# Dero worms



## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

I'm going to try to raise these guys. They're aquatic worms akin to tubifex but much smaller. I bought that little bit for $37 online. Most of the expense was on the shipping. Hopefully they'll breed and make the fishes happy.


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## payluder (Feb 3, 2016)

Wow man thats expensive risk for that small portion of worms. How are they compared to grindal worms? I recently culture them and now expended to 6 tubs of them which is like endless supply of fish food.


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

payluder said:


> Wow man thats expensive risk for that small portion of worms. How are they compared to grindal worms? I recently culture them and now expended to 6 tubs of them which is like endless supply of fish food.


yeah, it's an expensive risk for sure.

They're a little longer than grindals. The benefit is that they live in water so they won't die quickly and spoil in the water.


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## wispfox (Mar 8, 2016)

Where did you get them? I'm hoping to get some of them and some daphnia monia to culture together (evidently they culture decently together).


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

Dero, Freshwater Annelid, Living | Carolina.com

You can buy other critters too but shipping is too expensive. Dero is hard to find so they were my only source.


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

Just a little update. The worms survived in my plastic container with a simple diy sponge filter in the basement with temperature around 68F. Population looks to be the same, maybe a little more. They're consuming half a hikari bottom pellet every week. They're pretty small in general, about the size of grindals, perfect for micro fish and growing fry.
Hope to have a good population in 6 months.


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## Yukiharu (May 3, 2014)

Very interesting. I've been looking for live food for my fish as well.
Do they do better with or without substrate?


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

Yukiharu said:


> Very interesting. I've been looking for live food for my fish as well.
> Do they do better with or without substrate?


They probably do better with some sort of substrate but I'm not using one so I can keep an eye out for growth.


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## Yukiharu (May 3, 2014)

Another question. After some searching I have read that dero worms are prolific and will grow out in aquarium substrates if they are not all consumed. What do you make of this?


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

Yukiharu said:


> Another question. After some searching I have read that dero worms are prolific and will grow out in aquarium substrates if they are not all consumed. What do you make of this?


Yeah, that's a possibility of any aquatic worms. But with fish in the tank, they'll hunt down any that are visible especial bottom dwellers like Cory cats or loaches. They will actually big a little to get the worms.


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## GrampsGrunge (Jun 18, 2012)

Some images of Dero and other Aquatic Oligochaete worms..

Worms: Annelid Worms: Oligochaetes. Text with photomicrographs.


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

I found this article saying they'd multiply faster with no aeration!

Live Foods - Microfex / Dero Worms Culture

I guess lower O2 stimulate them to multiply faster but you'd have to worry about ammonia like most critters.
I'll keep my sponge filter and see. I they don't take off, I'll unplug it.


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## Clinton Parsons (Apr 11, 2016)

If they live in water, wouldn't they be good to add for detritus clean-up and maintain their own little population and serve for a continuous source of live food, or do they only like cooler temps?


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

Clinton Parsons said:


> If they live in water, wouldn't they be good to add for detritus clean-up and maintain their own little population and serve for a continuous source of live food, or do they only like cooler temps?


Fish would eat the population. They're tolerant of temperatures (68F-77F).


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## ichthyogeek (Jul 9, 2014)

I didn't know that Carolina had dero cultures! I have to get my hands on some asap...except that I'm a college student who spends a maximum of 3 months home in a year. Good luck on the cultures!

You're probably familiar with what's in here, but I figured you might want to take a look-see at this:
Urban Aquaria: Live Foods - Microfex / Dero Worms Culture


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

ichthyogeek said:


> I didn't know that Carolina had dero cultures! I have to get my hands on some asap...except that I'm a college student who spends a maximum of 3 months home in a year. Good luck on the cultures!
> 
> You're probably familiar with what's in here, but I figured you might want to take a look-see at this:
> Urban Aquaria: Live Foods - Microfex / Dero Worms Culture


If you want to wait a few months, my culture should be a good size and maybe save money on shipping with 2 day priority.


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## ichthyogeek (Jul 9, 2014)

In a few months, I'll probably be back in college, stuck with an animal-less planted tank...but maybe I'll take you up on the offer next summer. How much did Carolina make you pay for shipping?


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

ichthyogeek said:


> In a few months, I'll probably be back in college, stuck with an animal-less planted tank...but maybe I'll take you up on the offer next summer. How much did Carolina make you pay for shipping?


$28 I think.


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

Update:
They're eating a whole small wafer a week now. The population tripled, perhaps more. They reproduce pretty fast as long as there is food.

The sponge filter is on low flow and I guess it's doing its job.


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## flukekiller (Jun 4, 2013)

just a thought,, not sure if you are looking for smaller worms or not but why 
not culture live black worms? i am currently doing this, plus i get 1 LB of live
black worms shipping included for <$50... i started my culture months before
i got my fish since i knew they would eat a ton(10 discus and 2 stingrays).
in 4 months i probably doubled my worms and possibly could have tripled, if
not more, if i kept them in a pebble substrate.


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

flukekiller said:


> just a thought,, not sure if you are looking for smaller worms or not but why
> not culture live black worms? i am currently doing this, plus i get 1 LB of live
> black worms shipping included for <$50... i started my culture months before
> i got my fish since i knew they would eat a ton(10 discus and 2 stingrays).
> ...


These are for smaller fish. Dero reproduce way faster it sound like. They do fission.


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

Things are going as expected. Their numbers are a lot more than when I got them but still too small to harvest.

I found detailed info on them here

Dero digitata (Mueller, 1773) - Checklist View

It looks like I can feed them rolled oats when I run out of algae wafers. It also looks like they do reproduce sexually sometimes just for some genetic variation. I'll post some microscopic views when I can find some glass slides. They're somewhere.


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