Culturing your own selective live foods is rewarding, educational and substantially decreases costs of buying replacement live foods. In this article I will cover the topic of Microworms.

Microworms are classified as a species of Nematodes. One of the most numerous multicellular animals on earth, the majority of Nematodes are parasites of plant life, animals, and insects. Fortunately, Microworms are a 'free living' species of Nematode, meaning Microworms are non parasitic and feed on bacteria and fungi. For those of you who are curious, the scientific name for Microworms are Panagrellus Nematode.

Microworms are often used as fry's first food, as they are perfect for the first 2-5 days of baby betta fry's life to help them become strong enough to chase and eat baby brine shrimp. Microworms are extremely easy to culture, in fact the most difficult part is simply remembering to lightly spray water mists on your culture to keep it going. Obtaining a starter culture is possible through a betta breeder or any biological supply store. The size of the starter culture is unimportant as microworms live bear 10-40 young every 1-1.5 days over a 20 day lifespan. Microworms appear as tiny squiggling white lines and are 1/16th of an inch. A single pipette drop of live culture will contain roughly 800,000 Microworms.

Microworms can be cultured in any shallow-tight waterproof container. Small Tupperware containers are inexpensive and perfect for a continuous Microworm culture. Once you have obtained a starter culture of live Microworms, it is a good idea to add this to a larger medium/substrate to insure longevity of continuous culturing. A number of possible mediums can be used for culturing Microworms such as bottled baby food, cornmeal, oatmeal, and mashed potato's. To activate bacteria for the Microworms to eat, add and mix in a pinch of live yeast to any size of the above suitable medium. Regardless of the size of the medium, only a pinch or two of live yeast is needed because the purpose is only to activate a bloom of bacteria. I use instant mashed potato's because mashed potato's as a substrate will exude the least amount of odor as both the bacteria and microworm culture thrives. Mix the instant mashed potatoes so they are slightly dry: solid and chunky. Adding to the instant mashed potato's, mix in a pinch of live yeast first and set it aside for 5 minutes to allow the live yeast particles to soak in moisture. This act will safeguard the microworms from being 'shocked' or possibly dry up by touching a dry particle of live yeast. After the prepared mashed potato's/live yeast substrate is cool to the touch, gently stir in the starter live Microworm culture directly into the substrate. Lightly mist the substrate with water. Setting the culture container on a warm surface such as a aquarium light hood will produce a fully thriving culture over night. As the Microworms reproduce and thrive, the surface of the Mashed Potato's substrate will become runny and shimmer through movement of millions of Microworms. Microworms will also be seen crawling up the sides of the container. It may be a good idea to create a small hole in the lid (such as using a needle or pin) to allow for gaseous exchange. Once a thriving Microworm Culture has been established, IT IS NECESSARY TO MIST THE CULTURE WITH WATER regularly to prevent the microworms from drying up and dying. As most seasoned breeders will tell you, mixing a back up culture is a wise idea.

Microworms live, eat and breed in their own excrement. The following technique has proven to be best for harvesting microworms, keeping the health of the betta fry in top priority.

Make a paper napkin or paper towel slightly damp with water, squeezing out all excess drops of water. Lay this moisted piece on the surface of the culture. The top surface of the moistened paper napkin or towel will be crawling with clean Microworms within 3-6 hours. The clean Microworms are easily harvested and added to the fry tank using a pipette, spoon, or finger.

Upon hatching, Betta fry will first feed on their yolk sac for the next 24-36 hours. Fry will begin swimming horizontally in search of food as soon as their yolk sac is consumed. Upon observation of the first sign of horizontal swimming, one should begin feeding Microworms. All Betta fry will not simultaneously finish consuming their yolk sacs and begin swimming horizontally at the same time. It is important to begin feeding microworms at the first sign of swimming horizontally (a.k.a. free swimming). Remember that a small amount of Microworms will feed a lot of fry, up to 800,000 Microworms will be present in a small drop.

Microworms are not suitable for feeding adult bettas that have had a lapse of being feed micro sized food for more than 1 week. Betta's eyes will switch from seeing 'micro' to 'macro' as they mature. If Betta are fed both 'Micro' and 'Macro' sized foods, the bettas will be able to see both Macro and Micro size. However if a lapse of more than 1 week occurs, the eyes will permanently switch over Macro. This change of vision does not occur at any specific age but is instead dependant on the explanation above.

About the Author

Echosaisis Clark is a betta breeder and the owner of BettaChoice.com located in Sacramento, CA. Echosaisis Clark is an active member of the International Betta Congress and the California Betta Society.

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