapsulation technique. Enrichment is simply carried out by adding a fortification additive (vitamin premix for example) to the culture medium (referred to as direct enrichment). Rouse et al. (1992) used a culture medium which was fortified with a 10% fish oil emulsion, obtaining nematodes that had a significantly higher total lipid content and elevated levels of (n-3) HUFA.



A few reasons why I swear by nematodes:

1) They don't swim away.
Baby brine shrimp swim faster than most young fry, making it hard for the fry to catch up with them and gobble them up. Nematodes, however, do not swim. They either squiggle around your tank in the current or fall at the bottom and stay there, stationary, so they are easy prey; even the slowest fry can eat peacefully.

2) They are the perfect size.
Baby brine shrimp are often too large for the mouth cavity of 3 day old fry. Nematodes are the perfect size. I have successfully fed these to 2 day old betta fry.

3) They are easy to spot.
Nematodes jiggle all day long, for as long as they live, which makes them easy to spot. The fry are attracted by the movement, close in and then: *gulp*.

4) They stay alive longer.
Nematodes can stay alive for up to three days inside the tank, while brine shrimp rarely make it past the first 30 hours.

5) They do not cause swimbladder disorder.
There has been a correlation between the feeding of brine shrimp and swimbladder disorder. The disorder causes the fry to sink and become unable to balance themselves properly while swimming. Entire spawns have been ruined and lost that way. Nematodes however, can be fed freely without fearing a swimbladder disorder outbreak. With the feeding of micro worms, banana worms, or Walter worms to my fry, I have achieved a 0% swimbladder disease for 1 year (I kid you not).

6) They are inexpensive.
Brine shrimp eggs can be quite expensive. Only part of the eggs will usually hatch, so there is always a waste. Worms are cheap to purchase, cheap to set-up and maintain.

7) They last forever.
With a minimum of maintenance, you can keep your culture going forever. No need to keep buying more cultures, one will suffice :))

8) They are prolific.
They do not require heat or light to prosper. Brine shrimp can only be harvested once hatched, which can take up to 3 days sometimes. When a worm culture is going, you can harvest every day, often twice a day.


How to look after your cultures and what you need:

In order to start off a micro worm culture, you will need to buy some micro worms.

Equipment you will need:

• Worms (I will use micro worms as an example, but the procedure is the same for all)
  
• Square plastic container (ice cream tub will be ok)
  
• Small paint brush
  
• Water spray bottle
  
• Porridge oats (any brand)
  
• Yeast
  
• Water
  
• Mixing bowl

1) With a mixing bowl, add a few hand fulls of oats and a pinch of yeast. Give a quick stir and add water until the porridge goes runny. Leave to stand for five minutes and you will notice that the water gets absorbed. Add some more water until runny again.

2) Tip the runny mixture into the ice cream tub. The tub should be less than a quarter full. Leave to sit for 5 minutes.

3) Add the packet of micro worms to the top of the mixture and give it all a good stir.

4) Lightly spray the ice cream tub with the water and then leave the culture alone for a day or two.

After 1-3 days, you may notice the micro wriggly worms. If you hold the tub upto the light you will see thousands of tiny little microworms wriggling around the corner.

When it gets to this point, simply take your paint brush and gently brush it along the top, leaving the oats begind. Then dip it into your aquarium and you will see the worms wriggle off and the fish will be going mad for them. All of my fish, adults and babies love them.

If the culture starts to go dry just simply spray it.

After around 2 weeks, you may want to start a new culture as it does start to smell slightly. Simply take around 2 tablespoons full of the old mixture out and set aside. Then throw the rest of the old culture out. To start again, just repeat steps 1,2,3 and 4!