Fattening up a mandarin

[paul b]

I realize a lot of people have problems with mandarins and I designed a feeder for them to allow them to eat new born brine shrimp all day and that will certainly keep them alive but if you are stuck with a very skinny mandarin and you want to fatten him up quickly there is something else we can do besides give them the new born shrimp.
I mentioned blackworms in the past (many times) and mandarins will eat these.  But the problem with blackworms for a mandarin is that blackworms die almost instantly in salt water and mandarins usually won't eat dead worms, although everything else will.
I recently acquired a very skinny male mandarin and he would feast all day on shrimp but he was gaining weight to slowly so I started giving him live whiteworms.  The beauty of whiteworms is that they stay alive all day in fresh or saltwater and don't even seem to notice which is which.  At least I can't tell from the expression on their face.  Another good thing about whiteworms is that they reproduce very fast and the culture is full of adults and babies.  My culture has been going for over a year and I have more worms than I know what to do with and I don't eat them.
My skinny mandarin fattened right up and is spawning.
White worms can be ordered online and they come in a small package of soil.  Just put them in a plastic shoebox with potting soil, keep it wet and feed the worms instant mashed potatoes.  I pour in maybe a half a teaspoon of potatoes which is a powder and in an hour it is swarming with worms and I just lift them out on the blade of a knife, or Samori Sword.
The whiteworms will not burrow in the substrate of a saltwater tank but they will wiggle around like they are doing the Macarena all day.  Mandarins will hunt for them.  So will everything else so I feed the other fish first and hopefully they won't notice all the white worms near the mandarin.
I just thought some of you would like to know.  If not, go and watch "Dancing with the Stars"  I think Pee Wee is on this week. 

[JR-Tanked150]

That's pretty neat, I have feed black worms to my fish but until recently never heard of white worms. I think I might try them out.

[sen5241b]

I drop red sushi roe right in front of MDs with the flow off and they eat it up. Sushi roe (which are eggs) contains some very fattening nutrition. You can get it at most large Asian super-markets.

[sachabballi reef]

thanks Paul for taking the time to write this up....you are starting to sound like you have a tackle shop in your basement....

 

I am encouraged to try this...I have the brine shrimp hatchery going and I tried black worms...but the stink and upkeep was a little much

[paul b]

My worms don't stink.  What brand of antiperspirant are you using on them?

 

No tackle shop down there.  Just stuff.

 

[dave w]

As usual, another very helpful, informative and funny post by Paul.  You already got me to build a rack of trays for blackworms, now I'll have to building something to hold shoeboxes of whiteworms.  Pretty soon I'm going to run out of room for more PaulB gizmos.   

 

I read somewhere that whiteworms prefer cooler temps and some people put them in a fridge.  Paul are you also growing these at room temperature?

[AlanM]

Good timing.  I am getting a mandarin soon and I also ordered some brine hatching supplies and one of the club members is bringing a white worm starter to the next meet for me. 8)  I'll try to keep mine kosher and feed them matzo like yours eat 8)

[paul b]

 

  Pretty soon I'm going to run out of room for more PaulB gizmos.

 

 

I'm just getting started.

 

The worms prefer cooler temps, but so do I, who do they think they are?

 

[JR-Tanked150]

So Paul, what else do you grow or breed?

[splavey]

Are those Jewish whiteworms in the original post?? If I'm not mistaken, that's Matzoh they're eating.

[londonloco]

YUM, Matzoh with a layer of non salted butter...memories from my childhood.  

 

Thinking I'm going to start a white worm culture.....

[AlanM]

I think I remembered that PaulB drops selco or fish oil or something on the matzoh to enrich them a bit?

[sachabballi reef]

herein lies the confusion....above he says he uses powered potatoes but the pic shows matzo.....at least it isn't the brown paper towels anymore LOL

[paul b]

Yes, those are my Jewish worms eating the Matzo.  My Italian worms eat spaghett and meatballs.  I do put fish oil on Matzo's but I ran out of them as I am not Jewish and I found that they like instant mashed potatoes just as well.  

The only other thing I breed is brine shrimp every day to put in the feeder for the pipefish and mandarins.

The blackworms eat the brown paper towels, you have to keep your worm information straight.

White worms.  http://www.fishgobble.com/product/white-worm

[JR-Tanked150]

Reading some articles on them and find one last year by you. Did you ever find soil without fertilizer? Would the dirt made by composing work to grow white worms?

[YHSublime]

Thanks for sharing, Paul. I'm getting a culture to start with the white worms this April. I hope that after 3 months or so, I'll have enough to start putting in the tank, and enough to celebrate Hanukkah with next year! How do you keep your workshop so tidy, that is the real mystery. 

[TrueTricia]

I can just see my roommate's face if I told her I wanted to start growing worms.

[paul b]

 

Reading some articles on them and find one last year by you. Did you ever find soil without fertilizer? Would the dirt made by composing work to grow white worms?          

Why would you read an article by me?  I use potting soil, it is hard to find it without fertilizer.  You can mix it with some peat moss. 

That picture I took of my workshop it was under construction as you can see the parts that were not yet painted.  Now it is finished and I always have some projects going on on it.

I also built doors over those two places where you see all the junk under the bench.  I have massive storage places in there.

Of course this is a shot only from one side.  I have an abundance of power tools.

 

 

Edited March 27, 2014 by paul b

[Enkay]

I have tried the brine shrimp feeder but have not been very successful yet. My mandarins are thankfully the only ones who eat the pods and they appear quite fat which leads me to believe I have ample amount of pods in the tank.

 

I have seen them do the mating dance a couple times and am getting ready to try my hand at spawning and raising some fry (as mentioned in a diff thread). I am definitely going to try the whiteworms as well.

 

The male mandarin will eat blackworms but the female has never shown any interest in them. she wont eat them if one hits her smack in the face even. Picky lady.

Edited March 27, 2014 by Enkay

[paul b]

Come to think of it, I am not sure if my female eats them either.  She probably thinks they are icky.