Loaches Online Forum

Would bloodworm from my local fishing tackle shop be safe for use in the aquarium?

No idea . But if it's live, it can be one of the easiest ways of introducing disease into your aquarium. I'd stick with the gamma irradiated frozen stuff if I were you.

Emma

That's a shame, got a huge tackle shof about a 2 min drive from the house rather than the 20 min drive to my lfs

What other foods are good for clowns, I got a pack of the Dutch frozen bloodworm and the daphina that M.A. sell, the bloodworm is great but the daphina just make a big cloud in the tank that none of the fish seem to eat.

They love white mosquito larvae, which is not as rich as bloodworm. Also brineshrimp (Artemia), and for slightly bigger fish try mysis and krill. Daphnia is a very nutritious food, but it is quite tiny and more suitable for small fish.

Emma

I would steer clear of the live bloodworm in the angling shop fro 2 reasons, 1 is that like Emma said it is the easiest way to introduce disease and this stuff is mass produced, and 2 is the cost I am an angler myself and woulnt pay the amounts that most shops want for bloodworm the prices in certain areas are ridiculous.

My Clowns get Mysis Shrimp, Black midge larvae, White midge larvae, frozen Krill and diced prawn as well as Bloodworm. I dont know how much you pay for your frozen food but you can get some good deals on ebay, I have a friend that lives 2 minutes away and he goes over to Holland regularly and brings back tons of Ruto food. I get my bloodworm in either 100g packs for £1 or 500g packs of bloodworm gold (better quality) for £5, all of his other 100g blister packs are £1.25 each. He does post the stuff as well and he does a discount if you get a full box of 25 mixed packs.

adampetherick wrote:Would bloodworm from my local fishing tackle shop be safe for use in the aquarium?

If it's the same type of bloodworm that's sold in the US for bait, I wouldn't recommend it either. They are a large saltwater creature that usually comes from muddy conditions and would probably make a big mess of your tank because the clowns would have to tear them apart.

Emma Turner wrote:No idea . But if it's live, it can be one of the easiest ways of introducing disease into your aquarium. I'd stick with the gamma irradiated frozen stuff if I were you.

Emma

Gamma irradiated? I doubt that. I'm pretty sure its ultraviolet radiated

Emma is right, the stuff is gamma radiated, here's 1 example of many to be found on google

http://www.seapets.co.uk/search-results ... ategory=17

angelfish83 wrote:Gamma irradiated? I doubt that. I'm pretty sure its ultraviolet radiated

Here is a link to one of our main suppliers of gamma irradiated frozen foods: http://www.tmc-ltd.co.uk/aquarium/aquarium-food.asp

Most LFS here in Brussels sell live bloodworms. They are only available on Fridays and Saturdays from which I assume the wholesale producer has his batches ready on these dates. I have used them for years without any problem. I doubt if they would be sold so widely if they were disease hosts. Maybe fish-food quality worms are produced more hygenically than bait worms.
What is sure, the fish go into feeding frenzy over them compared to frozen worms.

I went to another fish shop the other day to get bloodworms as my local one had run out, this shop had live ones on the counter but they looked tiny! Fish seem happy enough with frozen anyway

Isn't bloodworm just red mosquito larvae. i would be surprised if a fishing shop stocked bloodworm as I know it. As a fisherman myself the only bloodworms I used to get were literally that - the small bloodworms.

A little ironic that 2 fish keepers are fishermen. i wonder how many other people catch fish too!!

I think you are correct. Fish food bloodworms are small, less than 1/4 inch long larvae of non-bloodsucking midges. Maybe bait bloodworms are different.
I love fishing for food when I can get the chance. Drifting over a silent hill loch where the brown trout are jumping and fooling them with your fly. Rowing out into the firth at dawn to catch mackerel and sillocks to be split and fried in butter and oatmeal for breakfast. Yum, yum.

Yes, I'll confirm that bait bloodworms are different creatures than the ones sold by fish stores to feed to aquarium fish. The LFS ones are tiny larvae. Bait bloodworms are large, I just cut one up for bait yesterday and it was about 12 inches (30 cm) long. They aren't all that long but they can be. They can bite, too. I wouldn't put one in my tank just for the sake of the pollution. They're called bloodworms for the obvious reason--they are very bloody. Its kind of funny that this comes up while I'm on vacation and doing a little fishing.