The white worm culture is thriving. It’s interesting how big they actually get when you purposefully feed them. As I mentioned in my previous white worms post, we already have enchytraeids in the Vermiculture system. They are much skinnier when you see them in the worm castings. When I first heard of culturing white worms for fish food I was dubious since my experience was they were these thin little hair-like worms. Not so. They plump up quite nice as you can see. I’ve been feeding them chicken scratch paste. I mix a little water with chicken scratch and stir into a paste. The culture medium is worm castings. When I want to feed them, I make a small row in the middle of the bin and put the food paste in there and cover it up to prevent flies.

Honestly, even in their current plump state I’m still wondering how in the world these tiny things translate to serious useable protein. It’s crazy how the Soviets used them as feed for white sturgeon production. I’m inspired by their huge system of bins and look forward to cracking the production code. White worms like a temperature range of 59-77F and seem to prefer a neutral pH. They are euryhaline which means you can use fresh or saltwater for moisture and use them as a live feed in either. They are pretty easy to raise and I look forward to seeing if they translate into something we can really use. A huge thanks to Elizabeth Fairchild, PhD from University of New Hampshire for sending me the culture.

White worms profile:

75.9% protein
15% lipid
2.89% fiber
6.12% ash