Black/Blood Worms

I just bought my first ever batch of blood worms. Their mainly for a stuborn little bluegill. So, I only drop one or two into the tank at a time. The missed or bitten in half ones dispapear quickly into the gravel. Are these guys gonna be living my aquarium?
Also, I bought these since the storekeeper said they live longer that tubliflex worms. What tips to keep the culture thriving?

Your title confuses me. Are we talking about bloodworms or blackworms? I've never seen live bloodworms offered for sale, probably because they wouldn't last long. Bloodworms are an insect larva and aside from the fish should be able to live to maturity in your tank. They will make a little tunnel of slime and debris somewhere on the bottom and live in it, filtering food from the water similar to a mosquito larva. You might feed them a little yeast if you're trying to keep them alive in a bucket.

Blackworms are actually a worm and can be maintained and cultured indefinitely. Large volume of water and water changes to remove ammonia etc are the key to keeping them alive. If you have algae wafers or sinking pellets those would be good things to feed them in small quantities. They like to live in sand, but a bare bottomed tank is obviously much easier to harvest them from. Blackworms have been discussed in some detail elsewhere in the forum, just use the search.

I just bought my first ever batch of blood worms. Their mainly for a stuborn little bluegill. So, I only drop one or two into the tank at a time. The missed or bitten in half ones dispapear quickly into the gravel. Are these guys gonna be living my aquarium?
Also, I bought these since the storekeeper said they live longer that tubliflex worms. What tips to keep the culture thriving?

http://www.google.co...D WORMS&spell=1

Yeah, I guess their black worms. I was thinking of the dried ones I have. Thanks for the info and link.
The main question is about the escaped ones. Are one or two worms that manage to not get eaten establish themselves in the aquarium.

Edited by njJohn, 08 August 2010 - 10:03 AM.

The main question is about the escaped ones. Are one or two worms that manage to not get eaten establish themselves in the aquarium.

They should be able to survive until the fish find them. They will burrow in the gravel and feed on detritus. If you are wondering if they will establish a large population in the tank, that will depend on how well they can stay hidden from your fish, and how often you vacuum the substrate.

I keep a culture of them living in my Elassoma tanks.

I read that black worms are a relative of the earth worm. They need surface air to breath. So how do they live in a deep aquarium? Maybe with enough disolved oxegen?

They are relatives of earthworms, but they do not necessarily need surface air to breathe. Their natural habitats have a lot of decaying organic matter, so dissolved oxygen is often very low, and they usually use surface air in this situation. Aquaria have relatively high DO, often sufficient to keep the worms alive without surface air. Keeping the water cooler will help here- cool water can hold more O2, and cool animals require less O2.