 Our standard starter culture comes in a 4 ounce jar with about 3 to 3 1/2
ounces of material or, in the case of worms, a plastic bag containing approximately a cup
of material. Fruit fly starter cultures come
in a vial about 1 inch in diameter and 3 1/2 inches long.
Small culture systems are in a 3 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch tub,
medium culture systems in a 6 inch x 6 inch plastic box and larger systems are in a
plastic shoebox. These culture should be capable of feeding several hundred fry within a
few days of settling in after the shock of shipping. There is about a 3/4 pound of culture
material in the small system and about 2 pounds in the large system.
Medium Vinegar Eels cultures are approximately 16 ounces in
volume while, large Vinegar Eel cultures are fully
developed cultures that are just a little short of 32 ounces in volume. Both medium and
large Vinegar Eel cultures are fully capable of being harvested when they arrive at your
home.
Medium and large cultures of Grindal Worms and White Worms
are grown in shoe boxes. With either of these cultures you should be able to harvest
enough worms to feed many tanks within a couple of days of arrival, depending on how many
fishes you are keeping of course.
Why did we settle on these sizes? Why not
ship larger cultures? We settled on these sizes after careful research into shipping and
"build time" so that the maximum yield could be gained for the minimum yet
reliable shipping costs .Our starter cultures are large enough to start your culture
program out on the right food and allow you to have cultures that are ready to harvest in
about one month (less time with microworms) after their arrival. Our large and medium
cultures are just about the largest available from major supply channels and frankly with
larger cultures you would probably be paying to ship peat moss, oatmeal or vinegar and
would probably not get any more benefit from the additional size. We ship mature cultures
in all of our size offerings...the number of individual specimens will vary with the size
of the culture, but all cultures are "pulled" from the same mother cultures. We
don't ship larger cultures full of fluff.
We frequently see much smaller cultures
available for sale, and we do the same on some auction sites. The cost is less (primarily
the shipping costs), but then so is the performance. Using extremely small starters
dramatically increases the time it takes to create a sustained harvest, not so much with
microworms but definitely with vinegar eels and the worm groups. It would not be wise to
start with what are essentially sample sized cultures if your needs are fairly immediate.
Our medium and large cultures and culture
systems are designed to be allow you to feed food to your critters soon after their
arrival. There are special situations where larger cultures might be required. For those
situations where larger cultures or faster culture development are needed, ask us for solutions.
On a somewhat
related topic, we frequently are asked why our shipping costs are more than some other
live food culture providers. Quite simply, there are two reasons. First we ship most of
our cultures using USPS Priority Mail. USPS Priority is fast enough for good delivery
results yet economical enough to be sensible. USPS Priority does cost more than First
Class. The second reason our shipping costs are higher is that our cultures are typically
larger than most other vendors. The cultures weigh more, so they cost a little more to
ship and because of their weight do not quality for First Class services.
As always, if you have a question about the
cultures, culturing or which culture of size would be better for your situation, please
don't hesitate to contact us.
"We grow food not
bait"
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