Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

We already know Joel has had worms in his beds. I've had aquatic worms in my UGF's and worms have appeared in other members systems.

I've been feeding white worms via my standpipe and some of them escape under it into the bed. They have now made themselves at home in there and I have found them at 3 sites where rotting plant matter was present. One, some wooly thyme that didn't take, 2, an old strawberry leaf, 3, some dud pea seeds and basil seeds that rotted.

So we have another addition in our clean up arsenal. They are fine in my scoria ebb and flow beds so would take to smoother mediums readily too.

Tiny wee things, great for the herb garden they've escaped into.

why not!

shrimps and crabs are used in marine aquaria as a clean up crew.

I have freshwater shrimp in my aquarium - great for cleaning up uneaten food and dead fish

Am...............do they breed?

now shipping me some of those isn't ging to work, is it?

Actually..............whats your postcode again? just wondering if you're in the express post network

Some shrimp are really good value Steve. I have small glass shrimp that clean the tank and even eat parasites in the benthos. They are all boys (well like 98%) and get to a certain age and become girls.

If you check e-bay you might get lucky.

I catch them on grassy bank corners at about 400ish mm depth with a net but wild culture requires long quarantine. There are reputable live glass shrimp suppiers with pre quarantined cultures. They can be shipped obviously. They're pretty hardy little critters.

Now, thread hijackers, back to these worms

I have observed the behaviour of them a bit because I don't have a life.

The whiteworms hang out 1 gravel piece deep by the young thyme as I threw a bunch of thyme pieces there and some lived some died. They are eating the dead stuff. They are not eating the live roots.

One of the pain in the ass problems of whiteworms is harvesting them. They tend to always have some dirt and grit no matter how you try unless you have all night every night to pick and clean em. I throw em in dirt and all (as little as possible) on a clean bottom tank and the dirt collects in one corner where it can be siphoned.

Whiteworms in the bed is different. No soil. Easy to harvest. They seem quite happy with dead plant matter for now, so I'm going to experiment.

I'll place a few good globs of worms in this bed. Then attempt to

- feed them vegetable scraps
- breed them within the bed itself to a harvestable extent

Free fish food and cleanup crew living off an establish systems rubbish within the beds themselves. Nice. I believe they'll also help with clogging issues associated with gravel beds.

No need to post them... they should be in the streams around where you live as they are 'supposed' to occure all over Australia (I even found them in South Africa and used them there!)
I tend to harvest them from a local stream just before the wet season starts (that way the water level is lowest) - and I catch about 30 to 50 - they last for the year, and they do breed, but the fish QUICKLY eat the young so the population falls off rather quickly! Moving water is a must for them though!

i gotta start hanging around my local water ways i'm really shit at identifying little critters though any help would be appreciated

I gotta really good book "Australian Freshwater Life" with keys to many invertebrates. A small description and you can find out most things.