Fisher
Tue Jan 02, 2007, 05:17 PM
Hell to everybody!You know that one of the best food for discus is Tubifex!It is a big problem to get it?so i tried ti breed it a lot of times,but no results!Here is one method of breeding it:NOW HOW ABOUT "REPRODUCTION?
These worms are not able to regenerate lost body parts, nor do they break into two or more parts to form two or more individuals. They are not asexual.
So these creatures reproduce sexually. The sex organs are found near the ventral part of the body. Each worm has a male and a female reproductive system. In other words they are hermaphroditic.
After copulation, which involves the transfer between the two individuals, the sperm is stored in sacs located behind the female reproductive opening. These fertilized eggs are then shed as a cocoon. The whole cycle is a little more complex then described here but you get the general idea.
The eggs within the cocoon develop within a few days after being shed and the development of the worm is complete, it is hatched a fully functioning worm.
THE HATCHING BOX
I have tried several different arrangements to hatch out and grow tubifex worms, the best one for limited space is to build either a plex-glass box or as I did a plywood box and seal it with fiberglass fiber and Resin. The one I use is 4ftX4ft square and 12 inches deep. This box is built with an open top. In the bottom of the box I put 4 inches of fine washed sand. The kind used in swimming pool filters.
You can find and buy this sand almost any where and a one hundred lbs bag is enough. This box in my room is placed on a concrete floor in an out of the way location.( Ja is there such a location in a fish room?).
I have two overflow pipes made of pvc cut into the sides of the box at the waterline these are in turn piped to a 40 gallon tank mounted 3 feet above the box. A third pipe cut into the box picks up the water through a pump and lifts it to the forty gallon tank above which is filled with foam rubber, the pump takes the water out of the box to the filter and the other two pipes return it to the box.
In the filter box I have ten air stones going full tilt at all times. Mounted on the four sides of the worm box I have four spray bars that keep the surface moving at a fast current rate 24 hours per day.
The rest is easy.. I started the culture with ½ Lb. of cleaned red tubifex that had been super cleaned with running water. These were then added to the sand bed and left for a starter culture.
The trick to this is that after about four generations the parasites that might remain have been flushed out of both the worms and the system. So each generation is exposed to fewer and fewer parasites or bacteria.
FOOD AND FEEDING THE WORMS.
The worms require super fine grain foods almost if not a fine powder. I use just plain fish flakes that are powdered by hand. Sometimes I also add egg noodles and make them into powder. This is fed very lightly to the worms. Do not over feed or the sand will become nasty stuff and hard to clean. I stir the sand about once each week to float anything that is not eaten back into the water flow where the filter gets it. The worms large and small quickly fall back to the sand bottom with out going out the over flow. You always have a few dead worms that occur, and the worms tend to ball up in one location or another in the box. When I see this I simply stir the worms up again, this frees the dead ones from the ball, ( if you doing it right ) you won't have many and they are carried out the overflow.
With just the one box I get about ½ to 3/4 lb of worms every two weeks. I am thinking about stacking two or three boxes over each other with just enough space between them to let me work the worms.
I have never found any of the hatchery grown worms to carry tapeworms or any other problem. It just requires some space and a little extra time each day to grow these favorite foods for discus."I've do all this-but it didn't work!
Here is My Question-If someone know to breed tubifex,i ask to inform me!
:oops:
These worms are not able to regenerate lost body parts, nor do they break into two or more parts to form two or more individuals. They are not asexual.
So these creatures reproduce sexually. The sex organs are found near the ventral part of the body. Each worm has a male and a female reproductive system. In other words they are hermaphroditic.
After copulation, which involves the transfer between the two individuals, the sperm is stored in sacs located behind the female reproductive opening. These fertilized eggs are then shed as a cocoon. The whole cycle is a little more complex then described here but you get the general idea.
The eggs within the cocoon develop within a few days after being shed and the development of the worm is complete, it is hatched a fully functioning worm.
THE HATCHING BOX
I have tried several different arrangements to hatch out and grow tubifex worms, the best one for limited space is to build either a plex-glass box or as I did a plywood box and seal it with fiberglass fiber and Resin. The one I use is 4ftX4ft square and 12 inches deep. This box is built with an open top. In the bottom of the box I put 4 inches of fine washed sand. The kind used in swimming pool filters.
You can find and buy this sand almost any where and a one hundred lbs bag is enough. This box in my room is placed on a concrete floor in an out of the way location.( Ja is there such a location in a fish room?).
I have two overflow pipes made of pvc cut into the sides of the box at the waterline these are in turn piped to a 40 gallon tank mounted 3 feet above the box. A third pipe cut into the box picks up the water through a pump and lifts it to the forty gallon tank above which is filled with foam rubber, the pump takes the water out of the box to the filter and the other two pipes return it to the box.
In the filter box I have ten air stones going full tilt at all times. Mounted on the four sides of the worm box I have four spray bars that keep the surface moving at a fast current rate 24 hours per day.
The rest is easy.. I started the culture with ½ Lb. of cleaned red tubifex that had been super cleaned with running water. These were then added to the sand bed and left for a starter culture.
The trick to this is that after about four generations the parasites that might remain have been flushed out of both the worms and the system. So each generation is exposed to fewer and fewer parasites or bacteria.
FOOD AND FEEDING THE WORMS.
The worms require super fine grain foods almost if not a fine powder. I use just plain fish flakes that are powdered by hand. Sometimes I also add egg noodles and make them into powder. This is fed very lightly to the worms. Do not over feed or the sand will become nasty stuff and hard to clean. I stir the sand about once each week to float anything that is not eaten back into the water flow where the filter gets it. The worms large and small quickly fall back to the sand bottom with out going out the over flow. You always have a few dead worms that occur, and the worms tend to ball up in one location or another in the box. When I see this I simply stir the worms up again, this frees the dead ones from the ball, ( if you doing it right ) you won't have many and they are carried out the overflow.
With just the one box I get about ½ to 3/4 lb of worms every two weeks. I am thinking about stacking two or three boxes over each other with just enough space between them to let me work the worms.
I have never found any of the hatchery grown worms to carry tapeworms or any other problem. It just requires some space and a little extra time each day to grow these favorite foods for discus."I've do all this-but it didn't work!
Here is My Question-If someone know to breed tubifex,i ask to inform me!
:oops: