Re: [Killietalk] Who am I?

[Scott Davis <unclescott at prodigy_net>]

An article read somewhere also pointed out that not all species in the family of midges we know as Chironomidae, perhaps the genus Chironomus, are red. If I harvested non-red creatures that resembled the conventional blood worms, I would watch them pretty closely to see that they were safe with the fry. Blood worms are vegetarian, often foraging through detritus or scrapping nourishment from decaying leaves. With all of that decaying vegetation it isn't surprising that those insect larvae have lots of red hemoglobin so that they can more effectively utilize what oxygen is in that water.
By this time of the spring-summer season, blood worms are increasingly numerous in the shaded Daphnia cultures. (The shading hopefully keeps the larger predatory insects from flying in to reproduce and/or join the Daphnia.) Midges like the blood worms and mosquitoes fly at a lower altitude and always find the Daphnia cultures.
About July, another midge larvae is evident in those cultures. These are the larvae of another group of Chironomid midges, often from the genus Chaoburus. They appear pretty translucent. American aquarists usually call them glass worms. Europeans sometimes refer to "white mosquito larvae" in the same sense that blood worms are sometimes called red mosquito larvae.
However the glass worms are predatory and one can often look in a glass of stuff collected and see half a mosquito larvae extending from the mouth of a glass worm. The other half of the mosquito larvae is often visible inside of the glass worm. They are great food for adult and young adult killies. Don't trust them around small fry though. ;) 
All the best!Scott
--- On Mon, 6/15/09, lee Van Hyfte <littleleeper23 at hotmail_com> wrote:
From: lee Van Hyfte <littleleeper23 at hotmail_com>Subject: Re: [Killietalk] Who am I?To: "na na" <killietalk at aka_org>Date: Monday, June 15, 2009, 12:06 PM

HI Debunix,
I would have to agree that they are blood worms.  
I find that they like to go free swimming at night and can be collected then and fed to the fishies.  
I think someone mentioned (lee harper?) that you can add a fiberglass window screen frame into the pond and they will build their tubes there.   Then all you have to do is pull the screen and rinse the tubs off VOILA larger numbers of live blood worms.   My chocolate gouramis and Lacusticola love the figure 8 swimming action of the blood worms. 
If you use the window screen be sure it is NOT aluminum, and that the fiberglass is very well rinsed.  
I have personally not attempted this!!   But I know there is a residue on fiberglass.  The whole ALuminum screen and water is very likely  BAD!!!
Lee 

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