# Live blood worms.



## Marauder

Will uneaten live blood worms start to live or populate in my tank? 

I have been using frozen blood worms for my Loaches, but my friend really loves how his loaches get all excited when fed the live ones. 

Is there any benifit to using the live ones over the frozen ones? 

Any info on blood worms will be greatly appreciated!


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## bigtroutz

Its unlikely that bloodworms will reproduce effectively in your tank unless it resembles a septic tank.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chironomidae

I wouldnt use that particular live food unless you culture them yourself. They feed on decaying organic matter (read sewage) and carrry some nasty parasites and diseases.

Using live cultures from unknown growing conditions is an invitation to losing all of the fish in the tank; it might happen, might not.

There are other alternatives like red worms or grindal worms as well that can more easily be cultured at home.


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## Marauder

Yikes! Thanks for the info. Personally, I can't stand worms to begin with.


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## furballi

Dip shrimp in boiling water for 30 seconds. Chop into small pieces to suit the smallest fish. Earthworm is another superb live source of protein. Be sure to clean out the worm before use. I use a razor blade to dice the shrimp/worm. Use these as supplement to flakes.


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## JanS

I personally wouldn't use live blood worms in my tanks either for the reasons stated above.

I do occasionally feed live black worms, but they can be a pain to take care of having to keep them in the fridge and rinse them out all the time. Also, if something happened that they escaped in the fridge, that could be something that would drive a non-fish spouse over the edge.


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## gibmaker

If you would like to feed your fish live worms try white worms, easy maintenance 
and parasite free


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## Laith

JanS said:


> ... Also, if something happened that they escaped in the fridge, that could be something that would drive a non-fish spouse over the edge.


 

Oh I can just imagine that happening... and for a month picking at the food from the fridge before biting into it to make sure there aren't any critters in it! 

I remember reading somewhere about someone who was wanting to feed some type of live larva to his fish so ended up with hundreds of these things crawling around in a large can. Problem was they were actually some type of flying insect larva and one morning he (and his girlfriend) woke up to a houseful of buzzing flying insects. It probably took months to put that relationship back together! 

Frozen, flake and granular foods do make life much easier. I've never fed live food to any of the fish I've kept and they've never had any type of nutrient deficiency.

So no real nutrient benefit over other foods, no spouse/partner issues and you avoid the issue of possible diseases coming in with the live food.


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## Left Coast DJ

Big Trout - I don't think bloodworms are necessarily associated with septic conditions. They're the larvae of the midge fly. You may be confusing it with the other popular commercially available worm - the tubifex, which does thrive in septic conditions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tubifex

DJ


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## Script404

Agree with above as far as I know bloodworm don't need bad water conditions, I've seen them in ponds, and the water they are kept in at the lfs is clean compared with the water from tubifex, as for them breeding in your tank though it probably won't happen, as they are just a larval stage, and also I'd honestly be suprised if they lasted more than a few days in your tank before the fish eat them all.


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## bigtroutz

Left Coast DJ said:


> Big Trout - I don't think bloodworms are necessarily associated with septic conditions. They're the larvae of the midge fly. You may be confusing it with the other popular commercially available worm - the tubifex, which does thrive in septic conditions.
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tubifex
> 
> DJ


erm, reread my post - I said bloodworms feed on decaying organic matter like sewage and they do, very nicely, thankyouverymuch. Many of the bloodworms we use as fish food are imported from China where they are harvested from *sewage lagoons*. Thats a pretty good reason not to use them as live food, imo. Even discounting the possibility of fish pathogens, there are human pathogens involved and wastewater contaminants like heavy metals.

Depends on the species, of course, but those midge larvae which have hemoglobin content in their body (why they are called "blood-worms") are adapted to low oxygen or anoxic environments. There are many thousands of species in the family Chironomdae and most do not have the hemoglobin adaptation to low oxygen environments.


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## Script404

I'll stand corrected. But I must admit never had any problems with them here. 
Laith: I don't usually feed them to beat nutrient deficiencies either, just to give my fish some excitement.


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## 247Plants

They two times I have purched live blood worms I have lost 3 fish each time to something nasty in them.

Better to go frozen, or if it has to be live, brine shrimp are always safe and the fish really seem to like them.


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## bristles

I have read about the terrible peril that people who feed live bloodworm's face:scared: , but for several years I have fed my tanks live bloodworm's (with a guilty conscious:tear: ) and have never lost a fish or had any bad effects (could just be luck) the reason I do this is that all my fish go nuts for them & they often are a food that conditions them for spawning.


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## Script404

I'm sort off interested to see where lfs in the UK source there bloodworms now, there must be a fair few sold in the UK as people buy them as bait for fishing as well, importing them from China seems quite a distance to ship something like that for cost reasons, I wonder if the original source might be a problem, as I honestly can't think of anyone I know who has kept fish being worried about bloodworms.


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## JanS

I think the thing is, there are so many different species called "bloodworms" (as bigtroutz stated), with some being relatively clean, and others carrying a big risk of all of the things mentioned above.

Even though the fish go wild for them, I just don't want to take the chance of causing major problems with tanks that have been disease free and established for so long. IMO, it's sort of like not using a q-tank. You might get lucky, but it only takes one time for disaster to strike.


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## Jimbo205

> Also, if something happened that they escaped in the fridge, that could be something that would drive a non-fish spouse over the edge.


 Ha, ha, ha. ound:

Jan S. Ditto here on that one. I would NEVER hear the end of that one!

I am lucky that she puts up with the FROZEN live food in the freezer.


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## bigtroutz

If you are reasonably sure that your particular bloodworms are cultured in disease/parasite free environment, by all means use them for live food.

However, it's just easier and safer to culture your own live food :
www.livefoodcultures.com


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## will5

Jimbo205 said:


> Ha, ha, ha. ound:
> 
> Jan S. Ditto here on that one. I would NEVER hear the end of that one!
> 
> I am lucky that she puts up with the FROZEN live food in the freezer.


My wife will only allow them in the freezer if they have like 4 or 5 bag on. Just so she can be sure that they are not getting on any thing else.

She also did not like it when i fed live baby feeder guppies. She said that I was a killer and cruel. So i stopped so she would go back to liking my tanks again. She did not like looking in and seeing the little guys being eaten.


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## skincareaddicted

i used to feed my frogs and bettas live blackworms, they were messy and die in the fridge eventually, turning into a nasty bloody sludge. 

they always seem to cause some sort of disease in the bettas, some sort of rott on the bettas tails which i had to remedy with adding a pinch of salt into the water when i could. i lost a good 3-4 bettas before making the connection. i find frozen bloodworms a lot better.

Kristen


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