# wild bloodworms?



## j-man the skater-man (Apr 4, 2005)

its starting to warm up in NC and im near the coast. i have a goldfish pond that has native minnows in it and i found these worm things that look amost just like frozen bloodworms from the store. is it possible that these could be bloodworms in my pond? in so can i harvest them for my fish and them be safe?


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

They are very likely indeed bloodworms, since they occur naturally in your area. Lucky you; we don't have them down here in any significant number.

They should be safe to use, IF you put them in some clean water to flush them out for a week before use.


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## j-man the skater-man (Apr 4, 2005)

thanks, i actually identified something right YAY... we sorta cleaned the pond out but they were in there by the hundreds still so go me... 

ok now...will the bloodworms grow up into something that will harm my fish? or me? also can i freeze my own outa my pond so that i have them during winter?


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## Guest (Apr 4, 2006)

i believe bloodworms are mosquito larvae.


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## shev (Jan 18, 2005)

not mosquito, midge larvae. similar.


Ive gotten them plenty of times while growing mosquito larvae.


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## j-man the skater-man (Apr 4, 2005)

ok so how do i attract midge flies to harvest the midge larvae?...cause as i have found out our pond is gonna be a goldfish pond before too long. can i just scoop up all the debris and crap at the bottom of the pond now and put it in a 5 gallon bucket...will that attract the bloodworms? any sites with info on harvesting blood worms would rock but i havent found any yet

thanks jason


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## leveldrummer (May 27, 2005)

it would probably attract midges, but it will also attract mosquitos, just learn the difference in what the larvae look like, i dont know if you can feed mosquito larvae to fish


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## Christine (Nov 4, 2005)

leveldrummer said:


> i dont know if you can feed mosquito larvae to fish


Oh yea you can :fish:


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## shev (Jan 18, 2005)

I havent came across a fish yet that didnt like mosquito larvae.


except maybe my pleco I guess.

Midge larvae become very red when they mature. I think mosquito eggs float and look like pieces of bark, while midge eggs sink. You wont be able to just attract one without the other. but who cares? both are attracted to rotting material, I use watermelon rines in buckets. the midge larvae also might be able to make more larvae wthout maturing to their final flying stage, but im not sure.


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## xerxeswasachump (Mar 29, 2006)

I accidentally came upon some bloodworms the other day. I was collecting duckweed and pond water to put into my tank, just to see what would happen. 
I've done it before and my fish seemed to love eating all of the tiny water fleas and such. 
Anyway, this time when i put in these enormous clumps of duckweed black worms, blood worms, and other crazy stuff started swimming out from the plant mass. It was definitely very cool. I even got some crazy aquatic insect that looks like a very menacing centipede with a pointy thing on its tail that it sticks out of the water to breathe. Let me know if anyone can figure out what this might be and what it eats. It is definitely not a damselfy or dragonfly larva. 
I guess a bucket filled with duckweed and gross pond water and decaying leave would definitely attract midges and such. 
I think i am going to go get pond water more often.


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## shev (Jan 18, 2005)

Just watch out, you could get youself some predatory insects while doing it.


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## xerxeswasachump (Mar 29, 2006)

I don't see how a predatory insect could cause much damage. I had some dragonfly larva for a while but they couldn't catch anythign and eventually died because they couldn't compete for food. I was thinking about setting up a 5 gallon aquatic insect tank. If i don't do that i am going to try to breed cherry shrimp in it.


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## ron v (Feb 24, 2005)

Mosquito larvae are very good live food for most fish. As the weather is warming, I have placed a 33 gal tank outside my back door to raise them. I have been feeding m. larvae daily to many of my small cichlids for the past couple of weeks. As of this morning, I have fry or eggs in twelve aquariums. The only change is the mosquito larvae.


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