IS my culture dead?

[GunsABlazin]

So it took me a couple days to figure out what to do with my universal worm culture, OFL helped me out after the 3rd day..but i think my culture died.

Is it supposed to smell like vinegar?
Also...if they are dead, what can i use (if anything) to feed fry to replace them? (i only ask this because i dont think my mom will buy me another set of worm cultures).

Thank you!

[mernincrazy8525]

you can feed them mosquito larvae. they are really good for fry. just leave a bucket of water outside and you will get millions.

[GunsABlazin]

They will work as replacements for the worms?
I have a very good supply of those little buggers.

What time frame would that be? rigth after the infurosea....or how ever they heck you spell/say that.

[Punki]

No no Mosquito larvae is much too big for new fry, most larvae are at least 2x as big as a fry :)) Larvae is good for the parents but Fry cant eat them for at least the first month, maybe more. Get some infusoria cultures going and BBS. I couldnt get ahold of a microworm culture or anything but what i did was mix the infusoria feeding with alittle hard boiled egg yolk water and it worked out. After a few days/week you can hatch some bbs. Mine were too small for bbs the first week.

[GunsABlazin]

i have the infusoria going, and i have Decapd Brine shrimp, but the only live i could get would be sea monkeys.

[Punki]

lol You know i bought some sea monkeys but it failed, only about 10-20 in the baggy, not enough at all, so now i have seamonkey pets :))

[Oldfishlady]

If you use a brine shrimp net to collect the mosquito larva you can sometimes get some small enough for the smaller Betta fry.......and other aquatic critter too......

What I do-once I collect with the brine shrimp net...I rinse and transfer them to a small mesh net sitting over a small container of water so the smallest larva will fall through and use an eyedropper to gather the smallest larva to feed to the fry....the fry can eat much larger food items than you think and I have even seen mine grab a too big of one and another fry come over and they play tug-O-war with it tearing it apart so they can eat it......

[Punki]

I tried something similar to that scooping larvae water into a cup, then running it through a regular net over a coffee filter, i ended up getting tiny larvae but still not tiny enough, so now im smacking my arms because a couple have grown fully. Maybe next week ill try again :))

[Oldfishlady]

When you breed fish...its a good idea to invest in a brine shrimp net...they come in handy for more than Brine shrimp....lol......

I find different sizes and stage of development in the larva I collect....I find them smaller than the Betta fry and some bigger than the week old Betta fry...lol....

[RayneForhest]

That's a good idea. I sit every morning with a cup and a spoon, stealthfully, catching larvae one at a time... sometimes two or three.

Your method... MUCH BETTER...
My method, kinda fun