Live Bloodworms and Goldfish

[Mr Spock]

Hi, I am a newbie to all of this, or rather returned after a very long break (30 years!).

I recently read that live bloodworms are good as a treat for goldfish, so I got some, and tipped em in, as reccommended by the aquarium shop (very reputable).

The fish went MAD for them, but shortly after the feeding frenzy they both went to a corner of the tank and stayed motionless at the bottom for an extended period (several hours). They did move a bit from time to time, but it was the next day until they were back to being like comets normally are. This has happened twice now. Is this normal? What does it mean? No harm seems to have been done, should I feed them live bloodworms again?

I have also read horror stories of bloodworms digging into the gravel and breeding like mad. I did a partial water change today, and used my battery powered aqua vac for the first time, no bloodworms were sucked up (for the brief time it worked!), but there were loads in the filter. I also have 2 loaches in the tank, would they have mopped up any bloodworms that the comets and filter missed between them?

 

[BettaFishMommy]

sounds like your goldies went on a feeding frenzy and got really full bellies and had to rest for a bit.

why would you be worried about bloodworms breeding? i see that as a never ending food source, right in the tank. if they do get too prolific in there, just remove them and sell them to local fish nerds!

i've never kept loaches, so can't comment on that part.

 

[Mr Spock]

OK, thanks BettaFishMommy. I did wonder if it may have been something like that.

I'm only bothered about bloodworms breeding as they also produce waste and could upset the chemical balance of the tank.

 

[Star_Rider]

bloodworms are the larvae of the midge fly(they look like tiny mosquitoes)..for them to breed.. you would need the adult midge to lay eggs in your tank..I'm pretty sure those were not bloodworms in the horror story ,that dug into the substrate and bred like mad....
I'm curious where you got live bloodworms..

 

[Khemul]

Sounds more like Blackworms.

Not sure where you'd find horror stories about those breeding though. I'd think it'd be a success story for them to dig into the gravel and breed like crazy. Free food and a clean-up crew. :rofl:

 

[Mr Spock]

bloodworms are the larvae of the midge fly(they look like tiny mosquitoes)..for them to breed.. you would need the adult midge to lay eggs in your tank..I'm pretty sure those were not bloodworms in the horror story ,that dug into the substrate and bred like mad....
I'm curious where you got live bloodworms..

Got them from local aquarium shop here in the UK. It's a really top notch shop, one of the best in the East of England, they say anyway.

Wouldn't the larvae mature and transform into the midge? It is a non biting midge.

I'm hoping we haven't got a problem, but I did observe small midge like things in our lounge tonight, I'm hoping it's because it's summer and the window was open.

 

[Mr Spock]

I saw it on anaother forum (of which I am not a member). I like the idea of free food for my fish, not so keen on midges, and not so keen on the worm waste mucking up the water; but maybe that's not much of an issue compared with goldfish poo?

 

[Star_Rider]

Got them from local aquarium shop here in the UK. It's a really top notch shop, one of the best in the East of England, they say anyway.

Wouldn't the larvae mature and transform into the midge? It is a non biting midge.

I'm hoping we haven't got a problem, but I did observe small midge like things in our lounge tonight, I'm hoping it's because it's summer and the window was open.

they have discovered there are biting midges..turns out ther are actually quite a variety if midge flies

the one we commonly refer to as bloodworm-midge..aka chironomid

while you could sustain a live source.. i think the midge(adults) buzzing around would drive me batty..
and yes you could allow them to pupate turn to adults and lay eggs in your tank

 

[Fractalis]

sounds like my brother when he eats to much junkfood

goldfish are omnivores leaning towards herbivorous so dont do this for about two weeks

 

[Kashta]

As was already mentioned, what's often called bloodworms are actually blackworms. It's fine to feed them to goldfish as a treat now and then. I've done this a lot for some protein and variety. Never had any worms burrow into the sand in their tank. They always get gobbled up between the goldfish and the dojos. But I have found a few scattered worms in the substrate of my angel fish tanks. Those just got away from them and the angels don't sift around for food like goldies do. Wouldn't worry about the worms breeding. If you do find any, I'd imagine they're just surviving worms that escaped getting eaten from the original portion(s) you gave the fish.