live blood worm for larvae?

M

markjamesm

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Mark M
Hi, Been reading for a while but not posting, So here goes. I have recently (about 3 weeks) hatched 30 axie eggs that i bought from someone off ebay. after reading loads on the web they are doing well and are about 20mm long, i've been feeding them on daphnia since they hatched. Last Thursday i had a problem buying daphnia all i could get was small live bloodworm (very small, between 3 & 10mm in length). After reading that frozen bloodworm is a choice food for adult axies and that larvae will only eat live food i decided to try them. They seem to love eating these, but i'm not sure how good they are for them. ie. should i change back to daphnia? as sometimes they seem to pass through the larvae mostly undigested. There dos'nt seem to be much info on live bloodworm on here?

Thanks in advance.
Mark
 
If they are able to eat them i would continue with the blood worm, you can always pop some daphnia in as well if you are concerned some arent getting enough.
 
Blood worm does last longer than daphnia - I find some of my youngsters "poo out" live blood worm.

Doesn't seem to bother them (or the blood worm). ...I just feel sorry for the Axie that eats it afterwards :)

...personally, I'd wean them on to live blood worm - giving them a little daphnia too.
 
philbaker76 said:
Blood worm does last longer than daphnia - I find some of my youngsters "poo out" live blood worm.

Doesn't seem to bother them (or the blood worm). ...I just feel sorry for the Axie that eats it afterwards :)

...personally, I'd wean them on to live blood worm - giving them a little daphnia too.
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Phil, it is impossible for an axolotl to eat a live bloodworm and "poo out" a live bloodworm. Not to offend you or anything, but it's the hard truth.

As long as the bloodworms are small enough for the axolotls to eat, they make a great food source.
 
axolotl_jake said:
Phil, it is impossible for an axolotl to eat a live bloodworm and "poo out" a live bloodworm. Not to offend you or anything, but it's the hard truth. Though that would be quite amazing, I'll admit.
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I've seen my T. verrucosus eat loads of bloodworm. The day after you could see their poo wiggle, so it is possible, I've seen it
 
I highly doubt bloodworms can survive digestion. Is it the same case as blackworms where live blackworms will curl around anything (including fresh poo), where it looks wiggly?
 
Kaysie said:
I highly doubt bloodworms can survive digestion. Is it the same case as blackworms where live blackworms will curl around anything (including fresh poo), where it looks wiggly?
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I'm 100% positive. The animals were put in a bare container, because I had heavy duty cleaning to do. There I saw the poo wiggle, and there was no other worms in the tub. They must have come from inside the animal
 
OK, shame on me, always jumping to conclusions. That is amazing though, maybe my axolotls just digest everything better?
 
Seriously guys, I've seen it with my own eyes (several times) the smaller hatchlings swimming around passing a live blood worm. It worried me when I first saw it (but all Axolotls are OK).

I agree, blood worm are a great source of food - I wean my hatchlings on to blood worm as soon as I can.
 
Well thats Great news! But you seem to have pre-empted my next question. somone out there must be telepathic. I got a bit panicked last night after wathing one of the larvae with a live bloodworm hanging out of it! but it came out and the little guy is fine. So today.... They got Adult brine shrimp and some more bloodworm. They love the brine shrimp! Although it is a little disconcerting as they are leucistic you can see the worm/shrimp swimming inside them!:eek: but they seem fine. Thanks for the help guys
 
iv also had bloodworms pass out still alive ( my first thought was it crawld up there:eek: ) but only noticed it with baby sharps not axies.
 
axolotl_jake said:
OK, shame on me, always jumping to conclusions. That is amazing though, maybe my axolotls just digest everything better?
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I would have said the same thing, Jake - it's hard to believe bloodworms could pass through alive, but with so many people confirming it, it must be true. Your axolotls get blackworms I assume, and I don't think these could ever pass through alive. The folks in Europe have actual live bloodworms (the midge larvae), and we in the US have no experience with those.
 
Jennewt said:
I would have said the same thing, Jake - it's hard to believe bloodworms could pass through alive, but with so many people confirming it, it must be true. Your axolotls get blackworms I assume, and I don't think these could ever pass through alive. The folks in Europe have actual live bloodworms (the midge larvae), and we in the US have no experience with those.
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My axolotls don't get California blackworms too often. I feed newly hatched brineshrimp until they'll eat trout pellets.

I am also talking about midge fly larvae (I think?). They affix themselves to the walls of my Daphnia culture tubs during the summer and swim in the figure "8" much like a mosquito larva. Any time I notice a lot of them freeloading in the tubs I remove them with a baster and feed them to my caudate larvae. I don't ever have them this time of year, but even in the summer when I have them I've never noticed them coming out the back end of an axolotl or newt larva still moving. I guess I should be more observant. Maybe what I have is a different species, but I was nearly positive they are midge larvae, at least I've always called them 'bloodworms'.

Sorry for offending anyone, just found it very hard to believe that's all.
 
No offence taken here mate. That's what forums are for; to debate topics and share info :)

Mosquito Larvae are the brown squiggling things you find in summer. Midge Larvae are the bloodworms, you can find these at bottom of ponds in the dirt.

Do a Google image search on Mosquito Larvae and/or Midge Larvae for photos.
 
philbaker76 said:
Mosquito Larvae are the brown squiggling things you find in summer. Midge Larvae are the bloodworms, you can find these at bottom of ponds in the dirt.

.
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Yes, thanks Phil, I am well aware that mosquitoes are the brown things, but Jen said we don't have experience with midge fly larvae over here. I am almost certain that's what these are unless someone else thinks differently? These red ones do live in the mud at the bottom of ponds around here, but no one sells live midge larvae, at least as far as I've found. I'll get photos of them in the summer.
 
That's definitely crazy.
 
Hi all, i've had some bad news with the larvae, I had several deaths. I think i may have bunged them up with bloodworm, I think some of the smaller ones may have eaten a lot more worms than their stomachs could handle. :( I'm gutted as i've lost none untill the food "experiment". On examining the bodies it seems that some have 'burst' and had bloodworm sticking out the side of their stomachs. This leads me to believe that maybe the larger bloodworm may be damaging the insides of the larvae and also if they are passing live worms then there is no nutrisional value gained and they also cant eat anything else because their stomach is full of un digested worm.

Conclusion

No more live bloodworm untill they get back legs as they should have a more developed digestive system by then. The adult brine shrimp seem to be eaten well but i dont think i can risk loosing any more larvae on another unknown diet. So its a switch back to daphnia and a lesson learned..........:uhoh:
 
Sorry to hear that Mark; problem is with bloodworm - you can buy it one week and they're all small - the next week massive or a mixture of both.

I've only seen smaller/younger hatchlings passing bloodworm; maybe they're too young to digest thm - its a good idea to wean them on to any new food type.

Only time I've lost lots in one go, has been from bacteria infections from the pet shop daphnia - basically, if it's old it can wipe out all your hatchlings. If this is the case; I'd do 100% water change.

...Oh, Jake - just re-read your post regarding the midge larvae - sorry mate, I got the wrong end of the stick. Yeah, we also get something like the figure eight swimming larvae in summer - not sure what they are though; I've got a book on UK pond life somewhere - I'll try and find it out.
 
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