More about Microworms, Blackworms and Vinegar Eels

If you’ve come across some of the products new to our store; microworms, blackworms and vinegar eels, you may be wondering what exactly they are and their benefit to your aquarium. We have been excited to have these new species added to our collection as they provide a range of benefits to your aquarium, especially for your fry!

Microworms:

Microworms are a small nematode (less than 3 mm) that feeds off yeast in the fermenting medium. Kept in moist oat mixture the micro worms

Microworm-1

quickly populate the culture and will climb the sides of the container. Microworms are considered highly attractive as an early feed for fry due to their relatively high-fat content of the organism (around 20% of dry matter).

Microworms are simple to keep and easy to feed to young freshwater fish. They should be kept around room temperature in a relatively shallow container out of direct sunlight. Once a culture is started, with correct maintenance it is possible to have an indefinite supply of nutritious feed for your fry. For more on How to Culture Microworms, you can read this article.

Blackworms:

Those looking for fresh live fat happy blackworms for sale should be more than happy with our live Australian Blackworms. There is no real substitute for live food for all of the inhabitants of your aquarium, fry, axolotls, koi, discus, bettas, clowns, etc all will love you for such a bountiful feed.   Live blackworms rank among the best food that you can feed to your fish. Not only are they rich in protein and nutrients, but they can survive for indefinite periods of time in a freshwater tank – which means that unlike other foods, they will never foul the water and will live until eaten by your fish.

Vinegar Eels:

These unique species are a common first food for betta fry and so many other fish. Vinegar eels are roundworms we call nematodes and not actual eels. They feed on the live bacteria and yeast culture used to produce vinegar. They are free-living nematodes and can be found in unfiltered vinegar. Simply raise these species and feed them to your fry.

Vinegar eels are smaller than many nematodes, and last longer in the tank, and they swim throughout the water column which prevents too much bottom-feeding. Vinegar eels are commonly fed to newborn betta fish, killifish, rainbowfish, and other fry that require minuscule foods even smaller than baby brine shrimp (which hatch out at 450 microns in size).