How to feed bloodworms???

Crazie.Eddie · Post by **Crazie.Eddie** » 27 Aug 2006, 08:51

With the pl*cos requiring lots of water current, I was wondering how you feed them bloodworms. With lots of current, the bloodworms would never stay in one place and just swirl around in the water. Unfortunately, pl*cos aren't like typical fish where they will swim and chase it.

Post by **Shane** » 27 Aug 2006, 17:33

Ed,
One option is to just shut off some of the filtration for about 30 minutes while the loricariids eat. Are you feeding live or frozen worms? Live worms are another matter. I put them in an ashtray with a little gravel out of the current.
-Shane

Crazie.Eddie · Post by **Crazie.Eddie** » 29 Aug 2006, 16:10

I'm feeding them frozen bloodworms. The BW is for my L-46. I have a filter and Hydor powerhead with built-in heater and also an HOB filter. I normally have to reduce the HOB (practically no flow) before lights out when I put the bloodworms down, but I don't like doing so, becuase there's no filtration. In the morning, I usually suck up the uneaten bloodworms and do a 30%-40% water change (using aged, dechlored, and heated water). I'm just looking for a way to not having to reduce it and still being able to feed the bloodworms.

funkyj1313 · Post by **funkyj1313** » 29 Aug 2006, 19:05

I just put it in the tank and it falls to the bottom eventually. They will move about and sniff it out sometime during the night.

racoll · Post by **racoll** » 29 Aug 2006, 20:21

I just put it in the tank and it falls to the bottom eventually. They will move about and sniff it out sometime during the night.

I agree. The bloodworms always settle somewhere on the bottom. Your fish will find and remember these areas no problem.

I would worry though if you notice a lot of the worms are getting picked up by the filters.

pleco_breeder · Post by **pleco_breeder** » 29 Aug 2006, 21:31

Hello,

I normally did 2 things when feeding frozen blood worms that seemed to help. I would put either a foam or cheese cloth over the intake for the filters, and also kept lava rock stacked in the back corners of the tank. Both the zebras and the blood worms tended to congregate under the lava rock and there were very few if any worms left by morning.

Larry Vires

Crazie.Eddie · Post by **Crazie.Eddie** » 30 Aug 2006, 00:26

racoll wrote: I would worry though if you notice a lot of the worms are getting picked up by the filters.

Actually, the BW did get sucked up into the filter. I was amazed how my 1" L-46 had eaten so much of the BW. Then I realize that some of the BW were swirling around, then getting sucked up the filter. So that's how I figured what happened to them. This is why I reduced the flow on the filter. The flow is reduced so much, there's no flow at all. Fortunately, I do have a powerhead with a heater and I do a large WC the day after, as mentioned previously, so the water is maintained.

I'll probably put a pre-filter sponge on the intake of the filter. I've put them on all my other filters, but couldn't do it on this once since the filter so small. But I am planning to move the L-46, actually 2 of them, into a larger tank. Even though it does have a larger filter, it already has a pre-filter sponge for it so at least my troubles ,hopefully, will be over.

Thanks for the help.

Please feel free to continue the thread if anyone else has any other tips to share.