Bloodworms

[Cjbear087]

So accidentally fed my guppies way way too many bloodworms (unestimated how many were in one cube) so I am a bit worried. First of all, if you look at the picture attached, does it look like this guppy is choking? Its going down slowly but panicking a bit lol. Secondly, all of them are bloated now so is this normal? Lastly will the left over worms cause an ammonia spike? Theres probably about 6 of them but could be more could be less. I cant take them out due to my tank being planted and they are disappearing in the plants. Thanks

[Guppysnail]

You missed attaching a photo

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 5/14/2024 at 1:16 PM, Cjbear087 said:

So accidentally fed my guppies way way too many bloodworms (unestimated how many were in one cube) so I am a bit worried. First of all, if you look at the picture attached, does it look like this guppy is choking? Its going down slowly but panicking a bit lol. Secondly, all of them are bloated now so is this normal? Lastly will the left over worms cause an ammonia spike? Theres probably about 6 of them but could be more could be less. I cant take them out due to my tank being planted and they are disappearing in the plants. Thanks

Try using a turkey baster to suck out the leftover worms.

[Lennie]

I used bloodworms for a long time until I witnessed two problems.

One being one of my juvenile angels eating the bloodworm and directly dying in front of my eyes. Second being the worm sticking to the gill of my black ram.

After witnessing these two occasions, I quit feeding bloodworm as a whole. They are not great in terms of nutrition anyway, and are treats. I have better and safer treats for my fish.

[AdamS]

@Lennie That sounds like some pretty good reasons to stay away from bloodworms.  What foods do you feed your angels?  Any other live foods?

[Lennie]

On 5/14/2024 at 9:17 PM, AdamS said:

@Lennie That sounds like some pretty good reasons to stay away from bloodworms.  What foods do you feed your angels?  Any other live foods?

As staple food, I use New life spectum small community fish formula, thera A+. Tropical Insect menu, spirulina flakes and krill flakes.

 

I have been feeding white worms instead of bloodworms but I am not very willing to keep and feed cultures all the time lately. I sometimes feed FD tubifex by sticking it to the glass. The tank gets extra live bbs from my hatches from time to time. My all fish has been a huge fan of Sera  O nips but I no longer feed it really for the past year. So angels never really got any but I bet they would love it too

[jwcarlson]

On 5/14/2024 at 12:16 PM, Cjbear087 said:

I cant take them out due to my tank being planted and they are disappearing in the plants. Thanks

Change water.

[doktor zhivago]

On 5/14/2024 at 2:17 PM, AdamS said:

@Lennie That sounds like some pretty good reasons to stay away from bloodworms.  What foods do you feed your angels?  Any other live foods?

I find hatching bbs in the Hobby Artemia hatchery to be effort free and super cheap and easy. Just 5 teaspoons of salt in a quart or water and a tiny scoop of eggs. No air or heat needed, just a light. I usually hatch once every week or two and feed for two days off the hatches. All my fish of all sizes love the little guys and spend all day hunting any stragglers that made it to the bottom.

 

I know ac wants to sell the big ziss hatchery and more air pumps and bubblers but you really don't need all that if you only have a couple tanks and don't need to feed fry every day. All that stuff is excellent if you do need it though. 

[Cjbear087]

On 5/14/2024 at 8:00 PM, jwcarlson said:

Change water.

I managed to get most of the bloodworms out yesterday with my tweezers, possible I left one or two. left it overnight and all my fish are fine so I think I’m just gonna leave it now because any of the ones that were left over yesterday no doubt the fish would’ve eaten them lol. They went crazy over them!

[Pepere]

On 5/15/2024 at 2:42 AM, Cjbear087 said:

I managed to get most of the bloodworms out yesterday with my tweezers, possible I left one or two. left it overnight and all my fish are fine so I think I’m just gonna leave it now because any of the ones that were left over yesterday no doubt the fish would’ve eaten them lol. They went crazy over them!

I leave any that get to the bottom for the corydoras to get.

[AdamS]

Bottom feeders are great for that’s. As long as they get eaten they should be good, but if they rot on the bottom of the tank you could have a mess.  

[jwcarlson]

To the other issue: I've never had an issue with blood worms hurting fish (to my knowledge).  But the smallest fish I've fed them to are full grown sterbai corydoras.  The freeze dried blood worms from Hikari seem quite a bit smaller than the frozen Hikari ones.  Which I think makes sense because the water has been removed.  I've fed the freed dried ones to a variety of smaller fish like tetras.  They'll really stuff themselves.  Fish don't have much of an off switch.

[Cjbear087]

On 5/14/2024 at 6:26 PM, Guppysnail said:

You missed attaching a photo

Yep my bad, the issue is kinda resolved now but here’s a pic anyway

[johnnyxxl]

My fish love them 

[AtomicSunfish]

I’d save the bloodworms for larger, more predatory fishes, and for small creatures that can handle large food items. I give bloodworms to cichlids, sunfishes, and catfishes, as well as African dwarf frogs and even crayfish. All of these can either easily swallow them whole, or else tear them up. Give the guppies something smaller like flakes, micropellets, brine shrimp, etc.

Edited May 16 by AtomicSunfish

[AllFishNoBrakes]

I like the Hikari non-jumbo bloodworms. They’re much smaller, so smaller fish can easily swallow them. I specifically will not buy jumbo bloodworms of any brand.