# Bloodworms: yes or no?



## Hirelena (Jun 19, 2009)

Im new to the world of betta's, and saw that it would be nice for the fish to have a varied diet. So I was wondering how people felt about freeze dried bloodworms. Do they cause bloat, or if there is a special way to prepare them? Is it okay to give it to them once in a while, or daily? Do I soak them? Etc? 

Betta's have so much personality and I dont wanna just give them stuff all willy nilly and hurt them. 

Thankies!


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## DragonFish (Mar 31, 2009)

Welcome to the addiction! :-D

I stay away from freezedried myself, just to be safe, and stick with frozen bloodworms, brine shrimp, and Daphnia. I've read that the process it goes through to freezedry things actually remove the nutrients, and that it can cause bloat and the like....but, with that said, I've also heard a couple things about soaking them fist, only giving a couple, ext. But, IMHO, its not worth the risk....I'm also super paranoid though 

Also, they should only be fed 'treats' such as bloodworms and brine shrimp once-twice a week with a good pellet as a staple diet. I choose a day for each(bloodworms and brine shrimp)and replace the evening feeding with a few.  Hope this helps!


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## Hirelena (Jun 19, 2009)

Wow you got a lot of fish o.o hehe! 

Yea its an addiction, every time I go to wal mart or pets mart for their food or items, I go, "Wow shes gorgous I wanna take her home with me!". Luckily I go with friends who say, "nooo! Where are you gonna keep it!" LOL. 

Anyway~ I do appricate the advice. I stared at this BettaMin, Tropical Medley by Tetra, which includes, FreezedDried shrimp brine, vs this little bottle of Tetra's, freezedried blood worms. I went with the Tropical Medley thinking it would be 'safer' and decided to go on the forums to ask about the bloodworms for next time.

So freezedried stuff takes out nutriants? Well that isnt cool! Maybe I should invest in some frozen stuff, which I guess you get at PetSmart...

Thanks for the reply <3


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## DragonFish (Mar 31, 2009)

Haha, I also have a pond full of breeding goldfish ;-) 

Yup, bettas are definitely an addition, this last guy I bought(on my avvy)has to be my last one, I need to save room for fry^-^ But I get the 'you don't need another fish' speech from my mom anyway, luckily, or unluckily maybe, I don't listen xD

Your welcome, glad I could be of help  I do believe I have a thing of Tropical Medley too...but that was long before I got bettas, so I've never fed it to them, and at my LPS frozen is actually cheaper 
Yup, I keep reading that somehow it takes out the nutrients...which is why I decided to not even try it and find other ways to vary their diet. I've heard of people using some special kinds of flakes, and even different brands of pellets and mixing it up.

I've found frozen wherever fish are sold, my LPS, Petsmart, Petco, online....all over the place. I hear Hikari brand is best as well ^-^


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## Hirelena (Jun 19, 2009)

^^ Ill look em up next time I head over there. Which might be soon, I am under the 
suspicion that the heater isnt working so I just got a thermometer to test it. (BTW a little off topic, whats a good temp for the water to be at? )

Stupid question, keep the worms in the freezer right? (Which my mother will 'love' to see). And do I thaw those out too?


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## DragonFish (Mar 31, 2009)

Ahh, yes, thermometers are good...I always forget those D: xD luckily, I have enough tanks with stable temps that I can 'borrow' for a short time.
Its recommended to keep the temp between 78-82 degrees, I keep mine all at around 79-80 and find they're most active then ;-)

Yup, just keep 'em in the freezer xD My mom is okay with it because they're sealed up, though once she freaked because I put a dish of excess worms in there....though, I just put the dish in a zip-lock baggy and the argument was solved ;-)

I thaw them in a small dish with tank water, usually its warm enough to thaw them out in 5 minutes or so(give or take....I usually leave them for a bit because I'm distracted my shiny objects xD)They come in 'cubes' so if you have excess drain the water and you can use the zip-lock method and save for future use ;-) If your mom gets mad, say your saving money by not wasting....or ask for your own mini freezer in your room :lol:


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## Hirelena (Jun 19, 2009)

Brilliance DragonFish <3

Ill go out sometime when I get some extra money and buy some for the little guys. Because come on, if you eat the same thing every day, youd get bored too Lol.

^^ Thanks for all the info! Everyone here is always willing to help yay! OH, that Medley I got, do you remember if its a daily thing?


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## DragonFish (Mar 31, 2009)

Happy to lend my brillianceness ;-) :lol: Jk, but I'm happy I could help ^-^

I know I would get bored xD Though, I once had a honey Gourami that refused to eat anything but flakes. She was quite the odd character...

Hmm.... like if your supposed to feed it every day? I fed it to my Community tank every other day, though with bettas, frezedried or frozen, I think the absolute max times you should be feeding it is three times per week....I don't know exactly why I'm afraid, all I know is that its bad for them in some way....


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## Hirelena (Jun 19, 2009)

Lol I mean feeding them the Melody food, can I feed them that daily, or is it a treat like thing like the blood worms ^^.


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## DragonFish (Mar 31, 2009)

Ahh, yeah, its a treat thing like bloodworms ^-^


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## Hirelena (Jun 19, 2009)

Good stuff, Ill keep that in mind. Im going to change the tank tonight, and nothing says non-stress than new food! A -num num. ^^ 

That and poke around my room to find some new things that float for their tank lol. A top of a pill bottle keeps Aya busy but its too big for Celes....mm... *digs*


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## DragonFish (Mar 31, 2009)

Haha, indeed, I usually like to feed bloodworms after I do WCs....good to know I'm not the only one that makes that connection xD

lol, how cute! I've been looking for a plastic egg from my brothers room to try with Nova or Wally....so far, no luck D: I need to go get some ping pong balls...I tried a marble in my bare bottom 5 gallon, but Smore seems unamused and my mom came in and commented '....You've been a bad fish, you only get one marble' :lol:


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## Hirelena (Jun 19, 2009)

Awesome commenting Lol.

And that tidbit of info came from this forum hehe, so I wasnt awesome enough to notice that lol.

I got little beads on the bottom for Celestine, but she doesnt seem to care either lol. The female is a little bit of a picky aggressive thing. 

Id use a ball but to keep the two of them mating (bad thing for a newbie Betta owner) I got a breeders cage in it floating on the side of our 2 gal tank to keep em apart. So there isnt enough room v.v


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## DragonFish (Mar 31, 2009)

lol, yes, she comes in and talks to my fish xD and Max, her betta, she sings to xD

It was another forum where I read about ping pong balls and marbles...and a few other things, can't remember them all now D: 

Hmm....the breeder is only temporary though, correct? And the lid is on it? If I need to QT one of my girls because she ate too much, they'll jump out if I don't put the lid on....


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## Hirelena (Jun 19, 2009)

I switch Aya and Celestine in and out of the breeder so neither is stuck in it for long. But that way they wont breed lol and I dont need to get a new tank. Happily enough the only problem I have with the tank is that they go through a little bout of boredom being in it which can easily be fixed by putting my face by the tank which gets their attention quickly. 

And yea, I had problems with Aya jumping out of the breeders thing and going after Celes in the middle of the night. The lid quickly fixed that problem lol. We had a pure white goldfish named Sesshomaru, and one night he committed fishie suicide because we had no lid. Lids = <3


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## DragonFish (Mar 31, 2009)

Hmm....you should get another tank anyway, kritter keepers work great. 2 gallons is really the minimum for one betta...and even with switching them out, its not healthy to have two in such a small space....also, the problem you'd have would be more along the lines of one killing the other, rather then them breeding.
Go snag a medium kritter keeper, their not that expensive, and one of those Hydro mini heaters. Trust me, your bettas will be much happier with the extra space AND you'll have room for a ping pong ball or something of the like ^-^

Buuuuut, omg, Sesshy! 8D Inuyasha is <33


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## Hirelena (Jun 19, 2009)

I got one of those mini heaters in there now, and I swear it stopped working. I got a vase which I could switch one into, but with it not being heated and all I thought it would be best to keep them in a heated tank. 

And yea we were sad to see Sessy go, but we learned never to buy white fish/animals (had a friend with a guinea pig) and named them after semi evil charcs lol. They all want to kill themselves.


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## DragonFish (Mar 31, 2009)

Yup, temporarily it'll be okay....but long term, its not the best plan. You'll definitely want to get another tank and heater at some point...the sooner, the better of course^-^;

xDD lol So far, I've had no problems with Sasuke....though hes definitely grumpy and emo


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## dr2b (May 31, 2009)

Frozen has two problems: 1) it is less nutritious than live, and 2) you have to keep it in the freezer. 

Freeze-drying preserves most of the nutrients in the food, without the problems of parasites (the process kills any that might be present). Also, once in the water, the freeze-dried worms seem more like live ones. They quickly absorb the water and resemble live worms. 

I use freezedried and frozen foods. It is faster for me to feed freezedried because my fish are a little slow to see the frozen foods lol.


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## Hirelena (Jun 19, 2009)

Better watch Sasuke, one day he just might go nuts and bug out at a female LOL. Ninja's are sneaky that way.

But your right, I need a new tank, I feel bad keeping one in that breeders thingie gotta find one with a heater if possible.


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## DragonFish (Mar 31, 2009)

dr2b said:


> Freeze-drying preserves most of the nutrients in the food, without the problems of parasites (the process kills any that might be present). Also, once in the water, the freeze-dried worms seem more like live ones. They quickly absorb the water and resemble live worms.


 I've never heard of that....I've only ever been told/heard that the process removes the nutrients and frozen is always better.


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## Hirelena (Jun 19, 2009)

LOL That was unexpected. 

yay debate!


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## DragonFish (Mar 31, 2009)

Hirelena said:


> Better watch Sasuke, one day he just might go nuts and bug out at a female LOL. Ninja's are sneaky that way.
> 
> But your right, I need a new tank, I feel bad keeping one in that breeders thingie gotta find one with a heater if possible.


Lol, yes, Sasuke is definitely a Ninja....had to take him out of the divided tank because he kept mysteriously finding a way over. :lol: Hes not anywhere near the girls though ;-)

Hmm....check craigslist for your area? They sometimes have full setups for pretty cheap..


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## Hirelena (Jun 19, 2009)

You know I trusted craigslist for about a year until it got popular and people used it to rob banks lol. The tank I have is a 2nd hand one anyway, so I should just buy one with a heater included. 

And I applaud your Sasuke for finding his way out of his divider. Ninja fish are ninja.


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

I read somewhere on another site where someone did research and found that the freeze drying process actually keeps the vitamins in, like dr2b said. It should be rehydrated before feeding, though, to avoid digestive problems.


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## Hirelena (Jun 19, 2009)

Thanks dramaqueen! So take a small dish or something and touch the freezedried item with water to rehydrate?


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## DragonFish (Mar 31, 2009)

dramaqueen said:


> I read somewhere on another site where someone did research and found that the freeze drying process actually keeps the vitamins in, like dr2b said. It should be rehydrated before feeding, though, to avoid digestive problems.


Wow....I've honestly never heard of that before D: I must do a little research on it myself...



Hirelena said:


> And I applaud your Sasuke for finding his way out of his divider. Ninja fish are ninja.


lol, indeed ;-)


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

I put several bloodworms and water in a little plastic cup.. I wait about 5-10 minutes, then feed them to my fish.


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## Hirelena (Jun 19, 2009)

Research is a good thing, its why I came to these fourms to ask questions and opinions from people. Your advice still was very helpful DragonFish^^.

So dramaqueen let me ask you, this Tetra Tropical Medley with freezedried brine shrimp, should I rehydrate that?


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

If it's freeze dried, I'd rehydrate it.


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## Hirelena (Jun 19, 2009)

Thanks! I will do that!


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## dr2b (May 31, 2009)

Yeah I do like Dramaqueen. I take the little medicine cups that come with Nyquil and fill it with some tank water and let the freezedried food sit for about 5 minutes.


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## InsideTheBurg (Aug 18, 2009)

I've never had a problem with freezedried bloodworms. I give them to all of my gang once or twice a week.... but back in the day (like 15 years ago) When I was young and had my first betta ever, I fed him only bloodowrms and he lived a good 4 years maybe longer even. Course I would never do that now, but it's amazing how hardy these guys are!


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

When I first got Nina and she wouldn't eat pellets, I went back to Petsmart to find something she would eat. I told the guy there that she couldn't eat pellets and he said feed her bloodworms. I'm like uh, bloodworms aren't good to use as a staple food. He says, well thats what they eat in the wild.


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## Hirelena (Jun 19, 2009)

Lol, well I am happy for all the positive reviews. I can now go to the store and feel good about buying the worms and giving them to Aya and Celes as a treat.


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