Frozen BloodWorm Flat 454g

• One ingredient, nothing else - the declaration is bloodworms, with no binders, fillers, colours or added vitamins.
• 454 g slab - about four and a half blisters' worth, at a lower cost per gram than buying blisters repeatedly.
• Snap-to-size format - break off exactly what the tank needs instead of committing to a whole cube.
• 4.9% protein at 91% moisture - a wet food, so the protein figure is not comparable with a dry pellet; compare it against other frozen foods.
• Near-universal acceptance - bloodworm is the food most commonly used to start a fish that has stopped eating.
• Freshwater and marine - takes in tetras, barbs, cichlids, bettas and loaches as readily as clownfish, wrasses and gobies.
• Flat profile - stacks in a domestic freezer drawer instead of taking up a shelf.

Ocean Nutrition packs bloodworm in 100 g blisters and in 454 g and 907 g flatpacks. The food is identical across all three; only the format and the quantity change.

The practical trade-off is freezer discipline rather than price. A blister comes back out of the freezer for a few seconds; a slab is out for longer while you snap a piece off, and every extra minute is a partial thaw of the whole pack.

Full ingredient declaration

Reproduced exactly as Ocean Nutrition publishes it: Bloodworms.

That is the entire declaration. There are no added vitamins, minerals, colours, binders or preservatives in this product, and no ethoxyquin, BHA or BHT. Bloodworms are the aquatic larvae of non-biting midges (Chironomidae) rather than true worms; the red colour is haemoglobin.

Guaranteed analysis

Ocean Nutrition does not publish a crude fibre figure for plain bloodworm, so none is shown here rather than estimated.

These figures are as fed, not dry weight. At 91% moisture the pack is mostly water, which is why 4.9% protein here sits nowhere near the 40%-plus on a dry pellet tub. It also means a bloodworm feed fills a fish visually while delivering relatively little.

Snap off the portion you need and return the rest of the slab to the freezer immediately - within a minute, not after the feed.

Let the piece defrost without water, at room temperature, for at least 10 to 15 minutes. Feed two to five times a day, offering only the amount the fish clear within five minutes.

Straining the thawed portion through a fine net and discarding the pack liquid is worth doing on a bulk pack in particular. A larger portion carries proportionally more dissolved material into the water column.

Never refreeze a portion that has fully thawed. With a 454 g slab the realistic risk is not one refrozen portion but repeated partial thawing of the whole pack, which shows up as a slab that has fused into a solid brick and lost texture.

Suitable for

• Freshwater community fish - tetras, barbs, rasboras, danios, rainbowfish and gouramis
• Bettas, which take bloodworm more reliably than almost any other food
• Loaches, corydoras and other bottom feeders
• South American and African cichlids that are primarily carnivorous
• Marine community fish - clownfish, wrasses, gobies, dottybacks and cardinalfish
• Conditioning breeding pairs, and restarting a fish that has gone off food

Not suitable for

• Use as a staple diet - bloodworm is a single unfortified food, and fish held on it long-term commonly develop dietary deficiencies. Rotate it with a fortified dry or blended frozen food
• Herbivorous fish such as mbuna, Tropheus, tangs and plecos, whose gut is built for algae and plant matter rather than concentrated animal protein
• Fry and very small fish, which cannot take a whole bloodworm
• Corals and filter feeders, which need a much finer particulate food
• Auto-feeders of any kind, since this is a wet frozen food

Some people develop an allergic sensitivity to bloodworm with repeated handling - chironomid haemoglobin is a recognised occupational allergen among aquarists, fish-food workers and anglers. Reactions are usually skin or respiratory irritation and build up over time rather than appearing on first contact.

If you feed bloodworm daily, handle the thawed food with tweezers or a spoon rather than fingers, and wash your hands afterwards. This is worth knowing before buying a 454 g pack rather than after.

• Frozen Bloodworm Spirulina Garlic 100g - the same worm with plant matter and an attractant added, if a plain single-item food is the concern.
• Frozen Mysis Flat 454g - the other bulk flatpack worth keeping, and a better fit for marine tanks.
• Frozen Artemia Brine Shrimp Flat 454g - bulk brine shrimp to rotate against bloodworm.
• Ocean Nutrition Formula One Flakes 36g - a fortified dry staple to carry the nutrition bloodworm does not.
• Frozen Tropical Mix 100g - a blended frozen food for variety across the week.

Aquarium foods carry no manufacturer warranty period. Your rights under the Australian Consumer Law apply in full and sit in addition to anything a manufacturer offers, including the right to a remedy where a product is not of acceptable quality on arrival.

Frozen food is pick up only from our North Lakes store, because a pack that thaws on the way cannot be refrozen.

What is in Ocean Nutrition Frozen Bloodworm?

The complete declared composition is bloodworms. Nothing else is added - no vitamins, minerals, colours, binders or preservatives - which is both the appeal of the product and the reason it should not be the only food a fish receives.

Can bloodworm be a fish's only food?

No. Bloodworm is a single unfortified ingredient at 4.9% protein and 0.5% fat as fed, with no added vitamins or minerals, and fish held on it long-term commonly develop dietary deficiencies. Use it two or three times a week alongside a fortified staple rather than daily on its own.

How does the 454g flatpack differ from the 100g blister?

The food is identical. The flatpack is a solid slab you snap pieces from, while the blister is pre-formed cubes you push out individually. The flatpack is cheaper per gram and better for several tanks; the blister is easier to portion and spends less time out of the freezer.

Why is the protein only 4.9%?

Because frozen bloodworm is 91% water. The figure is measured as fed rather than on a dry-weight basis, so it cannot be compared with the 40%-plus printed on a dry pellet. Against other frozen foods, 4.9% is mid-range.

Do I have to thaw it first?

Yes, for a flatpack. Ten to fifteen minutes without water at room temperature lets the snapped-off piece separate into individual worms in the tank. A frozen chunk dropped in whole tends to sink as a lump and drift into the filter intake before the fish break it up.

Is frozen bloodworm safe for a reef tank?

There is no copper, medication or additive in the declaration, so there is no chemical risk to corals or invertebrates. The practical reef caution is nutrient load: strain the pack liquid off before feeding and portion deliberately if phosphate is already elevated in the system.