# This may be a stupid question but has anyone used microworms to feed to dart frogs



## clarksgeckos (Jun 8, 2014)

Just came across these and thought they may make a nice and simple feeder for small dart frogs. Just wondering has anyone ever attempted raising and feeding mixroworms to their dart frogs?
Best regards,
Clark


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## SDK (Aug 11, 2014)

Raising microworms is very easy. I have kept cultures going for years with minimal effort. 

Feeding them to dart fogs is another story. If anyone has done it successfully I would also love to hear about it. I know a few tricks for both culturing and getting large, clean yields separated from the media....


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## clarksgeckos (Jun 8, 2014)

What would be the problem to get them into the frog tank?


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## SDK (Aug 11, 2014)

They are tiny and don't move well out of the water. I think the problem would be getting the frogs to eat them. Not so much getting them into the tank.


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## FroggyKnight (Mar 14, 2013)

These microworms really are MICRO and are probably too tiny for most darts to eat. Maybe small pumilio will eat them, but I'm not sure if there would be enough movement to elicit a feeding response. 

John


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## Dendrobait (May 29, 2005)

Our tanks are usually crawling with tiny nematodes around the size of microworms anyway. They are usually ignored by most frogs. I've seen some frogs trying to eat them when they crawl up the glass and whatnot but it is tough as they do not stick to frog tongues very well. I don't think they would be a worthwhile feeder to culture.

Now, for rearing baby fish these are one of the easier foods available. One little trick to getting them out of the cultures is to put a damp paper towel on the surface for a minute or two and then peel it off...it will be covered with microworms. Swish them off into some water and then pipette into tank. Sure beats scraping them off the sides if you need lots.


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## jimmy rustles (Mar 10, 2013)

Did anyone try gnat larvae in shallow dishes or dumped into bromeliad reservoirs?


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## Jeremy M (Oct 19, 2012)

These worms also needs to be constantly moist or else they will die. Because if this you would have to feed them on some sort of plastic with a thin film of their media, since it's not plausible to separate them from the liquid media. Even if darts did try to eat them, I'm sure they would get more liquid media than worms. Also, because of their hunting technique (sticky tongue flips out and catches prey) I think they may not even be physically able to consume these. 

That said, they are very easy to culture, produce A LOT of food and are perfect for small tropical fish. I actually somehow managed to crash most of my cultures by trying to make the oatmeal mixture too moist. They produced for a few weeks and then one day every single culture had separated (oatmeal @ bottom, water on top), most had some form of mold growing in them and all the worms were dead- I had three diff. species in 12 diff cultures. Luckily I still had a small amount in the original culture that I split from, so I babied it and have healthy cultures now. Lesson learned: don't try to overcompensate for moisture, they'll be fine in regular gelatinous oatmeal!


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## SDK (Aug 11, 2014)

Dendrobait said:


> One little trick to getting them out of the cultures is to put a damp paper towel on the surface for a minute or two and then peel it off...it will be covered with microworms. Swish them off into some water and then pipette into tank. Sure beats scraping them off the sides if you need lots.


A variation/improvement on that technique;

Cut "two" paper towel rectangles, one slightly smaller than the other. Put both pieces on top of the media, with the smaller piece on top of the larger. 

You can now leave both permanently on top of the media. The worms will crawl up through both layers, and the solid bits of media will stay stuck under the bottom towel. You get an order of magnitude more worms than you do putting it on just for a few minutes, no waiting and zero media in with the worms. Just open the container, dunk your top towel in some water and put it right back in for next time. 

Another huge improvement is to use instant mashed potato mix instead of oatmeal. The cultures last for months this way, and decline slowly, without the above mentioned sudden crashes. You also don't get the horrible smell with potatoes. I always add some active yeast, Spirulina powder and a bit of crushed up fish flakes to the mix as well....


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## clarksgeckos (Jun 8, 2014)

I really appreciate all the help on this topic everyone. I see now that these would be great for fish but not really a good thing for feeding to frogs. I am just always looking for any bug I can fool with as well as anything extra I can get to feed these frogs. I think what I am saying is my first big thrill in life was bugs and I still get the most excitement out of bugs, weird I know, but true.
Best regards,
Clark


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