Kultur Microworm : Kaedah Malas

Izinkan saya kongsi cara mudah yg saya pakai untuk mengultur microworm. Boleh dikatakan cara ni cukup malas, tetapi berkesan bagi saya. Kalau ada breeder yang menggunakan microworm, mungkin info ini bermanfaat buat anda...

Terdapat pelbagai kaedeh mengultur microworm. Kaedah mudah ini telahpun digunapakai oleh saya untuk mengultur microworm bertahun-tahun tanpa pernah putus. Microworm adalah makanan bagus bagi anak betta, namun penggunaannya seharusnya tidak berlebihan. Penggunaan microworm bagi saya lebih sebagai makanan sampingan atau "backup", untuk fry usia lingkungan beberapa minggu pertama.

PS: Foto2 di sini sebenarnya dah sedekad dah - saya cilok daripada tutorial lama yang pernah saya kongsikan suatu masa dahulu...

Culturing Microworms : Lazy Method! (New Version)

Would like to share my method of culturing microworms. For those using microworms, I thought you may find my minimal effort method (ie. lazy way) interesting, or perhaps even useful.

click pic to view higher resolution

There are many methods of culturing microworm. This simple method is used by myself to successfully keep a hobbyist-scale culture going for years without ever losing the culture. Note that microworms are good first foods for betta fry, but should not be excessively used. I use microworms more as a secondary source of live food (backup food) for fry during their early life (first few weeks).

PS: I have actually shared this same tutorial about a decade ago. This is a "spruced up" version of the original tutorial, but the photos are the same ones from a decade ago.

Update: Red Halfmoon Spawn Log

Spawn Development

4/10/2021 - Fry are now 33 days old. Red pigmentation appearing on the larger ones, mainly on the fins. Not a very big spawn, estimated around plus minus 50 one-month old fry, with around 70/80% survival rate compared to free-swimming day. Within the first month, I noticed that all fry are lightbodied. This confirms that both the Sire and Dam are also genetically light-bodied (homozygous cambodian). Fry continue eating only moina since day one. I have left for outstation again today, and my budding breeders are taking over our fish room again! 😎

For info of the parents and log of thearly spawning stages, you can find them here:

http://bettamas.blogspot.com/2021/10/red-halfmoon-cross-spawn-log.html

Red Halfmoon Cross (Spawn Log)

I have always loved reading other breeders' spawn logs, but have actually never published one myself... I had a think over and thought it would be fun if I did... so.... I have now decided to do my first spawn log ever! 🤣

Here goes...

First, a bit about the breeding pair:

click pic to view higher resolution

⭐The Sire is a Red Halfmoon (Longfin) - from Thailand, specific breeder unknown. My kids named him Lance. 😁 His topline could be better and body ideally "stronger" and ray branching a little less. There are some black scales/pigmentation on his body, with small amounts of visible iridescence on his body, caudal and dorsal. The red pigmentation on his fins is good, with only small areas near the unpaired fin edges that is unpigmented. Red pigmentation on his body ideally could be better in terms of density (intensity) and coverage. Some of the things I like about him is his good unpaired fins balance, fin volume including the ventrals, good halfmoon fin shape especially the dorsal and anal, relatively strong straight rays, sharp caudal edge and long first dorsal rays.

click pic to view higher resolution

⭐The Dam is a Red Halfmoon (Longfin) - from Thailand, specific breeder unknown, and may be unrelated to Lance. My kids named her Mimi. 😍 Her topline ideally could be better (she has a slight "spoon") and ideally her first rays at the dorsal and anal could be longer. There is small amounts of visible iridescence on her body and caudal. The red pigmentation on her fins is good. Red pigmentation on her body ideally could be better in terms of density (intensity) and coverage. Some of the things I like about her is her good unpaired fins balance, non-excessive length for a longfin halfmoon female, good halfmoon fin shape especially the anal, relatively strong straight rays, sharp caudal edge.

📝What Do I Want to Achieve With This Cross?

- Short Term Objectives:

Achieve quality consistency in terms of balanced finnage, good shape of each fin, good straight rays especially at the dorsal, long first dorsal and anal rays,

- Long Term Objectives:

Good red intensity including the body, full red pigmentation coverage covering all areas of body and fins (include edges), minimal/no iridescence, minimal/no black scales/pigmentation, strong big bodies with good topline and top-bottom body symmetry.

🔥Inspiration:

The great Red Halfmoon lines of the past which were Champion/Grand Champion 🏆 lines by Malaysian breeders Bobby Chua, Wong Ah Toon (Uncle Wong), Choo Kon Meng (Uncle Choo). It will be a tall order for me to get there, possibly never - even after a few years (if I don't give up on this line 🤣), but their lines are a great inspiration nevertheless.

💕Spawning:

26/8/2021 - Chimney set up of the pair late at night.

27/8/2021 - Introduced Mimi (released her from Chimney) at about 7pm (nice sized bubblenest built at time of introduction). Lights off at 8pm.

28/8/2021 - No action 🤔

29/8/2021 - No action. 🥺 I was going outstation the next day, but I noticed Mimi's body language that she is very ready to spawn soon. So, I made the decision to leave her in the tank for one last day. Since I won't be home the next day, I asked my budding breeders (ie. my kids 💕) to remove her in the evening of 30/8 no matter what.

30/8/2021 - Kids removed Mimi from the spawn tank in the evening. Thankfully they knew how to distiguish between Lance and Mimi! 😅 (Otherwise, it would be potentially the mum vs the eggs! 😆)

2/9/2021 - I returned home from outstation. I see fry dangling from bubble nest! ✌️✌️✌️Based on my previous spawns, this would mean that 30/8 was the spawn date, and 1/9 was the hatch date.

3/9/2021 - Free swimming day! 💪 Started feeding moina. Removed Daddy Lance at 11.45pm.