worm bin

Well, if the fish are doing poorly, at least the worms seem to be doing great! I feed them about twice a week now, and have a new waste material to add to their resources- soiled hamster bedding. (My kid finally got her new pet. She wasn't crazy about fish). It appears that the bedding has sunk a bit every time I look in the bin now, and material feels more crumbly, so the bedding is now getting consumed. Progress.

Even better, it looks like they are starting to reproduce! Last time opened the bin, I didn't have to dig into bedding to find worms. Lots were at the surface, where I'd scattered crushed eggshells.

These two are mating

I didn't feed them this time. Didn't want to disturb their activity, and the oldest food-spot wasn't all consumed yet. More stash in the freezer. Soon more worms!

I've also started freezing every packet of food before I put it in the bin. It makes it more tidy, easier to handle if all frozen into a lump. Read that this will kill the fruit fly eggs as well, and that does seem to be true. Used to have a good number of flies rise out of the bin every time I removed the cardboard sheets, now there is just two or three. I had been catching the flies for my fish (when I swatted at them anyways) but the Bettas aren't interested and the Danios can't quite swallow the largest flies- they struggle with the full mouthful. Maybe when the fish get larger I will collect more flies...