Ornamental Fish Production and Management

7.1.9 Culture of blood worms

Blood worms are otherwise called as Chironomus larvae. The intermediate larval stage of the midge fly is commonly called blood worms. They belong to the family Chironomidae of the phylum Arthropoda. They are usually red in colour. It is one of the best live food items for ornamental fishes.

Culture :

Flat trays are used as container. Water is filled and then soil and compost cattle manure is added to attract the chironomous flies to deposit eggs. Each female lay about 20000 eggs which hatch out about 3 days. The larvae are harvested and washed thoroughly and kept for conditioning to evacuate the gut contents before feeding to the fish.