Brine Shrimp

[biglittlehoss]

This is probably a dumb question, but here goes anyway. I had been trying to raise brine shrimp it seemed with no luck. I turned to Aquaria Central and during my research, I read the obvious, "they are so small are you missing them." Well much to my surprise after viewing with a magnifier photo glass, I noticed that eggs were indeed hatching. And within a few hours I had several brine.

Now for the dumb question, after I strained them, etc., etc., I put them in the tank, well it seems the fish can't see them either. And of course they are so small that I couldn't really see them either after everything settled. How do I know if fish are benefiting? How do I know if they are eating them? Thanks for any insight into my dumbness.

 

[lebloom]

your fish have probably taken care of the brine. you want to grow those in a tank with no fish.

 

[biglittlehoss]

So after they hatch are you saying I need to put them in a separate tank to let them grow prior to feeding the fish with them?

 

[rayjay]

Baby brine shrimp (nauplii) are too small for many fish to bother with but smaller fish will hunt them down.
Many corals will benifit from the addition as well.
Growing brine shrimp to adult can be simple at low density growing, but to grow in any significant numbers it means work. The more dense the culture the more work involved.
It's supposed to be possible to grow brine shrimp to adult in about 8 days under ideal circumstances, but the best I seem to be able to do on a consistant basis is about 24 days to reproducing.
RASING BRINE SHRIMP TO ADULT

 

[biglittlehoss]

Thank you for your reply. Actually I had downloaded and printing Raising Brine Shrimp to Adult about a week or so ago prior to even posting my question on Aquaria Central. It does look like alot of work, when I get a bit more time, I am going to look at it closer, and try it. I have a 29 gallon tank that I set up for this purpose, so may try it.

I just want to have a healthy tank, and from my research, it seems the feeding of brine shrimp is a good think for tank critters. So I am just trying to get this thing figured out, and get it down to a science, and try to know what the heck I am doing. Thanks again.

 

[rayjay]

I found it best to do things on a small scale until I had the bugs worked out of the proceedure.
Basically, if water conditions are right and food is acceptable, it's a question of getting a "feel" for just when to add more food or do a water change.
I started with inverted 2 litre bottles and progressed to gallon jars, and then to 5 gallon water bottles that I cut the bottoms out of and sealed the necks.
I tried a 20g tank and it wasn't as successful as using a 20g garbage pail, I think because of the too large footprint of the tank compared to the garbage pail.
I put planks on cement blocks to raise the garbage pails so the bottom sits at the height of the top of a I.O. bucket so it's easier for siphoning out.
I also put a 2X4 along the back, and supporting plywood sitting on the front of the planks, but raised at the back by the 2X4 so when I sit the garbage pail on the plywood, it sits on a slant. The air supply is at the lowest level of the pail to aid in maintaining food in suspension.
The slant also helps when siphoning out to do water changes.
Start with about a 1/4 teaspoon of cysts to a gallon until things work out and then you can increase the culture density a bit at a time until you are at the level you need to produce.
Live brine shrimp are a hard sell to the hobby as many feel they lack sufficient nutrition, but when compared in terms of "dry" weight, the brine shrimp have more protein than most foods fed to our tanks. (these foods typically give percentages in "dry" weight, unlike frozen brine which gives percentages based on total package, wet shrimp plus packing fluids)
In addition, the brine shrimp can be further enhanced by gut loading.
For the most complete and accurate information on Artemia, see the U.N. article from the Artemia Reference Center at the University of Ghent, (including nutrition values):
CLICK HERE AND SCROLL DOWN TO SECTION 4.0