Bloodworms

My fish love frozen bloodworms.
How often should they eat them?
I've been feeding them bloodworms about twice a week... too much, not enough? Doesn't mater?

I wonder b/c the new ram seems to only want to eat them... he hasn't swallowed a flake yet.. just spits it out. (?)

Thanks
B

Your ram has now trained you to feed him blood worms. My bet is you would like to feed fish bloodworms more often than twice a week.

If this ram is not a breeding female, I would not feed him any blood worms but that is just me. Many folks spoil their fish with a bloodworm feeding once a week or once every two weeks.

I hear that bloodworms are called that because they congregate around paunch manure and other packing house wastes dumped into the sewage system. The worms feed off the dead animal parts living in still water that is full of nasty bacteria and many other nasty organisms. Probably a good idea to feed only frozen bloodworms and skip the live ones.

OH ICK! i thought they were just mositque lava! Ahhh!
So, what's good to feed them? Just flakes?

He HAS trained me! And he did it in only a few days!
That little stinker! I had no idea they could do that! How embarrassing.
Outwitted by a fish!
My kids have it made!

[/quote]

lol! they're way smarter then us

I had some prolonged negotiations with my female sajica regarding the decor on her side of the tank. Somehow.... she got it all her way.

The frozen bloodworms should be fine. Try him on some pellets too, there's lots of different kinds.
My fish seem to universally like New Life Spectrum Small fish Formula also.

Blood worms are a larve of a gnat. Several MAS members have an alergy to blood worms and can't feed them. Make sure you never rub your eyes with blood worm fingers as you may puff up pretty good while wanting to scratch your eyes out. Other than that they seem to be good fish food.

The old tubifex worms like to grow in sewage and tend to be nasty. Black worms are better. They tend to be collected in cooler water. Often downstream from trout farms. They like trout poop.

When you think about it though, all these things have to get their nutrients from something pretty concentrated to be growing in abundence.

Blood worms are a bug larvae.. Umm though they have been know to populate manure ponds, they will inhabit many still water areas with a lot of rotting detritus.

My fish ALL get a combo of dry, frozen, and live foods daily.. Unlike a lot of cichlids that will spawn if you just show them food, my fish are much more inclined to spawn with intelligent feeding..

I do have a few that wont touch anything but live foods too.

Anchor

Anchor wrote:

Unlike a lot of cichlids that will spawn if you just show them food, my fish are much more inclined to spawn with intelligent feeding..
Anchor

I'm picturing Dani in her fishroom showing her little fishies a Denny's menu. Barry White tunes blaring in the background.

Bloodworms are the larval form of the genus Chironomus, part of the Chironomidae family commonly known as non-biting midges. They get their name from the blood red color of the larvae. This color is due to the abnormally high concentrations of hemoglobin in their bodies that allow them to live in bodies of water with an extremly low O2 content. By being able to survive in these types of enviroments the larvae can escape predation by species that can't handle the low O2 content. Bloodworms are filter feeders, and will feed off of suspended nutrients in the water column. They are not very particular about where these nutrients come from. Because of this ability to survive in areas with a low O2 content and their method of feeding on particles in the water column bloodworms thrive in shallow highly eutrophic bodies of water. Golf course ponds, run off dominated streams, and highly eutrophic lakes are some of their prefered habitats. Because of this they are some of the most abundant aquatic insects you'll encounter here in the metro. Last summer i did some work collecting specimens of chironomids from several lakes in the metro. Because they are such a diverse family, it is possible to use them as an indicator species for water quality in a body of water. By noting which genera are present and their relative abundance a fairly accurate picture of water quality for the past year can be formed. Unlike chemical testing which only gives you a brief snapshot on the day the tests are preformed, using this type of biotic index gives you a much broader view of the water quality picture.

As far as feeding them to your fish, frozen bloodworms are an excellent high protein food. You need to be carefull about feeding them to fish that are primarily herbivourus as they can cause digestrive tract problems. I feed them to my rams, angels, kribs etc. twice a week and they absolutely love them. My rams spawn about every week and a half when gettign bloodworms twice a week. (i tend to spoil my fish though, I would feed 3 times a day. Morning and evening were flake food, in the afternoon would be frozen brine shrimp with frozen bloodworms substituted every 3rd day.)

So ends another long rambling pointless post. I think i do this just to reassure myself that i've actually learned SOMETHING in exange for all these loans i will need to pay back

Will

Sconnie transplant wrote:

So ends another long rambling pointless post. I think i do this just to reassure myself that i've actually learned SOMETHING in exange for all these loans i will need to pay back

Will

Well, it sure sounds like you've learned something! Let me guess a B.S. degree?

Well, it sure sounds like you've learned something! Let me guess a B.S. degree? Wink

next December, finally. Untill then i have all these stupid lib ed requirements to finish. freshman writing....bleh!

Will

Sconnie transplant wrote:

Well, it sure sounds like you've learned something! Let me guess a B.S. degree? Wink

next December, finally. Untill then i have all these stupid lib ed requirements to finish. freshman writing....bleh!

Will

I hear ya. I finished my first major after my 1st semster Sophomore, my second major after 1st semster Junior year. My entire senior year was all those sluff classes. I had it down to schedualling my classes for only M W F afternoons. Still didn't go to half of them and had a 3.2 GPA.

Excellent post Will.

I was so confused. Thanks for straightening me out Will, Anchor and Ted.

thanks so much for the info!

Sir Ram didn't eat anything yesterday in protest, but he's eating now! ( a veggie pellet! ) lil' bugger.

Sconnie transplant wrote:

Last summer i did some work collecting specimens of chironomids from several lakes in the metro. Because they are such a diverse family, it is possible to use them as an indicator species for water quality in a body of water. By noting which genera are present and their relative abundance a fairly accurate picture of water quality for the past year can be formed. Unlike chemical testing which only gives you a brief snapshot on the day the tests are preformed, using this type of biotic index gives you a much broader view of the water quality picture.

As far as feeding them to your fish, frozen bloodworms are an excellent high protein food.
Will

Will

It wasn't a ramble. I appreciate reading posts like this. Not only do I learn aobut my fish, but it makes me feel good to know that SOMEBODY cares about the water quality and is looking at it.

Having been through an extensive environmental review process, I can state that I was getting pretty cynical about whether or not anyone cared about anything other than paperwork and agency turf battles. I am not so worried about you paying back loans as I am about some of the cheap b*****ds continuing to fund programs so that you can get a job which uses the great information and skills that you are accumulating.

Linda

gloflyer wrote:

Having been through an extensive environmental review process, I can state that I was getting pretty cynical about whether or not anyone cared about anything other than paperwork and agency turf battles. I am not so worried about you paying back loans as I am about some of the cheap b*****ds continuing to fund programs so that you can get a job which uses the great information and skills that you are accumulating.

Linda

Sad but true. A big part of why many of the new people entering the field are taking jobs with private consulting firms. I know i'll be looking at them very seriously.

Will