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I they are live take the airline out. Bloodworms need calm water because they breath air. They hang on the surface with a breathing tube poking through the surface. Be aware that they will become mosquitos sooner or later.

If they are dead, freeze them.

Mike

[span class="edited"][Edited by Mike R 2004-08-24 21:31][/span]

Hi

Just wondering how I should keep bloodworms so they dont end up as stinky sludge.

Currently keeping them in 2 gallons of water with an air line in the bucket. Is there anything else I should do?

err also do regular changes to the water because they stink up quit quick. Not tapwater, use boiled water
peace

Bloodworms clearly do not look like worms because you can see a head, and they are quite short, whereas blackworms or tubifex look "like" miniture "earthworms". Tubifex is "redder" than blackworms which look black in clusters hence "black".
Blackworms can actually "swim" away, as compared to your tubifex.
But yea i have a culture of blackworms in aerated, "boiled" water in a small tank. I ll be short..just read this...
http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/feeding/blackworms.shtml
peace

i get blood worms that collect in a ball on the bottom of the glass i keep them in. i fed them to my betta and one that survived for two days in a heated tank on top of the pond weed stuff was pale brown with wings.

it was gross and i have never fed live food again!!

i had had the blood worms for maybe two or three days before hand, so maybe you have four or five days before the "change"

i may venture back to the live food if i can figure out how t store them without the risk of nasty winged creatures. i get to much in bag to feed all at once.

do you think if you kept them in the fridge it would slow things down?

i shall be checking back for an answer!!

GFG


_______________________________________
Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself.
Harvey S. Firestone

i have blood worms in my pond, i have collected almost a hundered so far, they come after heavy long rains, most die though if they are taken inside, i feed them in balls of hair algea, my fish eat bith the algea and worms, (sword tails, plattys, guppies)

Troy, I'm sure blood worms do not form balls. If the ones you have do, then I have a feeling that they are more likely blackworms (like Callatya have mentioned) or tubifex worms.

Bloodworms - these are the larvae of a Chironomus midge. The adult midges are small, and not normally known as a major irritant of humans from the biting standpoint, but it would be wise not to put temptation in their way!

As for storage, if they are live, they can be stored out of water, on a damp cloth, in a fridge. I've seen this done - a former aquarist acquaintance of mine used to do this for his huge collection of fishes. Sadly, said acquaintance is no longer with us, which is a pity, because he'd forgotten more about fishkeeping than most people will ever learn. I learned a lot from him. Cancer, sadly, is a great leveller ...

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

troy, are you sure they are bloodworms and not blackworms?

i've never seen bloodworms for sale in Syd....

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Live & learn I guess. I've collected mosquito larve out of my ponds before it got warm enough to put fish in them and some were kind of reddish but nothing like that picture. It sounds like you need stinking poluted water to keep them healthy though. Good luck, I'll stick to mosquito larva.

Mike

mosquito wriggler

bloodworm

Right. There are the two species. As I expected, I had to go somewhere else to find an answer.

Well of course thats exactly what I dont want to happen Nat, thats why I asked.

Also, my bloodworms hang out at the bottom of the bucket in a big ball of worms. They do not stay at the surface like mosquito do. I had the water calm for 2 days and it STANK after that so I changed the water and put an airstone in. Some of these blood worms are about 4cms long. I'd hate to see the mosquito that would turn into.

I also have a package, I think Tetra, that is called bloodworms then says Ingredients: Freeze-Dried Mosquitoe Larvae.
But "real" bloodworms are midge fly larvae.

I'm not sure but you don't really wanna wait for that to happen...

My package of (SAN FRANCISCO BAY BRAND Sally's Bloodworms) says they are mosquito larva in four different languages.

Mike

how long does it take for the fly to develop?

Bloodworms are not mosquitoe larvae, they are midge fly larvae.