Options for weaning 3 week old larvae?

[deb]

I've been brewing up brine shrimp for 3 weeks now and my larvae (approx 50) are doing ok. Looking forward to weaning them onto live bloodworms or whiteworms but I've discovered that none of my local pet shops have them. Neither do they have live daphnia. What is the best option for me please? Should I put a bucket of water outside with grass clippings to generate a daphnia horde? Or should I ferret through the compost for tiny tiny worms then cut them up? Or should I try frozen bloodworms which are available?

If anyone in New Zealand is aware of a source of live bloodworms can you please let me know. Thanks.

 

[ang]

You can get micro worm cultures on trademe, for about 8.00, that is what i think our babies will go on to.

Follow this link (hope it's ok to post links here)
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Sea...g=microworms&go.x=20&go.y=10&searchregion=100

(Message edited by gem on August 29, 2006)

 

[jennifer]

For larvae that are already well established and starting to grow, microworms would be too small. If you can get a culture of whiteworms, that would be a more practical size, but they would take a few weeks until harvestable. You could certainly try growing some daphnia, but it takes time to get them established too. I think you'd do better with frozen bloodworms (chopped if necessary) and chopped earthworms. Even if the earthworms are large and chopped into tiny bits, the scent may be enough to get the axies to learn to eat them.

 

[deb]

Thanks. I introduced some bloodworms in a kind of gel mixture last night (not live) and it really got their attention, so they must be able to smell something now. They were pretty amusing struggling with these worms and some managed to actually ingest some pieces. Two larvae got hold of opposite ends of a worm and had a tug-of-war! You could see their determination - won't be long now and I think they'll be up to it.