Bloodworms Why As A Treat Only?

HI Guys, I see everywhere that bloodworms are fed like once or twice a week. Why is it like that? I have cichlids and barbs. Can I feed them bloodworms only? I feed my fish twice. They love bloodworms more than any other food so is it OK to continue feeding them that twice a day daily? Please reply. Thanks.

 

NONONONO!!! Please do not feed you fish bloodworms regularly, it contains next to NO nutritional value. STOP AT ONCE, ITS FISH JUNK FOOD! It essentially has the same effect as eating Mcdonalds everyday for every meal and is kinda bad for your fish in large amounts. Instead, feed your fish proper fish food like Chichlid food. Only feed them bloodworms once a week tops.

 

I have the same problem as op. I feed my fish a mixture of foods, but they don't like the other foods. In fact if I don't feed them blood worm they don't eat. Especially my discus

 

Seachem garlic guard can sometimes entice fish to eat flake or dry foods.

 

Mine have them daily as well as beef heart, shrimp, flake, pellets, vitamins, and other vegetables that I mixup in the blender. Then add clear gelatin and freeze in the little cube tray and use that as your main food! So much cheaper and much more healthy

 

Bloodworms have excellent nutritional value, a far superior food to any flake. Yup, you just got a totally contradictory view to the others. Welcome to the Internet forums. Let's see if my reasoning holds any value.
I breed fish, and conditioning them to spawn on flake or pellets is not easy. Using frozen foods gets quick results. They make fish much more prone to reproduce.
A healthy fish wants to breed, so even if you aren't a fish breeder, it is a serious indicator of a healthy diet when they do what their lives aI'm for.
The only fish I can condition with flake or pellets (I never use pellets, though they are just compressed flake) are those that eat a lot of plant matter. Most livebearers and some Cichlids respond well to prepared foods.
Herbivores have trouble with bloodworms. They are a food for insectivore - bug eating fish like Bettas. You have to do a little research to find out what your fish eat in nature. Fish have some very different intestinal systems, and you don't feed insect larvae (bloodworms) to plant eaters without a risk.
I'm allergic to bloodworms, so I don't use them anymore. I used to go though pounds and pounds for breeding Apistogramma, Bettas and killies.
Twice a day is too much. Once will do with a rich food like bloodworms. I only fed pairs being conditioned with bloodworms. You always need to follow the three food rule - rotate multiple options in a feeding program designed around what your fish eat in nature.
Bloodworms (from Wikipedia):

• Crude Protein (min) 8.3%
• Crude Fat (min) 1.2%
• Crude Fiber (max) 3.9% (excellent, by the way)
  
• Moisture (max) 81.7% (not excellent)
  
• (Protein as a percentage of dry matter - 45.3%

Here is Northfin staple:
Crude Protein (min) - 45%
Crude Fat (min) - 7% (not great)
Crude Fiber (min) - 5% (excellent)
Moisture (max) - 9%
Ash (max) - 9%

On paper, the flake is the junk food. The bloodworm is the more natural diet.
Both the dry food and the frozen insect have 45% of dry matter protein. We really tend to overfeed with prepared foods.
No food should be the every day, only diet. If I were not allergic now, my fish would get bloodworms at least 4 times a week before breeding.
Plus, a lot of my fish will not eat prepared foods. It doesn't interest them. I see no use in starving them to force them to change their diet out of desperation - since I can't use bloodworms and don't always have live, I make my own frozen food mixes too.

 

Try crushing some krill and mixing it with flakes. In my experience this mix will be a hit with most fish

 

Bloodworms have excellent nutritional value, a far superior food to any flake. Yup, you just got a totally contradictory view to the others. Welcome to the Internet forums. Let's see if my reasoning holds any value.
I breed fish, and conditioning them to spawn on flake or pellets is not easy. Using frozen foods gets quick results. They make fish much more prone to reproduce.
A healthy fish wants to breed, so even if you aren't a fish breeder, it is a serious indicator of a healthy diet when they do what their lives aI'm for.
The only fish I can condition with flake or pellets (I never use pellets, though they are just compressed flake) are those that eat a lot of plant matter. Most livebearers and some Cichlids respond well to prepared foods.
Herbivores have trouble with bloodworms. They are a food for insectivore - bug eating fish like Bettas. You have to do a little research to find out what your fish eat in nature. Fish have some very different intestinal systems, and you don't feed insect larvae (bloodworms) to plant eaters without a risk.
I'm allergic to bloodworms, so I don't use them anymore. I used to go though pounds and pounds for breeding Apistogramma, Bettas and killies.
Twice a day is too much. Once will do with a rich food like bloodworms. I only fed pairs being conditioned with bloodworms. You always need to follow the three food rule - rotate multiple options in a feeding program designed around what your fish eat in nature.
Bloodworms (from Wikipedia):

• Crude Protein (min) 8.3%
• Crude Fat (min) 1.2%
• Crude Fiber (max) 3.9% (excellent, by the way)
  
• Moisture (max) 81.7% (not excellent)
  
• (Protein as a percentage of dry matter - 45.3%

Here is Northfin staple:
Crude Protein (min) - 45%
Crude Fat (min) - 7% (not great)
Crude Fiber (min) - 5% (excellent)
Moisture (max) - 9%
Ash (max) - 9%

On paper, the flake is the junk food. The bloodworm is the more natural diet.
Both the dry food and the frozen insect have 45% of dry matter protein. We really tend to overfeed with prepared foods.
No food should be the every day, only diet. If I were not allergic now, my fish would get bloodworms at least 4 times a week before breeding.
Plus, a lot of my fish will not eat prepared foods. It doesn't interest them. I see no use in starving them to force them to change their diet out of desperation - since I can't use bloodworms and don't always have live, I make my own frozen food mixes too.

That actually makes a whole lot of sense. My friends go shocked when I say, "oh what do I feed my fighters? Mosquito larvae and bloodworms and pelletts in the summer, Pellets and frozen bloodworms in the winter." Its because they think that fish will be happy just on flake/pellets, and live foods/frozen aren't part of their diet.

 

wem21 Bloodworms have nutrition, it just doesn't have enough nutrition. That's why you don't feed only bloodworms

 

Oh, I see. Thanks

 

Ya welcome

 

No food has enough nutrition to be the only food. You need variety - krill crushed was a great suggestion. But bloodworms are a possible core food.
All fish diets should be a rotation of 3 different types, with as little prepared food as you can manage.

 

Thanks guys for the replies. I have mbunas so I better give them some staple food too.

 

Mbuna shouldn't even be eating bloodworms once a week. They're omnivores leaning toward herbivorous.

 

Some Mbunas can eat meat, so it doesn't hurt to give them bloodworms if they can eat meat. If your mbuna likes them and can eat meat, I will give it as a treat. I won't feed it daily. There are not a lot of nutrition in these worms.