Frozen blood worms good or bad?

[DiscusDennis]

Just curious but do Bushy Nose Pleco owners feed frozen blood worms?

Dennis

[MatsP]

That's like asking if Steak, Pizza, Hamburgers, Pancakes or Broccoli is good/bad for humans. The truth is that it's "both". Eating hamburgers twice a day for your entire life would be a bad thing. One burger a month isn't bad for you, as long as your other food is "good food", and somewhere between those two you start approaching "bad".

Similarly, a small feeding of bloodworm mixed in with other appropriate food is not bad. But feeding too much can lead to digestion problems, because it is "too rich" - too much protein and not enough fiber.

--
Mats

[grokefish]

Thaw it out and strain it through a net first or get serious Algae problems.

[Bas Pels]

Generally speaking, I'd agree with MatsP

However

Just curious but do Bushy Nose Pleco owners feed frozen blood worms?

refers to Ancistrus, and feeding hamburgers to cattle does not seam like a good idea to me. Ancistrus is a veggie fish, they are better fed with courgette or something like that

[apistomaster]

This question periodically comes up.
Bushy Noses are algae eating omnivores so they need a certain amount of animal protein. I feed mostly earth worm sticks, frozen blood worms and live California Black Worms to all my fish. I let the Bushy noses get their vegetable matter from the algae they eat. I have literally produced 1000's of Bushy noses on this diet. I have some very large common bushy noses. If their diet is deficient I sure can't see any signs of it. Many of my oldest BN are 9 years old
Consider this: The majority of most the worlds fresh water fishes diet consists of up to 50% Chironomid larvae and pupae.
Even Rainbow trout 24 inches long often focus on only Chironomids because their sheer numbers make them the most abundant food available despite the often extremely small sizes of many Chironomid species.
Blood worms are the larval stage of the Chironomid Gnats.

The real concern is whether or not you have a source of fresh frozen, never refrozen blood worms.
Refrozen blood worms turn black. Don't use those.

I keep many carnivorous plecos and wild Discus and although I only have 14 aquariums, I go through 50 pounds of frozen blood worms a year. I rarely thaw them out first. Only when I want them to disperse widely and quickly. If you are regularly changing enough aquarium water the blood worms contribute to algae growth no more than prepared foods. Any kind excess food can promote algae growth or worse, bacterial blooms. Your water changes should be large and frequent enough to keep the nitrates below 20 ppm. Nitrates and phosphates are the primary food stuffs of algae but only in the presence of enough light. In too dimly lighted tanks, diatoms and the bacteria prevail. Some thriving plants are helpful. I usually use Hornwort or Najas as both grow well free floating and excess growth can be harvested thus removing the sequestered nitrates and phosphates within their mass. These free floating plants are especially convenient in bare bottom tanks. Fast growing plants use up large amounts of nitrates and phosphates.

[DiscusDennis]

Similarly, a small feeding of bloodworm mixed in with other appropriate food is not bad. But feeding too much can lead to digestion problems, because it is "too rich" - too much protein and not enough fiber.
--
Mats

Thanks for the input Mats!
I think I'm going to supplement my feeding with frozen blood worms twice a week and hope I can stop there. I have a habit of spoiling my fish...(lol).

Thaw it out and strain it through a net first or get serious Algae problems.

Thanks for the tip grokefish!

Dennis

[DiscusDennis]

Generally speaking, I'd agree with MatsP

Thanks for the input my Dutch friend!

Off topic.....I spent 4 of the best years of my life living in the Netherlands although I wasn't into aquariums at the time.
I know for Discus....the best wild's go to Europe and Asia and it looks like (from some of the planetcatfish members) Norway, The Netherlands, Sweden, Italy (Europe in general) have some AWESOME Plecos!

This question periodically comes up.
Bushy Noses are algae eating omnivores so they need a certain amount of animal protein. I feed mostly earth worm sticks, frozen blood worms and live California Black Worms to all my fish. I let the Bushy noses get their vegetable matter from the algae they eat. I have literally produced 1000's of Bushy noses on this diet. I have some very large common bushy noses. If their diet is deficient I sure can't see any signs of it. Many of my oldest BN are 9 years old
Consider this: The majority of most the worlds fresh water fishes diet consists of up to 50% Chironomid larvae and pupae.
Even Rainbow trout 24 inches long often focus on only Chironomids because their sheer numbers make them the most abundant food available despite the often extremely small sizes of many Chironomid species.
Blood worms are the larval stage of the Chironomid Gnats.

The real concern is whether or not you have a source of fresh frozen, never refrozen blood worms.
Refrozen blood worms turn black. Don't use those.

I keep many carnivorous plecos and wild Discus and although I only have 14 aquariums, I go through 50 pounds of frozen blood worms a year. I rarely thaw them out first. Only when I want them to disperse widely and quickly. If you are regularly changing enough aquarium water the blood worms contribute to algae growth no more than prepared foods. Any kind excess food can promote algae growth or worse, bacterial blooms. Your water changes should be large and frequent enough to keep the nitrates below 20 ppm. Nitrates and phosphates are the primary food stuffs of algae but only in the presence of enough light. In too dimly lighted tanks, diatoms and the bacteria prevail. Some thriving plants are helpful. I usually use Hornwort or Najas as both grow well free floating and excess growth can be harvested thus removing the sequestered nitrates and phosphates within their mass. These free floating plants are especially convenient in bare bottom tanks. Fast growing plants use up large amounts of nitrates and phosphates.

Thanks apistomaster.......Really like hearing from the guys who've been doing this "fish thing" for awhile. Guys who have "been there and done that".


Dennis

[apistomaster]

The chiton exoskeletons of blood worms act like fiber in helping digestion and also help retain the nutrititous interior organs better than frozen brine shrimp.

[wrasse]

It's worth trying different brands of frozen bloodworm. IME the quality varies, some are rubbish.

TMC's gamma bloodworm is the one I go for.

[RickE]

It's worth trying different brands of frozen bloodworm. IME the quality varies, some are rubbish.

TMC's gamma bloodworm is the one I go for.

I would agree with that. It's a bit more expensive but it has been irradiated (many of the cheaper ones have not) and you get nice firm bright red bloodworm when defrosted.

[DiscusDennis]

It's worth trying different brands of frozen bloodworm. IME the quality varies, some are rubbish.

TMC's gamma bloodworm is the one I go for.

I would agree with that. It's a bit more expensive but it has been irradiated (many of the cheaper ones have not) and you get nice firm bright red bloodworm when defrosted.

Thanks RickE & wrasse,
TMC's gamma blood worms sound good unfortunately I have only these to choose from:
H2O Life brand (My first pick)
Hikari brand (my second choice)
San Francisco Bay brand (my third choice)
Ocean Nutrition brand (haven't tried these yet)
Although if TMC brand blood worms get to the US....I'd definately give them a go.

Dennis

[andywoolloo]

my BN get some bloodworms once a week, they do enjoy it and they also get the sinking earthworm sticks along with their veg , fruit diet

[apistomaster]

I think Hikari exposes their frozen blood worm with gamma rays but even these will be badly degraded if thawed and refrozen so always buy the reddest blood worms you can regardless of the brand.