What do you feed Brine Shrimp

[jim]

Hi guys, can anyone tell me what do you feed brine shrimp? Brine shrimp food in LFS are way too expensive. Hopefully I can get anything from supermarket to feed them. Do they eat bread?? :?

Also how much salt per liter?? Thanks :D

[kevkoi]

u can try a bit of yeast, but a little too much ends up polluting the brine shrimp to death... :?

[jim]

cool..thx kev ..lucky i have planty of yeast at home as I do DIY CO2

[the_oracle]

Didn't know you can feed them with something you can find in the kitchen. I normally feed all of them to the juvs. This is something new..........
Tanx kev..........
8)

[Sean]

Hello,
I feed Brine shrimp green water from a bucket outside - I just squirt in a couple of mls every second or third day - sometimes I forget for a week and no problems. Probably should strain the infusoria and even wash them through fine netting - but I have had no problem in keep a stock of brime shrimp that I have hatched from eggs for weeks. Oh, and I keep them in a shed in a bucket ful of sea water with an airstone in it. Good luck with it - in case anyne is interested in a cheap source of BBS eggs, I got a couple of packs on ebay - just type in brine shrimp eggs in the search bar. $4.00 a pack - great value.

[lesley]

Hi Sean,

When you hatch them, do you just add them to the seawater in the bucket, or do you hatch them elsewhere?

Thanks, Lesley

[Sean]

Hi Lesley

Yeah I hatch them in a smaller 2lt jar with aeration. But I don't fuss too much at all. I suppose you are wanting to feed fry - this is the only time that I hatch separately. You can also use vegemite to feed the brine shrimp, dissolve a small amount just enough to get a reasonable colour to the water in a cup and squirt a couple of mls into the brine shrimp jar/bucket. I have used the vegemite but think there is less chance of fouling the water using infusoria. Good luck - there is a good feeling about raising heaps of brine shrimp for discus - they are so greatful :wink:
One other thing I found helful in feeding bbs to fry - is collecting the bbs by turning off the air and shining a lamp onto the side of the jar and then siphoning the babies out - this reduced the amount of egg casings as these fall to the bottom of the jar.

[jim]

Thanks Sean, that's heaps of great information for us. :D
More questions... :oops:
If i am not able to get seawater, what's the rate I should mix (salt and water) for brine shrimp?
Also how often I should change water for them?? as I want to raise them to feed adult discus..and how long does it takes to grow to adult size??

Thanks heaps in advance...

[Sean]

Hi Jim

If you are serious about growing your own brine shrimp - I would recomend buying 'Red Sea' salt from your LFS - this will ensure maximum hatching and the small bags are not that expensive. On the bag is the mixing rate with fresh water - I wouldn't go for the extra expense of hygrometers etc. brine shrimp are hardy little buggers! As for the growth rate - I think it depends on how much you feed them, temperature (26 degrees) and provide them with water changes etc. I don't fuss with them - spend all me time on the Discus! With my slack mehtod about 3-4 weeks and they are pretty big. I think there is an awful lot of cannibalism going on too. Oh, and during summer I do not use a heater. As for water changes, I just add a litre or so 1-2 weeks from a separate container with non circulating sea water, I do not adjust for evaporation with fresh water, but I suppose for maximum yield you probably should. Good luck with it

[jim]

Cool...thank you so much for your precious information Sean

[DiscusMad]

i have read somewhere of deshelling the eggs has anybody tryed this?

[jim]

I have heard that you can get brine shrimp eggs without shell, and I have seen it B4. But it's more expensive and hatch rate is lower...I don't think it's worth it.

[Ben]

i hatch and rear a small amount of brineshrimp to adult size and have found it to be quite easy.
1/ use aquarium salt/
2/ i use a 2 foot empty tank and start it off 1/4 full of hatched shrimps and every 4 days i add freshly made sea water
3/ every morning a mix 1 capsule of spiralina with 200ml of water and feed it to the shrimps
(keep an eye on the S.G.
the tank i use gets a lot of sun
4/ tank has a heater and is kept at 28.c

i find the shrimps are at adult size in 12 days!
also i have left them and they have bred in the tank!

i only do this once a month to feed my adult discus
as too much of a good thing can be a bad thing!

[weird]

Transaquarium ... $35 for 10 packets of hikari brine shrimp. If you want Jim I can pick you up some next time I go out ... I drive out to Transaqaurium every 2-3 months with a big eskie and pick up a shoot load of hikari blood worms and brine shrimp. I just went out there 2 weekends ago ...

[Ben]

Jim, you can try this product, but i thinks its the same as diltued spiralina? This product does make using it very easy though,

i found it on ebay,
have a look:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=20755&item=4355504249&rd=1