Development of a Suitable Culture Medium for the Production of Tubificid Worms

Tubificid worms (Tubificidae) are one of the best quality live foods in intensive aquaculture widely used for feeding certain fish larvae to produce stockable sized seeds in the hatcheries as well as in the rearing of aquarium/ornamental fishes. This study was undertaken to find suitable culture media for sustainable production fulfilling the increasing demand of tubificid worms. The worms were cultured in cement culvert system (160×25×10 cm^3) for 90 days using four different media designated as treatment-I, treatment-II, treatment-III and treatment-IV. Continuous water flow at the rate of 1.24±0.32 L.min^-1 was maintained. The highest yield (P 0.05) of 999.16±40.29 mg.cm^-2 was obtained at 70th day culture duration in the culture media containing a mixture of 20% mustard oil cake, 20% wheat bran, 30% soybean meal, 20% cow-dung and 10% sand soaked with rice gruel (treatment-III). Only 1.01 kg media were needed to yield 1 kg worms indicating the suitability of this medium for large scale production.