brine shrimp

[fishkid2]

I was just thinking do mandarins eat brine shrimp too. I know they eat a variaty of things in the live rock like copepods.
i was going to get a mandarin for my 55, but i was going to order more copepods first to replenish the tank with more.
I have brine shrimp eggs, so could i just hatch them and then put that in my tank?
I need to know what the salt needs to be at for the brine shrimp too.

 

[nycbob]

they will, but brine shrimps wont be enough. just make sure ur tank is at least 6 months old w lots of lr.

 

[renogaw]

AND somewhere for pods to reproduce without being eaten too fast, such as a refugium, or a "pod pile", rubble rock, covered by a strawberry container, covered by even more rock.

 

[fishkid2]

Originally Posted by renogaw
http:///forum/post/2464110
AND somewhere for pods to reproduce without being eaten too fast, such as a refugium, or a "pod pile", rubble rock, covered by a strawberry container, covered by even more rock.
i do have rubble rock in a pile in my tank.
Also in my canister filter, but that will not work right?

 

[puffer32]

In a tank that small, you really need to have a fuge, otherwise the pods will get eaten by all your fish before they can reproduce.

 

[fishkid2]

Well anyways, what is the salt lvl for them to hatch?
So I could hatch them anyways, for fun or something.

 

[fishkid2]

Does anybody know what the salt lvl is supposed to be at?

 

[renogaw]

no clue on the salt level, when i wasted my time growing brine the packages always had a small amount of salt in them, or i used normal salt water from my water change container

 

[wangotango]

I wouldn't waste the time hatching brine. Unless they get eaten right away they don't have any real nutritional value.
-Justin

 

[renogaw]

Originally Posted by WangoTango
http:///forum/post/2466745
I wouldn't waste the time hatching brine. Unless they get eaten right away they don't have any real nutritional value.
-Justin
unless using them for seahorse fry and you gutload them with phytoplankton, but yea--i actually just put the eggs in my tank and that way the fish can eat em as they hatch hehe.

 

[terasparrow]

Hello
Mandarins will eat brine and mysid as well. I have gotten my Mandarin to eat frozen brine and frozen Mysid shrimp by injecting small portions into the sand where he often looks for food. I use a water collector thing from an old amonnia test kit. Be sure to inject the sand very shallowly so that you can see bits of shrimp sticking out. Once I got him to eat the first time he has readily accepted the frozen food since. I rarely have to inject the sand since he snatches his food like everyone else, but since they are not an aggressive eater it is good to shoot some shrimp down on the sand so he can get a chance to eat some before the others get in there.

 

[lion_crazz]

As everyone else stated, brine shrimp will not sustain a mandarin at all.
I would look into buying a large supply of live copepods and putting them into a separate refugium for them to reproduce.

 

[renogaw]

Originally Posted by TeraSparrow
http:///forum/post/2466762
Hello
Mandarins will eat brine and mysid as well. I have gotten my Mandarin to eat frozen brine and frozen Mysid shrimp by injecting small portions into the sand where he often looks for food. I use a water collector thing from an old amonnia test kit. Be sure to inject the sand very shallowly so that you can see bits of shrimp sticking out. Once I got him to eat the first time he has readily accepted the frozen food since. I rarely have to inject the sand since he snatches his food like everyone else, but since they are not an aggressive eater it is good to shoot some shrimp down on the sand so he can get a chance to eat some before the others get in there.

my mandarin has eaten brine as well, but brine is uselss as a food.
i will though try your mysid shrimp trick with the sand. i have tons of pods everywhere (even breeding in my overflow) but i always am worried he's not eating enough.

 

[fishkid2]

Ok I'll buy some copepods and put tnem in a fuge then.