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Oklahoma Aquarium Association Articles
I've never fed them to goldfish, but I've fed them to lots of different fish, many of which were reluctant at first. The worms themselves have a very hard outer shell, and a lot of fish will take them in and spit them out again, not recognizing them as food. I've gotten over that in a couple of ways. Usually I feed the grubs first; they seem more recognizable to fish as food. They're kind of tough, too, so for fish that seem a little slow on the uptake, I use the worms, but pinch off the heads as I throw them in the tank. Then all kinds of stuff that apparently smells irresistible spills out into the water as the worm sinks. I also used to use this to handfeed banjo cats -- if I held a "leaking" mealworm by the gravel, they would come out of the substrate to suck them in. I don't find it gross to do; it's really easy to pinch off their heads with your thumbnail. Your mileage may vary, of course. After years of raising the culture primarily for the grubs and worms, I discovered that the beetles are the favorite of many large fish. Something about all those legs on the surface of the water puts them into a feeding frenzy. As for culture information, there are lots of ways to raise them. Here's what I do: I keep them in a 10 gallon tank with no lid. The beetles don't fly, and none of the life stages can climb glass. There are always spiders living in the corner of the tank, eating the occasional worm, but hey, fish like spider egg sacs, too. (A 10 gallon tank is a huge culture. You could easily use something like a 2 gallon container.) I pour in an entire container of rolled oats. This makes a layer about 1 1/2 inches deep across the tank top. You can feed more or less, it doesn't matter. Then I add something for moisture -- a potato or apple cut in half, avocado peels with some avocado left, lemons that have been squeezed, a pineapple top, whatever. If you have a fruit fly problem you had probably better stick with the potato. Cut it in half because while the worms can eat through some peels, they can't eat through them all and I don't think the beetles can eat through much of anything. If they run out of the potato, the other stages will eat the grubs for their moisture. This won't kill off your culture but you won't have any grubs. If you forget about the culture for a long time you'll have worms but nothing else. When you add more potato you will get a huge number of grubs all at once. If they run out of oatmeal they don't grow but don't seem to die, either. Honestly I have neglected them for months with no ill effects. They will not eat breakfast cereal or cooked rice, and you will have to pick all those hard bits out of the culture. They will eat any old flake food that you want to get rid of. They have a slight but noticeable smell -- tolerable in a laundry room or fish room, not good for a living room. I keep them in the garage and don't seem to have any temperature problems. As time goes on, a layer of dust will build up at the bottom of the tank. Don't be in any rush to clean this out -- I think it's where the eggs and newly hatched worms are. The only person I know who has failed with mealworms kept cleaning out her culture. I only do it when the tank is almost full.
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