Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

hi all,

after introducing a new food source (horse manure) to my worm farms (red worms) i also introduced the infamous white worm.

i have researched and found differing opinions with regards to there place in the worm farm. one thought is that they compete with red worms for food and space, and can inhibit production. another school of thought is that they work harmoniously together if the farms are well managed. `

my question is do you think i should try remove them or should i keep them breeding? whats the verdict on using whiteworms for a food source in aquaculture? i'm thinking they may have use as fish fry food.

i know aquaaddict has spoken about white worm and look forward to his reply. anyone else have any thoughts on this one?

thanks

Nice, your fish will love them regardless of size. I got huge goldies go loopy on the whiteworms but prefer to keep them for my carnivores.

I don't know how long it will take or how many to start a culture. I'd leave them in there, very common in compost heaps, they will produce protein at a rate of 1:10. Meaning 1 gram of worms produced from devouring 10 grams of food.

I feed them white bread. At $1 a loaf I have no problem with this. In the mealworm thread I quote a young scientists instructions on WW specific culture.

I'll go fetch....

Here ya go

white worms - Enchaetraeus Albidus (sp?)

I have these and they are booming in a poly box with plain old potting mix (fert incl) and I feed them white bread they love it. I soak it to introduce water to the box. This is what a herpetologist instructed me to do with them.

"The worms produce at 1 10/th the weight of bread they consume. Care to be taken that they consume this quickly as the mold that can grow on the bread can be harmful to your fish. They also love white rice.

I have them feeding on half a piece every two days now I hope to get them up to double this rate.

Reasons for population crashes include not culling the worms and the soil souring, test it when the farm is doing well, add a wee bit of lime when it declines in production."