All About Bloodworm

 

This time we will discuss one of the best feeds for betta fish.

For breeder friends, you must be familiar with this betta fish feed, yes, that's right, the name is bloodworm or blood worm or frozen worm.

Before we discuss why bloodworms can make betta fish successful in the mating process and produce lots of eggs, let's discuss what bloodworms are, let's go.

BLOODWORM

Animals shaped like pieces of thread with a length of 1-2 cm red are known as blood worms. It seems that their red color reminds us of the color of blood causing these animals to be called bloodworms. In addition, they are often also referred to as ice worms, because they are often found in frozen form. However, don't be fooled by the name. Although they are called worms, these animals have nothing to do with worms, because they are not from the class of worms.

Contrary to its name, bloodworms are actually the larvae of a type of mosquito-like insect called chiro o n o m u s. These "mosquitoes" are not from the biting mosquitoes as we know them everyday. Chironomus do not bite because they do not eat in this phase. Its job in the form of flying insects is to find a mate, mate, lay eggs, and die. While the feeding phase takes place when these insects are in the larval phase.

 

HABITAT

Bloodworms are generally found in open waters, such as rivers, ponds, or lakes. They are found crawling, or swimming, or sometimes floating in bodies of water. In general, they prefer to hide behind rocks, or among decaying organic matter. Most bloodworms build some kind of tube made of mud, and they hide in it. Only when they eat will they leave the tube. But usually it won't be too far out of the tube. Bloodworms can live anywhere, in places that have sufficient food reserves for them. They are known to live in both fresh and sea water, in clean and polluted waters. Bloodworms can be found almost all over the world. At least there are known to be about 2000 species of "bloodworm".

It should be noted that not all types of chironomus have red larvae. Some species have greenish larvae, others are white. Only those with hemoglobin will have a red color.

It is often misunderstood that the red color of the blood worm can be transmitted to fish, so people compete to get the bloodworm to "milk" the fish. The red color of bloodworms is caused by hemoglobin, which is needed by these creatures in order to live in conditions with low oxygen levels. So far there is no relationship between hemoglobin and fish color. However, the high protein content will cause the fish that consume it to be "healthier" so that the fish becomes brighter in color.

 

LIFE CYCLE

The chironomus mosquito has a complete life cycle on average of one year, although variations will be found depending on the species. The life cycle consists of 4 stages (phases), namely the egg stage, the larval stage, the pupa stage, and the adult insect or flying insect stage.

After the female chironomus lays her eggs on the surface of the water, the eggs will sink to the bottom and land in the mud at the bottom of the waters. This egg is in the form of an egg mass consisting of 50-700 eggs. In tropical conditions, these eggs will have an incubation period of 24-48 hours before hatching. After hatching, the larvae, known as bloodworms, will make tubes of mud in which to live. At the time of newly hatched chironomus larvae measuring no more than 1 mm. They live and thrive in these tubes. In this period the bloodworm will molt 6 times. At the end of the larval stage, they can reach a length of 10-20 mm.

Once the larvae are old enough, they will close the tube and then turn into a cocoon or pupa. These changes can last several weeks. After the change is complete, the pupa will emerge from the tube and then swim to the surface of the water with the head up and the tail down. Upon reaching the surface, the skin of the pupa will rupture, open and a young and beautiful insect will crawl out of its shell, drying its wings for a moment and then ready to fly. This process from emerging from the pupa shell to being ready to fly will generally take less than a minute. These flying insects will then look for a partner and mate in the air. After mating the female "mosquito" will land on the surface of the water and begin to lay eggs there. Thus, the bloodworm life cycle will repeat itself. Chironomus mosquitoes usually only live for a few hours. After laying eggs they will die. However, there are also types of chironomus whose flight phase can last from a few days to 2 months.

 

NUTRITION CONTENT

Chironomus larvae or bloodworms and their pupae are known to have high nutritional content. Therefore they are very well known as one of the live fish feeds commonly used in the ornamental fishery. All types of carnivorous fish are known to spawn quickly. Various literatures report that fish fed with bloodworms show these symptoms.

Bloodworm nutritional content is classified as very good. The results of his chemical analysis showed that the bloodworm consisted of 9.5 percent dry matter, the rest was water. Of the dry matter present, 62.5 percent is protein, 10.5 percent fat, and 11.6 ash, and other residues. Bloodworms are also known to be a good source of iron for fish, because these larvae have hemoglobin in their bodies.

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