Brine Shrimp hatched??

[JayPhil75]

I have a 28 gallon fowlr with 2 Yellow Tail Damsels, 1 false percula, 6 blue leg hermit crabs, 1 neon goby and 1 sand sifting star.

I feed them frozen Brine Shrimp once a day. I fed them today at 3pm and I just got home from work and there are lots of live baby shrimp swimming in my tank. I mean a lot. Anyone have this happen or know if this could be a problem for my tank?

[JayPhil75]

pictures...

[JayPhil75]

one more

[Makaiveli]

I don't know, but if that's accurate...you're lucky! I want live & spawning brine shrimp! way to go jay!

[mogurnda]

Are you sure they're brine shrimp? It seems unlikely the eggs would survive freezing. Is it possible that the little creatures hitchhiked with the live rock?

[JayPhil75]

I could swear they were brine shrimp. They looked just like what I feed except way smaller. Maybe it came from the live rock but they were rising from that thing I have in front. I'll pull that out and look for a cyst.

[Makaiveli]

is it possible to maintain a constant brine shrimp colony? That'd be a great food source. I stuck the underwater camera in the tank and snapped a shot of the Brittle Star out before he could scurry from the light! muwahahahhahahahahahahahahahah!

:cool:

[Max]

Yes, Makiabeli it's easy to keep up a brine shrimp colony just use your old tank water in a 5 or 10 gallon tank. Temp needs to be around 75 put airstone in the tank "or what ever just keep it agitated". Feed them a yeast culture with a couple drops of vitamin/mineral supliment in it and you'll be good to go. .

[Max]

Jay,
I agree with morg they probably aren't brine shrimp most likely some sort of hitch hiker off your live rock. They could be just about anything but brine shrimp eggs don't do well if they are frozen with any moisture in their container.

[Makaiveli]

what about keeping a brine shrimp colony in the actual tank? would they survive to mate and spawn or all be eaten to quickly?

[Max]

I doubt that they would make it also the water's not going to be saline enough for them to do real well. What i'd do is just raise them in a 10 gallon ,"or a bucket for that matter." Just fish out what you need for a feeding and release them in your tank. Give them a good balanced diet and they'll be a lot better for your fish. It gives me a little more peace of mind knowing exactly what is going into my tank.
Happy shrimping
Chris

[Makaiveli]

what salinity do the brine shrimp require? What do you feed them? How long have you had a self-populating colony?

[slipknottin]

brine shrimp are nearly useless as a food item after they are more than a day old.


Anyways, newly hatched brine shrimp should be a bright orange or red color.


edited- where the heck did I get green? :confused:

[mogurnda]

If you want a constant food source, it is possible. First, you have to have it in a place that the fish can't get to, like a refugium, though. People often culture amphipods, worms, mysis shrimp like this.

Presumably, larvae and eggs released by shrimp, crabs, snails, worms and whatever lives in live rock and live sand are another reason that reef tanks function so well. In other words, you sort of have a source of live food. The creatures in my tank certainly get shrimp, crab and fish larvae, plus various 'pods, without any effort on my part.

[JayPhil75]

They looked just like a smaller version of the shrimp I feed. My LFS said it wasn't shrimp but some sort of "something"apod that came from the live rock. Had me excited but at least it was free food that got eaten.

[Makaiveli]

brine shrimp are nearly useless as a food item after they are more than a day old.

interesting! what happens to them after a day making them useless as food?

[Oakley]

I think that for the first day they have a yolk sack around them??

[slipknottin]

Because they start to starve and usually have little food to eat. They are mostly water anyways. They need to be gut loaded to be useful as food.

[Makaiveli]

was such a quality movie. they don't make 'em like that often.