Breeding bloodworms at home as a business

Probably every fisherman knows what a bloodworm is and how it is used. For those who are not aware, bloodworms are the larva of an ordinary mosquito, which is used with great success in fishing and feeding aquarium fish. The cost of good bloodworms is quite high if you need to buy it in large quantities. People who have tried to wash bloodworms themselves know about this very difficult procedure. Therefore, quite often the question arises about breeding bloodworms at home.

For one-time fishing trips, it is of course easier to buy 5-10 grams of bloodworms for 30-40 rubles and calmly go to the pond. But what to do if you need 2-3 kg of this live bait? After all, it is also good to feed the holes with bloodworms during the main fishing.

Bloodworms are an excellent food for fish

Bloodworms have high feeding value. It is high in calories (4.5 kilocalories per 1 gram of dry matter), contains all nutrients and biologically active substances, is rich in hemoglobin, and is easily digested. Bloodworm contains 60-70% proteins, 4-5% fats and 20-30% carbohydrates. It is also rich in microelements (especially iron, aluminum and copper) and vitamins (A, carotene, B vitamins). Due to the high concentration of hemoglobin, which turns the bloodworms bright red, the quality of the fish's blood and their survival rate improves. Another plus is that bloodworms do not decompose for a long time. Consequently, if the fish do not eat all the bloodworms, then the quality of the water will not deteriorate due to the rotting of the remains of this food.

Types of live food

Today, the variety of live fish food is amazing with the abundance of choice. However, before you buy anything, you need to find out what type of food is suitable for the pets in your aquarium.

Representatives of crustaceans are optimal, moderately nutritious and fortified food for both fry and adult fish. As food for babies, experienced breeders recommend Artemia and Daphnia nauplii, which are rich in vitamins A and D (the most important components of the proper growth and development of fry), and adult Artemia and Cyclops crustaceans should be given to already grown fish.

Artemia Photos

Worms and larvae are an equally popular type of food that is suitable for complete nutrition of predatory fish. Bloodworms, coretras, tubifex and earthworms are considered popular.

The most nutritious of all is the tubifex. The fish eat it with great appetite, but you shouldn’t get carried away with it and feed the fish the worm on an ongoing basis. Due to the large amount of proteins, fish quickly become fat, which negatively affects their health in the future. The same applies to bloodworms. In addition, when overeating bloodworms, pets may experience bloating, digestive problems, and even death (this is especially true for angelfish).

Koretra is a predatory larva of a blood-sucking mosquito, less popular than previous foods. It is not recommended to feed corretra to fish in a community aquarium where there are fry. This predatory worm can hunt and attack them! However, the coretra also has an advantage - it can live in an aquarium for a long time so that pets gradually eat it.

Koretra Photos

Business and sale of bloodworms

There are always many people wanting to buy bloodworms on the fish feed market. In Yandex alone, every month the phrase “buy a bloodworm” is searched by 3 to 12 thousand people! And that's all - just new customers! How many are old? Plus, about a thousand more people are interested in the question “buy bloodworms in bulk.” Something tells me that the client has long been “ripe”!

Bloodworms for fishing are a classic attribute. Bloodworm is an excellent bait that many types of fish bite well on. Therefore, fishermen are always regular customers of bloodworm farms. Well, as we have already said, bloodworms are very good food for fish. Bloodworms are readily purchased for aquarium fish and for large fish farms where trout, sturgeon, and other valuable fish species are bred. Moreover, aqua farms that breed fish buy bloodworms in bulk. Therefore, there are no problems with selling bloodworms. You can lower prices a little - sell bloodworms in bulk and increase the scale of production. And this is a good solution, since investments in bloodworm production are minimal! The market is actually very large - especially if you organize the delivery of bloodworms to other regions! There are a lot of people who want to buy bloodworms in Moscow, Chelyabinsk, Barnaul, and Ukraine. Moreover, in Ukraine - most often bloodworms are bought in Kharkov. Thus, bloodworm breeding is more than a real business, which over time can become international!

Bloodworm

Bloodworm is the common name for the worm-like red larvae of mosquitoes of the family Chironomidae. This mosquito has several names: pusher, jerk. Its name comes from its actions, that is, while it sits, it jerks its legs. An interesting fact is that it does not pose any danger to humans, that is, it does not bite.

The average length of the bloodworm is 20 mm. But smaller larvae (10-12 mm) are more common. Thanks to its red color, it can be seen from afar.

And today – small bloodworms, but “in threes”!

It is necessary to immediately decide which bloodworms we will breed. Mosquitoes, and therefore bloodworms, come in four main sizes: very small, moderately small, medium and large bloodworms. To breed bloodworms, you should choose either large or moderately small ones. In this case, you should focus on your intended customers. Large bloodworms are bought by fishermen. Moderately small bloodworms are popular among aquarists. Medium and very small bloodworms are not in particular demand (although they are sometimes purchased by pet stores and wholesale buyers). But most importantly, they do not provide the necessary productivity!

How to choose bloodworms for aquarium fish

Bloodworms are the most popular type of food. This name is given to mosquito larvae. In markets where there is an aquarium department, you can see bright red moving slides on the shelves. This is a bloodworm. Fresh larvae are mobile and bright red and have a specific odor.

They forage outside the city in ponds and small rivers throughout the year. But in the summer there is much more of it. Bloodworms contain a huge amount of vitamins and nutrients. Therefore, this food is given to small and large fish.

In order not to harm the fish, you should pay attention to the quality of the product. A good bloodworm is bright, mobile and does not have a rotten, unpleasant odor. The size of mosquito larvae should not exceed 1 cm. For the first time, buy a small amount of worms and give it to the fish. If everything goes well, then continue to buy food from the same seller.

Breeding bloodworms at home

Ideally, you need to have 2 rooms for breeding bloodworms: a workshop for mosquitoes and a workshop for breeding larvae. But you can breed bloodworms at home: you just need to partition the room with a net with small cells so that the mosquitoes are isolated - they don’t get into the larvae and “do not confuse the cards”, and also do not scatter throughout the apartment. The premises of the mini-farm for breeding bloodworms must be heated and ventilated, and have a water supply. Optimal room temperature = 18-200C. Bloodworm larvae can develop at temperatures from 0 to 350C. But at low temperatures, the development of larvae is inhibited, and at high temperatures, their skin becomes too tender, which makes bloodworm storage and transportation difficult. For lighting, 1-2 lamps of 40 watts are enough. Larvae can develop without light. Optimal humidity is about 70%. But it is not at all necessary to immediately begin production on a large scale. To begin with, you can breed bloodworms in a regular bucket, basin, or plastic container.

Profit and payback

To calculate the cost of bloodworms ready for sale, it is necessary to take into account the costs of communications and food supply. To grow 1 kg of larvae you will need up to 500 grams of yeast. The wholesale price as of 2021 is from 50 to 85 rubles/kg.

The cost of production for sale will be from 80 rubles per kilogram when grown in an apartment. At the same time, the average cost of bloodworms fluctuates around 1,000 rubles, although in different regions the price range reaches a minimum of 300 rubles and a maximum of 3,000 rubles.

One way or another, minimal investment in production is required, and the costs are recouped in the first month, several times over. Considering the low competition in the market and high demand, the sale of bloodworms as a business is a promising and profitable area.

2 parts: Creating favorable conditions for the development of mosquito larvae (bloodworms) Feeding fish with bloodworms

Some types of aquarium fish must be fed with live food, which is often more expensive than using dry food in the form of flakes or granules. In addition, if you want to start breeding fish, then during the spawning period they also need to be fed with live food. Regardless of the reason for which you decide to use live food, growing it yourself is sometimes a more convenient and cheaper alternative to purchasing such food at a pet store. Growing bloodworms (mosquito larvae) is quite simple, and it will serve your fish as nutritious and, what is also important, completely free food! You just need a container for water, as well as a little patience and attentiveness.

Part 1 Creating favorable conditions for the development of mosquito larvae (bloodworms)

Get a water container.
You can take a wide variety of containers as a container for growing bloodworms. A larger container will allow you to grow more bloodworms, but remember that the bloodworms that are not fed to the fish will eventually turn into mosquitoes that will fly around your garden. Be sure to use a clean or washed food-safe container. Do not take old containers containing paint, resin and other chemicals that can poison algae or the bloodworm itself.
- For example, a 20-liter bucket would be a good choice, but if you are going to feed a lot of fish, then you can take a larger container - a 200-liter barrel.
Fill the container with water.
In clean water, mosquito larvae often lack important nutrients to survive. If you allow the container to fill with rainwater, it will create conditions that will be more favorable for the bloodworms being raised. However, sometimes it is inconvenient to wait so long for the container to fill itself with rainwater. If you choose to use tap water, be sure to treat it to make it safe for larvae. Otherwise, chlorine will inhibit the growth of algae, which is the main source of food for bloodworms.
- Do not remove any debris that accidentally falls into the water. It will promote the growth of bacteria, which mosquito larvae also feed on.
Special dechlorinating water conditioners can be purchased at pet stores or aquarium stores.
Place the container with water in a shady place.
Mosquitoes love dirty water and shade. Do not place the bloodworm breeding container in direct sun as the water may become too warm for the larvae to survive on hot days. While you are carrying the container to its intended place, some water may spill, but the container does not have to be full to the brim for a successful outcome.
- Place the container under a canopy or spreading tree to keep it away from the sun.
Wait for mosquitoes to lay eggs in the water.
Since live bloodworms are not sold in stores very often, you will have to wait until the mosquitoes fly in and lay eggs in the water you have prepared. Depending on where you live, this may occur during the spring or summer months. Most likely, within a week or two you will be able to notice mosquito eggs in the water.
- Mosquito eggs look like miniature floating rafts of brown grains stuck together. They usually turn into larvae within 48 hours.
If after 1-2 weeks there are still no eggs in the water container, consider moving it to a more suitable location in your garden. The water in the container can either overheat (if there is too much sunlight) or overcool.

How to grow bloodworms from eggs

In the room where mosquitoes live, place basins with clean water. Mosquitoes will lay their eggs here. The basins should have a height of 4-5 centimeters and a water layer of 2-3 centimeters. Experience shows that yellow containers are most attractive to mosquitoes. After laying eggs, mosquitoes die. You don't need to feed them: they don't eat anything. Then the eggs are transferred to plastic cuvettes (pallets) 25-30 millimeters high with a layer of water of 5-10 millimeters. Instead of cuvettes, you can use earthenware or ceramic cups. No more than 400-500 eggs are placed per 1 square centimeter of the bottom. This number of eggs is usually contained in one clutch. Consequently, 50-60 thousand eggs will fit on 1 square meter of area. To save space, ditches are placed in multi-tiered frames. Bloodworms begin to hatch after 50-70 hours. When the first bloodworm larvae appear, the clutches (approximately 90%) are transferred to a room for raising bloodworms. But we also need new producers (as we remember, the first generation of mosquitoes has already died) - therefore, approximately 10% of the egg clutches are left in the workshop for breeding mosquitoes.

How to feed fish with live food?

First you need to determine the serving size. It is important that the fish eat everything without leaving a trace. The exception is the tubifex and coretra, which can live in the water for some time and be eaten by pets.

You should also know that you cannot keep fish exclusively on live food. Since it is very nutritious, the fish will quickly gain weight. Therefore, live food is given several times a week, one portion per day.

Worms and maggots are more nutritious than crustaceans, so the serving size should be smaller.

We recommend reading the article: Fish food, types of food, feeding rules

Growing bloodworms at home

A freshly hatched bloodworm is very small and no one needs it like that. We need a big bloodworm - and we need to fatten it up. To grow bloodworms you will need sludge. It can be taken from any body of water, but be sure to sterilize it with boiling water. What to feed bloodworms? The ideal feed is feed yeast. They are diluted in water to obtain a semi-liquid dough and stirred into mud. Yeast is added to the cuvettes before placing the eggs (100 grams per square meter of soil). The prepared nutrient medium will be enough for bloodworms for 10-12 days. Then the next portion of food is added. But at the same time, dry yeast is sprayed over the surface of the soil (30-40 g per square liter of substrate). There is no need to add a lot of food, otherwise putrefactive processes will begin and the bloodworms may die. Feed is added every 3-4 days, gradually increasing the dose. Before adding feed, excess water is removed, but in such a way as to prevent the sludge from drying out. The last feeding of the bloodworms is done 3 days before the larvae are removed from the substrate. In total, the bloodworm develops in 16-18 days. When the bloodworm is close to pupation, the larvae are transferred to a drum made of a mesh with small cells. The drum is installed in the washing tank. The drum is moved by hand or using a motor. This leads to the settling of silt to the bottom. After removing the sludge, the bloodworms are moved into bags and washed. After water procedures, you can feed the fish with clean bloodworms. You can also wash bloodworms using a sieve. The sludge can be reused. Eggs retained for breeding stock are cared for in the same way as other eggs. But the bloodworms are not selected from the sludge, but rather allowed to pupate and turn into mosquitoes. With constant feeding, bloodworms turn into pupae 2 weeks after hatching. After 50-70 hours, mosquitoes emerge from the pupae. After 20-30 hours they become sexually mature and lay eggs.

Feeding aquarium fish and fry with bloodworms

Despite the high nutritional value of bloodworms and the presence of various vitamins, you should not feed your aquarium fish only with them. If the fish are fed heavily with bloodworms, they may become obese and, as a result, have problems with reproduction; also, heavy feeding with only bloodworms causes diseases of the gastrointestinal tract due to the fact that the larval shell is difficult to digest.

Never overfeed your fish with bloodworms and try to diversify their menu on different days, so that bloodworms in their diet make up no more than 60-80%, i.e. It is better to feed them with other food 1-2 days a week. When feeding fish with live bloodworms, use special floating cone bloodworm feeders with meshes. The live bloodworm will crawl out through the mesh, where it will be immediately eaten by the fish. The dead bloodworm will remain in the feeder and can be thrown out of the aquarium.

Specialized bloodworm feeder

The fry can be fed with bloodworms, after cutting the larvae into small pieces with a sharp blade. After feeding, all uneaten bloodworms must be removed from the water, as their blood can greatly spoil the water. When feeding chopped bloodworms, it is necessary to perform regular water changes in the aquarium.

Storing bloodworms

There are several ways to properly store bloodworms at home:

The best way is to store bloodworms in a nylon stocking or bag placed in the toilet cistern.
The easiest way is to store frozen bloodworms (freeze in the freezer). Defrost under cool running water.
You can keep bloodworms alive for a long time in damp moss, which is placed on a saucer and placed in the refrigerator.
You can take a bloodworm, a cat litter box, or a homemade box. Pour water up to the mesh level and place the bloodworms on the mesh.
Place a centimeter layer of sand in a flat dish, cover it with a half-centimeter layer of water and store the bloodworms for storage.
Bloodworms can also be stored in moistened newspaper on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator.
Bloodworms can also be kept alive in damp cloth in the cold if the temperature does not drop below zero.
Bloodworms are also stored in a cloth lowered to the bottom of a three-liter jar filled with water.
You can take the box. Place wet foam rubber in it and place the bloodworms.
In winter, bloodworms are well preserved in the snow on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator - if there is no space in the freezer. Melted snow should be periodically replaced with new snow.
In a thermos with ice you can place a bag of bloodworms and used tea leaves.
Bloodworms can also be stored in a balcony flower box. Make a hole in the ground, cover it with gauze, place bloodworms, cover with a layer of gauze and moisten it. Add water periodically.

Methods of extracting bloodworms

The larva is found in water, or rather, in a soft muddy bottom, in relatively shallow water. The thickness of the bottom silt remains cool even in the summer heat, which must be taken into account when storing larvae. Most often they are found in swamps and grassy coastal areas of water bodies. People learned to wash raspberries a long time ago. Here are some proven effective methods.

Extracting bloodworms using a pump

In industrial quantities, larvae are obtained using a special pump, the operating principle of which is as follows:

The water pump (pump) is placed on the shore, and the hose is directed directly into the mud. When the pump is turned on, the grounds are sucked in and moved through a hose into a device that resembles a large colander.
Colanders can be placed in several rows as the diameter of the holes decreases. The larvae are usually retained on the lower sieve or even on the mesh.
By processing a large area, you can get quite a lot of bloodworms and relatively quickly. There are also disadvantages to such mining. Many larvae are injured and die, which requires mandatory bloodworm sorting. The shelf life is reduced.

Bucket mining method

Extraction of bloodworms using a bucket with a fine-mesh metal mesh.
A rope is tied to the handle of such a bucket, and a simple tackle is thrown into the water. After this, they begin to slowly pull the bucket onto the shore by the rope. The soft, superficial layer of sludge is filled into a bucket. All that remains is to wash all the silt out of the bucket. To do this, they go into the water about knee-deep and begin to rinse the container with the contents under water.

Black dirt will come out, moving bloodworms and a few other small living creatures will remain at the bottom of the bucket. You just need to sort the larvae from the few small debris and bugs.

We recommend reading: Do-it-yourself catchy bait for carp

Using a dredge

The method is suitable for the cold season.
It allows you to quickly wash a large number of larvae. A square hole is cut in the ice, into which a device resembling a stretcher is installed. Its bottom is made of fine mesh, the same as on the bucket from the previous method.

Next, a sufficient amount of silt is caught with a scoop and placed in a “drag” installed in the ice hole. By washing the contents from the “stretcher” in water, the turbidity goes under the water, and the larvae remain on the sieve.

Guitar for washing bloodworms

A method that does not have a sieve and does not require long washing.
You can use ordinary pitchforks, the horns of which need to be tied with thin wire, like strings. This device is used to plow through the silt and some larvae will get caught. All that remains is to carefully shake off the larvae and collect them.

This method is less dirty, but not as productive as those that involve washing.

Gauze trap

A bag is embroidered from gauze or similar fine mesh, and a rope is tied to the neck. To make throwing easier, the bag is slightly heavier. It is enough to put an ordinary stone and bait inside. Bloodworms feed mainly on dead organic matter, so you can use a piece of meat or fish.

The prepared bag is thrown into the water, onto a wetland with a muddy bottom. In such places you can find bloodworms of almost all sizes. Usually these are windows among vegetation with a depth of no more than a meter. The trap is left for about a day. All that remains is to carefully take it out and collect the crawling bloodworm.

A simple jar trap

Some fishermen catch larvae using simple traps, which are still found in villages.
The trap can be made from a large tin can, without a lid. The bottom of the jar is perforated with small nails until it looks like a sieve. A special bracket made of thick metal wire is attached to the top side. The bracket is connected to a wooden or telescopic pole made of any convenient, preferably light, material.

In general, the trap is a movable scoop with a sieve bottom. With such tackle, the dirt is raked through a regular hole, and washed in it, raising it to the surface.

Mining with an ice drill

This simple method is used in winter; it is suitable for quickly collecting small quantities of larvae. With an ice drill, bloodworms are caught in shallow muddy areas of rivers, lakes or ponds. Extraction occurs as follows:

In an area with a depth of no more than half a meter, a hole is drilled in the ice.
The ice auger must be partially screwed into the mud, and then the stuck dirt must be sharply pulled out.
Shake it several times and scoop the dirty water onto the ice and collect any larvae that come across.

Recommended reading: Catching carp with boilies

On a note! The advantages include the speed and simplicity of the method. Having quickly checked the crop from one hole, you can drill the next one. But there are also disadvantages. Finding ruby worms in pieces of sludge is much more difficult than after washing with a sieve. In addition, ice drill knives quickly become dull from frequent contact with dirt.

Conclusion

Bloodworms are sold in almost every locality for little money. There is no need to waste time and energy. However, in some cases it still makes sense to extract it yourself. As a rule, bloodworms obtained immediately before fishing are much fresher and more mobile than purchased ones. During periods of poor bite, it can be useful to use semi-washed sludge with very mobile larvae as bait or as an additive to the main feed, which will additionally attract fish by swarming in the ground.

Bloodworm breeding as a business

To get your first bloodworms, you don’t have to spend money: bloodworms can be washed in the nearest body of water. But this method is good if you need a lot of bloodworms. If you just want to try this business, then it’s easier to buy bloodworms in the store. When calculating the cost of bloodworms, you need to estimate the consumption of water, electricity, heating and feed. If you grow bloodworms in your own premises, the cost of bloodworms will be 80-130 rubles per 1 kilogram. In a large room, the cost can be reduced to 60-90 rubles. Bloodworms are sold at a price from 350 to 3000 rubles per kilogram, depending on the size, presentation, and locality. The size of the lots sold is also of great importance. The difference between the wholesale and retail prices of bloodworms can be quite significant. And on this difference, some cunning businessmen create a separate business for the resale of bloodworms. The average wholesale price of bloodworms is about 1000 rubles. Bloodworms grow quite quickly: per day, the total mass of bloodworms placed per 1 m2 of sludge increases by 10 grams (on an area of 100 m2 - by 1 kilogram). The larger your room, the more ditches you can place in it - and, accordingly, the more bloodworms you can grow. To grow 1 kilogram of bloodworms, you will need 0.5 kilograms of yeast (cost about 50 rubles in 2013). If you breed bloodworms at home, you won’t need any other investments - and the investment in bloodworm production will pay off several times over! Thus, bloodworm breeding is a very profitable business that can bring good income. In addition, this business is almost undeveloped in Russia. Therefore, competition is minimal!

An even simpler home business: details of earthworm breeding.
See this page for a business plan for the production of greenhouses. Insane demand!

Video:

Technology

How to grow bloodworms for sale? The entire process of breeding larvae is divided into two main stages. The first is the production of eggs, from which young individuals subsequently emerge. The second stage is the rearing of the larvae until they are ready to pupate.

Growing from eggs

First, you need to grow bloodworms from eggs. To do this, leave small containers of water in the mosquito room. The water should be clean, but you can color it yellow - mosquitoes prefer it. The height of the water layer in the container should not exceed 2-3 cm . Low basins with sides of 4-5 cm are suitable as containers. After the mosquitoes lay their eggs, they will die.

The cost of production for sale will be from 80 rubles per kilogram when grown in an apartment.

The clutches are moved into low ditches with a thin layer of water. The height of the sides of the containers does not exceed 30 mm, the water layer is no more than 10 mm . Clutches are placed at the rate of 500 eggs per square centimeter of ditch. To save space, containers can be placed vertically in racks. After 2-3 days, bloodworm larvae will hatch from the eggs. The main part of the individuals is transferred to the growing room, a tenth is left for breeding as future breeding queens.

Growing and lathering

After the incubation period is completed, 90% of the larvae are distributed indoors for subsequent development. To do this, insects are placed in trays about 3 cm high, the cuvettes are filled with silt, previously washed and treated with boiling water.

No more than 100-150 clutches should be placed on one square meter of sludge.

The best feeding medium for newly hatched bloodworms is yeast . In the liquid dough state, the feed is diluted with soil in a ditch before the clutches are placed in them. For every square meter of sludge you will need at least 100 grams of yeast. This feeding medium will last for almost two weeks, after which it is worth feeding the larvae again, but with dry yeast . To do this, feed is sprayed over the surface of the ditches, having previously removed excess moisture from them.

It is necessary to monitor the living conditions of the larvae. The sludge in the ditches must not be allowed to dry out. It is also worth paying attention to the temperature; if it exceeds 20-22 degrees Celsius, then be more careful with the food. Too much yeast can lead to putrefactive processes.

If the temperature in the room does not meet the recommended conditions, then it is better to introduce food every 3 days from the very beginning.

Let's figure out how to wash bloodworms at home . Once the larvae are ready to pupate (under normal conditions this occurs within 12-15 days after incubation), the insects are placed in a mesh drum installed in a washing tank. The drum is set in motion, during which fine particles of sludge settle. The cleaned bloodworms are collected in gauze bags . After this, they are washed again in clean water. Instead of bags, a regular sieve is often used. The settled sludge can be collected and reused .

This completes the cycle of breeding bloodworms at home. The video and photographic materials posted in this article clearly demonstrate the processes of washing adult larvae and their subsequent storage.