Grindal Worms - The Best Fish Food There Is
They're high in protein. They've got lots of vitamins. Even the pickiest fish eat them. They're exceptionally easy to raise. They're grindal worms, and I think they're the best fish food availible. Here's why.
- Easy. Grindal worms are probably the easiest food to raise anyone can find. All you need is dirt, oatmeal, a box, and some water. That's it. Just moisten the dirt some, put it in a box, sprinkle some oatmeal on it and moisten it, and voila. Grindal Worms a'plenty.
- Nutritious. Babies get all sorts of vitamins and minerals in their food to help them grow, why shouldn't growing fish? They can. By using baby cereal like Gerber Baby Oatmeal for grindal worm food, you can load all the nutrition of baby cereal into your live food and put it into your fish.
- Feed Anyone. Goldfish, bettas, Endlers, guppies, platies, danios, everyone eats grindal worms. The smaller of the worms are great food for fry over 3mm, and the larger worms will feed just about anyone.
- Fun. We all agree fish like to be close to their natural habitat, right? What could be more reminiscent of the wild than eating something living? Grindal worms thrash and struggle when harvested, exciting fish beyond belief. Even picky fish will have the hunter brought out of them.
The Nitty Gritty: Guide to raising Grindal Worms.
Housing. You'll need a box of some sort, something water proof. The best thing I've found is those little GladWare disposable tupperware containers. Make sure to punch hole in the top so the worms get fresh air.
Bedding. Grindal Worms need something to live and lay eggs in. Choose something basic, whithout many chemicals. I've had good luck with purely organic potting soil, (sort of a no-chem hippie mix) and excellent performance from coconut fibre. Leaf mould, if you can find it, is also supposedly a good bedding. It will have to be changed periodically, about every few months, as it becomes acidic by natural biological processes. (the worms hate acidic bedding)
Feeding. I highly reccomend Gerber Baby Oatmeal mix. It's heavily fortified, so, as i mentioned earlier, the worms will load up with the extra nutrition and transfer it to your fish. You can also use fish flake, plain oatmeal, bread, they'll even (relectantly) eat paper towels.
Harvesting. Although for some reason most people don't do it this way, I prefer to just pluck clusters of worms off the dirt with a pair of tweezers. It takes some extra time, but it's simple. The best way is to place the food near the edge of the container, so that the worms will crawl up the side and you can just pluck them off the plastic.
Getting Started. You'll need a Starter Culture. This will give you some worms to get a breeding population started.
Any further questions? Feel free to Email me at shtinkypuppie@hotmail.com!
 My reccomended food for grindal worms. |
 Grindal Worms swarming around some moist oatmeal. |
 A prepared grindal worm container. Note the holes in the cover. |  Worms crawl up the side and can just be plucked off the plastic. Picture to come. |