Bloodworms Hurt Me, But Maggots Are My Friend!

[§tudz]

hey all,

A few months ago my hands started to itch really badly after feeding my fish and I couldn’t work out what it was, though it was stagnant water or maybe something in the tank water.

I suffer from mild dermatitis, which is an inflammation of the skin that may result in redness or itching, and pealing skin. My case is normally flared up by certain types of glue, so this is a new one for me.

After weeks of pain and irritation I was still at a loss to what was causing it, until this months copy of PFK dropped onto my mat.
If you have your copy the letter I refer to is on page 109 (Lateral Lines), and it’s from some one called Alan, no other details are supplied. The small article is entitles “Bloodworm blight”

Thanks to Alan I’ve found out what is irritating my hands.

Now for a while I’ve been looking into other foods for my fish, apart from bloodworms, prawns and slices of whiting.

I thought back to my course fishing days and remembered how fish used to go mad for maggots. So I made the connection and yesterday I took a trip down to the local tackle shop and picked up some maggots. A bargain at 70p, for a pot, which will last a week to a week and a half. I got uncoloured ones, to ensure no artificial colorants or contaminants are leeched into the water or fish.

Now I washed a handful a dropped them into my big tank, the fish went mad for them, I’ve never seen them like that at feeding time. So I tried my 33gallon, which is home to a young Datnioides microlepis, a Polypterus senegalus senegalus, Polypterus senegalus meridionalis, and three large Corydoras zygatus. They all went mad as well.
Even my baby Datnioides tank went crazy.

Now the next problem I had was that maggots don’t last too long before they turn to castors and then become blue bottles, so I though “Lets freeze ‘em, and see what happens when defrosted”.

So I did this and the fish went mad for them again. You don’t end up with a big frozen bock of maggots either, as they continue to wriggle about while them become frozen, so you had individual frozen maggots, scoop out and hand full add to warm water, drain off the water and feed to the fish.

I can’t see any down points to this, they are cheap, is to store and just as good for the fish as bloodworm, as like bloodworm they are pure protein.

As for other foods I’ve seen mealworms fed to large fish, but my fish aren’t big enough to take them, well at least I think they are.

What other foods have you tried, and havent given great results?

Here are some I know about, some I have tried:

- beef heart
- lance fish
- krill
- earth worms
- meal worms
- crickets
- lob worm
- cockles
- mussels

 

[Madam Macaw]

Hmmm, that is very interesting. I am curious to see everyone's thoughts on this also.

 

[CFC]

Only downside i can see is that maggots excreet ammonia so feeding them in large ammounts could upset water quality. The other is cost, last time i bought a pint of maggots it was over £3 and i'm sure they've gone up since then.

Why not just invest in a box of disposable latex gloves for handling bloodworm?

 

[§tudz]

I have bought some gloves, and a pint was about £1 here, Im not saying its a staple diet, the same as blood worms arent. but its another varient to the diet

 

[Colin_T]

Bloodworms cause problems to lots of people. One of the guys in the shop brushed the side of his face after feeding the fish. He must have got a tiny amount of bloodworm from his fingers in his eye and it puffed up like a balloon. We took him to hospital and the docs freaked. He wasn't allowed to feed bloodworm after that.

Any food that is put in the tank is going to produce ammonia. The more food and the higher the protein the more ammonia produced. It doesn't matter if it's maggots or prawn or fish.
The only thing i would be concerned about is have the maggots been cleaned before packing. If they come prepacked from a live food supplier then they are probably fine. If they are from a rotting carcass in the garden then they can introduce bacteria into the tanks.

I feed aphids, flying ants, termites, mosquitoes & larvae, flies, wingless fruit flies, small cockroaches, earthworms, microworms, grindle worms and white worms. Tadpoles, baby fish, daphnia, gammaris, and all sorts of fruits and vegetables. These are all used as supplements to a basic flake and pellet diet with fresh prawn and fish added. Many of the insects are seasonal so I take what I can when it's available.

Beef heart isn't the best food for fish. They are unable to digest the proteins very easily.

 

[§tudz]

beef heart fats, aka mammilian fats arent digested well in fish at all, and I certainly wouldnt advise extensive use of it. I have never used it tbh.

The maggots I am using are not from rotting flesh in the garden they are from a fishing tackle shop. So they are ok for the fish to eat, as they are sold as bait, and I have frozen them myself.

I'm a little concerned about feeding my fish insects from the garden, as I dont want to introduce any toxins, such as ant killer into the tank, as you dont know where those have been

anaphalatic shock can also be caused by blood worms according to the afore mentioned article, but then so can anything that can cause an irritation like that.

One bug to avoid feeding your fish would be ladybirds/ladybugs (depending where your from) as these excrete a aid when in danger, and this cant be any good for the fish.

But them I suppose in the wild if such insect fell into the water the fish would eat them there as for feeding mozzies, I dont fancy running rouns the garden with my big fish net trying to catch the blighters

 

[Colin_T]

as for feeding mozzies, I dont fancy running rouns the garden with my big fish net trying to catch the blighters

you don't have to run around after them. Just stand outside and wait for them to come and feed from you. Then you whack em and drop em in a lil container. When you start to feel light headed go inside and feed them to the fishies

Actually speaking of running around with a big net, When I was down south collecting in a creek there were swarms of midges hanging out in the plants along the banks. I used a fine mesh fish net and dragged it thru the plants and got a handful of live midges in about 10seconds. I filled a couple of fish bags up with them and took them home, stuck them in the freezer and had fish food for a week.

 

[Mikaila31]

Or you could do what I do. Standby a bug zapper and try to catch them before they zap themselves

 

[invader]

Or you could do what I do. Standby a bug zapper and try to catch them before they zap themselves

The life of a fish lover.

 

[§tudz]

Or you could do what I do. Standby a bug zapper and try to catch them before they zap themselves

oooh! the excitement saturday nights must be a blast

 

[TigerLotus]

Collin T said:

"microworms, grindle worms and white worms"

I saw that you feed those and was wonering if you feed these to fish or to fry? I saw these on sale and was intrested in buying them, but everything kept mentioning fry. Whats your experience? Do you think they would be sutiable for fish like barbs and gouramis?

Thanks,

Tiger Lotus

 

[Colin_T]

microworms are generally used for fry but small barbs, tetras and little species of gourami will eat them. Grindle worm will be taken by most barbs, tetras and fish up to about 4inches long. White worms are bigger and generally used to feed big barbs, big tetras, angelfish, discus and fish over 4inches.
Microworms grow to a couple of mm long
Grindle worms grow to about 10mm long
Whiteworms grow to about 25mm long.
Basically any fish that can take a tubifex or live black worm will be able to eat a white worm.
If you have big fish, (8-10inch fish) then get an earthworm farm and use the earthworms to feed the fish. Small earthworms can be fed to smaller fish and you can cut the worms up for smaller fish. But don't let anyone in the house find out you are chopping earthworms up in the kitchen coz all hell breaks lose when that happens

 

[Mikaila31]

Or you could do what I do. Standby a bug zapper and try to catch them before they zap themselves

oooh! the excitement saturday nights must be a blast

Shame on those that do not know the entertainment that is the Bug Zapper . Have you ever seen a large beetle catch fire and burn for a whole minuet while making a crackling sound? I have

 

[Colin_T]

Shame on those that do not know the entertainment that is the Bug Zapper . Have you ever seen a large beetle catch fire and burn for a whole minuet while making a crackling sound? I have

LOL
I can imagine you lot standing around the bug zapper with a beer in one hand and a pair of tweezers in the other. A beetle flies in and burns and you lot take turns picking it out with the tweezers.

 

[Mikaila31]

Shame on those that do not know the entertainment that is the Bug Zapper . Have you ever seen a large beetle catch fire and burn for a whole minuet while making a crackling sound? I have

LOL
I can imagine you lot standing around the bug zapper with a beer in one hand and a pair of tweezers in the other. A beetle flies in and burns and you lot take turns picking it out with the tweezers.

I wish, but the fish don't like their food electrocuted, if they did I would have tons of it. So you got catch them before the start of fire. Oh and that Bug Zapper will knock you down, its a force to be recconed with. I wouldn't touch it with tweezers unless it was for some sorta dare or bet.