tubifex worms vs. blood worms

Jul 9, 2003
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#4
Bloodworms can come in cubes. Frozen cubes (buy them all the time myself)

Fish arn't as picky about bloodworms as "sewer worms" (Tubiflex) Most every fish goes crazy for bloodworms, heck even my cardinal tetras do. Tubiflex worms can carry diseases and harmful parasites. Overall i think bloodworms are more healthier. And overall i think Bloodworms would be a much better choice.

Tubiflex may be cheaper.....but i wouldn't dare put them in a 55gal with $40 fish.
 

Revolt

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Apr 2, 2004
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#5
My like both, but my tiger barbs love to rip the freezed dried tubifex worms from the cube. I soak it first and sqeeze the air at of it and they love it.

Tubifex worms have more fat I believe, and they have less fiber than bloodworms.
 

depthC

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Feb 24, 2003
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#6
I buy bloodworms and tubiflex worms in cubes all the time. But in health wise or any of that other stuff im not sure which is better. They both can carry diseases and parasites. Go the easy route and buy some frozen bloodworms and tubiflex worms. I have both types from Bio-pure. They go through a 3 step steralization process and they havent caused any instinces with my fish.

.depthc
 

Lotus

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Aug 26, 2003
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#10
I believe it's only live, untreated tubifex that have parasites. Freeze-dried anything won't have parasites, as the process kills all bacteria, spores etc.

Frozen should be fine as long as they have been treated (read the label).

Frozen is more nutritious than freeze dried. Live is even more nutritious, but of course you have to be careful that the culture isn't tainted.
 

Joanne

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Mar 31, 2004
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#11
Dont know the answer to this one but none of my fish are particularly keen on tubiflex. The only ones who will even attempt to eat them are the guppies and they'll eat anything. Give any of the fish bloodworms though and they cant get to them quick enough.

I didnt know tubiflex had parasites though. Even more reason to stick with the bloodworms.
 

dial

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Jun 8, 2003
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#13
im from australia and my LFS says that the tubefix worm here are much cleaner that most people think. and if you want to be double sure just put them in a tub and change the water every 2nd day for a week then feed them to your fish. I havent accualy fed my fish live food just frozen blood work and brine shrimp. but i was thinking of seting up a tubefix live tank and brine shrimp tank. so i have a varied diet of live tubefix, live brine shrimp, frozen brine shrimp, frozen bloodworm, shrimp pellets, and tetramin flakes. and for the algue eaters algue wafer and cucumber.

cheers aron.
 

styxx1

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Jul 1, 2003
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#14
when feeding frozen bloodworms, what does everyone suggest as to the method, just drop the cube into the tank and sit back and watch the frenzy or what? I have used the freeze dried kind, but since the frozen is so much better I'd like to give it a shot...any suggestions?
 

AndyL

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Oct 22, 2002
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#15
Sounds like there's a lot of misconceptions out there... Just reading the answers given. Let's review shall we

Tubiflex worms, are a pale brown worm, who generally inhabit very nasty waterways. The parasite/disease etc concerns come from tubiflex we saw years ago, some of which was of 'questionable' quality. These guys die and go rank very quickly when removed from water, leading to the now famous 'Tubiflex will kill your fish'. Though you may see some real tubiflex in stores - it's generally fallen out of favor with the aquaria industry. You will not get Tubiflex worms as a live food unless you collect it yourself (And remember the water conditions it likes - polluted). But several manufacturers use the tubiflex name on other types of worms.

Bloodworms, are a reddish black 'worm'. _Should_ be midge fly larvae. You will not get these guys live, frozen / freeze dried only. Since they are fly LARVAE... Good stuffs - not many fish will turn up their nose at these guys.

Blackworms / California Black worms (CBW), are black and they're a worm. These you will get live! You keep them in a tub of water in the fridge, do a water change every other day (Some say with RO/DI water). Like bloodworms everybody will attack these. Some discus and angelfish breeders (among others) will feed these almost exclusively once weened from BBS, as they're great for putting weight on fish.

Andy
 

Jul 9, 2003
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#16
True True....there are many misconceptions. Heck i'm on of the ones that believes all this parasite stuff about Tubiflex. :p

I thaw a BW cube in a cup of tank water then pour it in. I just drop the Beefheart cube in and let it thaw inside the tank.

I wish i could get some CBW's but i don't think my family would appreciate me keeping live worms in the fridge. :)
 

Swiss

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Oct 26, 2002
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#18
blood worms - to Styxx

re: how to feed frozen blood worms - i take a little tank water into a small dish and drop the cube into that until it's thawed out, then pour it back into the tank. I just figure it's probably not very good for the fish to eat ice cold food...
 

doctawife

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Sep 25, 2003
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#19
Hmmm... I'm really really busy, so I just chuck the frozen whatever (blood worms, daphina, beefheart) just straight into the tank. So far, I haven't had any fish loss that could be attributed to the food changes. I only just went to move 'alive' types of food, so if anyone was going to die, they would have croaked by now.

I always used dried foods until recently. Is the benefit from live foods really worth the effort?