CATDOLL : CATDOLL: Are the fish and red nematodes in the aquarium store bred in-house or imported?

1. Are the fish and red nematodes in the aquarium store bred in-house or imported?

Most of the fish are imported

Red worms are easy to reproduce, just reproduce on their own

2. How to breed red worms

In the natural environment, red nematodes mainly feed on bacteria, yeast, algae and organic debris (fragments of plants and animals). To cultivate red nematodes artificially, you need to prepare the culture solution in advance. Take 4.5 kg of fertile soil (soil from the garden or vegetable garden) and 1 kg of straw (cut into 2 cm), pour them into a large tank, add 50 kg of water, stir them thoroughly, place them at a temperature of 15-18°C for 3-4 days, and then filter them with gauze. The filtrate is called the stock solution. Take a certain amount of the stock solution and pour it into another tank, then add 2-4 times the pond water, so that the culture solution is prepared. At this time, you can put a small amount of red nematodes into the culture solution, and keep the water temperature at 18-25°C. The red nematodes grow very fast and will reproduce in large quantities to feed goldfish or other fish. In the process of cultivating red nematodes, the stock solution should be added at any time to ensure sufficient feed for fish and worms. Water earthworms: also known as red nematodes and red nematodes, belong to the aquatic oligochaetes among annelids, with bright red or blue-gray body color. They mostly live in the mud on the banks or bottom of rivers, densely packed on the surface of the mud, with one end fixed in the mud and the other end trembling in the water. If disturbed, they will immediately retract into the mud. Water earthworms have extremely high nutritional value and must be repeatedly rinsed in clean water before feeding. They are a favorite bait for goldfish and koi, and are also the main bait for eel fry. After the Huangpu River in Shanghai recedes, a large number of water earthworms grow in the mud on the banks, and people catch them in large numbers every spring and autumn.

3. How to breed red worms in winter

Red worm breeding: Red worms are also called water earthworms, which are actually the larvae of chironomids. They live in river and pond sludge, but require the water to be flowing and clean. Red worms are the best bait for fish, containing high protein. They are also one of the popular foods on the tables of foreign countries in recent years, comparable to snails. There are specialized breeding farms. Rice bran, sawdust, banana peels, sugarcane bagasse, silt, pigeon manure, etc. are often fermented to make breeding feed. When breeding a small amount of red worms at home, the river and pond sludge can be taken back together with the worm species, placed in a clay pot or glass container, preferably soaked in river water. If tap water is used for breeding, tap water should be placed in a large basin for 2-3 days in advance to remove bleaching powder and other substances before use. Change the water every other day. (You can also store the container in the refrigerator). When using, take as much as you need, put it on a clean, moist red cloth, and prevent freezing in winter, and put it in a box for heat preservation. If you spray it with alcohol, the shelf life can be extended a bit, but you cannot breed it again and must never put it back into the original breeding pot.

That's all!

4. How to breed fish worms

Fish worms are also called "water fleas", professionally known as cladocerans or copepods. People who love goldfish often feed them with fish worms to make them grow faster and reproduce more. Fish worms are neither fish nor insects. They are a type of zooplankton that lives in fresh water. They often jump in the water, much like the movements of fleas, so people call them water fleas.

How to collect

Fish worms like to live in slow-flowing fertile water, and the water depth is generally about 0.5 meters. Every year in late spring and early autumn, it is the season for fish worms to reproduce in large numbers. Fish worms float on the water surface, often making the water surface brown-red, and people can easily find them. In southern my country, fish worms can be collected all year round, and they are easier to collect in spring and autumn.

Before collecting, you need to prepare the collection net. The handle should be long, preferably 3-4 meters, the diameter should be small, preferably 20-30 centimeters, and the depth should be 50-60 centimeters. You should also cover the net mouth with a layer of plastic green yarn, the mesh of which is just enough for fish and insects to pass through. In this way, you can prevent aquatic plants and other debris from entering the net when collecting.

Collection method: First choose a suitable collection location, find fish and insects, and use the collection net to slowly and repeatedly catch them on the water surface. Repeat this several times, and you can catch a large number of fish and insects, and move them into a plastic bucket or plastic food bag filled with a small amount of water.

Careful observation

After bringing the fish worm back to the room, use a pipette to suck up some fish worm liquid, drop a drop on a clean slide, and observe it under a magnifying glass or binocular dissecting microscope. You can see that the fish worm is 1-3 mm long, flattened, transparent, and divided into two parts: head and trunk. There is a movable compound eye in the center of the head, and a smaller simple eye behind the compound eye; there are also large and small antennae on the head. The large antennae are both branched and segmented, and are the movement organs of the fish worm. The small antennae are neither branched nor segmented, and are the sensory organs of the fish worm. There are 5-6 pairs of thoracic limbs on the ventral side of the trunk, which are auxiliary organs for movement and help with feeding and breathing. There are also obvious shell spines at the end of the trunk.

How to feed

In the natural environment, fish worms mainly feed on bacteria, yeast, algae and organic debris (fragments of plants and animals). To cultivate fish worms artificially, you need to prepare the culture solution in advance. Take 4.5 kg of fertile soil (soil from the garden or vegetable garden) and 1 kg of straw (cut into 2 cm), pour them into a large tank, add 50 kg of water, stir them thoroughly, place them at a temperature of 15-18℃ for 3-4 days, and then filter them with gauze. The filtrate is called the stock solution. Take a certain amount of the stock solution and pour it into another tank, then add 2-4 times the pond water, so that the culture solution is prepared. At this time, you can put a small amount of fish worms into the culture solution, and keep the water temperature at 18-25℃. The fish worms grow very fast and will multiply in large quantities to feed goldfish or other fish. In the process of cultivating fish worms, add the stock solution at any time to ensure that the fish worms have enough feed.

Parthenogenesis

Fishworms are dioecious. In warm seasons, when food is abundant in the water, the eggs laid by female fishworms do not need to be fertilized. They lay a few to dozens of eggs each time, and they develop directly into small fishworms in the mother's hatching sac. These small "fishworms" are usually female. A female fishworm can reproduce continuously in batches, and the small fishworms produced will reproduce the next generation after they grow up. This parthenogenetic reproduction method allows fishworms to reproduce in large quantities in a short period of time. The eggs laid at this time are called summer eggs. When the environment becomes unfavorable, some of the summer eggs will hatch male worms. Male worms are smaller than female worms and have slightly different body shapes. At this time, fishworms turn to bisexual reproduction, and the eggs produced are called winter eggs. Only 1-2 eggs are laid each time, and they must be fertilized before they can develop. The winter eggs dormant for a period of time, survive the adverse environment such as severe cold or dryness, and then continue to develop. The hatched ones are female worms, and a new generation of parthenogenesis is carried out. According to experiments, winter eggs can still hatch "fishworms" after being dried for more than 20 years.