How to Raise Bloodworms? Breeding Methods and Key Technical Points

Bloodworms breed quickly and have high nutritional value, so they can serve as bait and food for fish, and market demand is decent, so many people now raise them. How are bloodworms raised?

How to raise bloodworms

1. The raw materials for the culture medium can be chosen from three types of substances: sludge rich in organic matter, loosening agents, and organic manure. For the sludge, you can choose fish pond silt, fertile paddy field mud, black mud along sewage ditches, etc.; for the loosening agent, bagasse can be used; for the organic manure, chicken manure, cow manure, etc. can be used. First spread a layer of loosening agent on the bottom of the pond, using 2-3 kg per square meter. Then spread a layer of sludge so that the total thickness reaches 10-12 cm per square meter, add water to submerge the base surface, soak for 2-3 days, and then apply cow, chicken, and pig manure, about 10 kg per square meter; before inoculation, spread another layer of sludge 3-5 cm thick on the surface, and at the same time thinly spread a mixed feed of fermented bran, rice bran, cornmeal, etc. on the mud surface, scattering 150-250 g per square meter; finally add water so that there is a 3-5 cm deep water layer above the culture medium surface. The culture medium of a newly built pond can generally be used continuously for 2-3 years, after which it should be renewed.

2. Every autumn, when the temperature drops to about 28°C, you can introduce the seed stock into the pond. The seed sources of bloodworms are relatively abundant in sewage ditches on the outskirts of towns, livestock and poultry farms and slaughterhouses, sugar factories, and sewage ditches where food factories discharge waste, so seeds can be collected nearby. The inoculation work is relatively simple: just evenly scatter the collected worm seeds on the surface of the culture medium in the pond. For each square meter of culture area, inoculation with 500-750 g is appropriate.

3. Bloodworms especially love grain-type feed with a sweet taste. Livestock and poultry manure, domestic sewage, and waste from agricultural product processing are all high-quality feed for them. However, the feed put in should be fully decomposed and fermented; otherwise, it will ferment in the pond and generate high heat that will “burn to death” the seed worms and larvae. Manure can be naturally decomposed in pits according to routine methods. Before feeding, grain-type feed should be mixed with water and fermented for 16-20 hours. At room temperature above 20°C, mix the feed, adding water until it forms a ball when squeezed by hand and breaks apart when dropped, then gather it into a pile, pat it firm, and cover it with plastic sheeting. If the room temperature is below 20°C, yeast tablets need to be added to promote fermentation, using about 1 tablet per 1-2 kg of dry feed. Mix the feed between 15:00 and 16:00 the previous afternoon, and it can be fermented and matured by the next morning. If opening the plastic sheeting reveals a rich sweet wine aroma, that proves it can be fed to the worms. After inoculation and before harvest, apply decomposed manure once every 10-15 days at 200-250 kg per mu; from the start of harvest, after each harvest about 300 kg of manure can be applied, with an appropriate amount of grain-type feed, to promote rapid reproduction and fast growth of bloodworms. When applying fertilizer, first dilute and stir it with water, remove impurities such as grass residue, and then evenly splash it on the surface of the culture medium. Do not scatter it in clumps that pile up in the pond, and be sure to close the water inlet before feeding to avoid the feed drifting away and being lost.

4. When raising bloodworms, tools are needed to stir and move the culture pond. This is called pond stirring. The method is to use a “T”-shaped wooden rake to carefully stir the culture medium in the pond once, consciously stirring green moss and weeds into the pond. The functions of pond stirring are: first, it can prevent the culture medium from hardening; second, it can drive off harmful gases produced by the decomposition of bloodworm metabolic waste and feed (fertilizer); third, it can effectively inhibit the proliferation of green moss, duckweed, and weeds; fourth, it can often keep the surface of the culture medium flat, which helps the water flow smoothly and unobstructed. A water depth of 3-5 cm is more suitable.