Culturing brine shrimp

[xandrew245x]

Hey guys, I'm planning on culturing brine shrimp to supplement the flakes+algae i'm planning on feeding, however I have a few questions.
By what I read, the water doesn't need to stay warm, but my question is is there a better result if you keep the water a constant temperature.
Also, I was wondering, how long can you keep brine shrimp eggs refridgerated, I would only need half a teaspoon of eggs to hatch, and I plan on only hatching 3-4 times a week, which means 1 pack of eggs would last me quite a while.

 

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by xandrew245x http:///t/390760/culturing-brine-shrimp#post_3462055
Hey guys, I'm planning on culturing brine shrimp to supplement the flakes+algae i'm planning on feeding, however I have a few questions.
By what I read, the water doesn't need to stay warm, but my question is is there a better result if you keep the water a constant temperature.
Also, I was wondering, how long can you keep brine shrimp eggs refridgerated, I would only need half a teaspoon of eggs to hatch, and I plan on only hatching 3-4 times a week, which means 1 pack of eggs would last me quite a while.
I have always read brine shrimp is like eating candy for the fish. I like the idea of live food, so I hope someone chimes in with some input on live brine Vs frozen brine still being a waste type of food. I would never recommend feeding flakes or pellets to your fish. frozen MYSIS is your best option for regular fish food. The algae sheets are fine if you don't have enough algae on the rocks for them to pick at. A problem that seldom presents itself in my tanks.

 

[xandrew245x]

What I plan on doing is feeding flakes 3-4 times a week, frozen the rest, algae when ever needed, and live brine a couple days a week. Would phytoplankton be better? I hear live food is good for them every so often.

 

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by xandrew245x http:///t/390760/culturing-brine-shrimp#post_3462060
What I plan on doing is feeding flakes 3-4 times a week, frozen the rest, algae when ever needed, and live brine a couple days a week. Would phytoplankton be better? I hear live food is good for them every so often.
I would toss out the flakes and not use then at all..period.
I would like to see you get some frozen mysis to use instead. The live food is good for the fish and some brine to chase will do them good. You can order live ghost shrimp too, I wonder how hard it would be to raise them??? HOWEVER, phytoplankton is more for feeding coral and filter feeding inverts like fan worms, than fish. It is live organic matter floating in water....if you only have fish, the phytoplanton will just create an algae bloom.

 

[xandrew245x]

I plan on getting coral once I get all the fish on my list, so i will probably start culturing phyto then.
Brine shrimp is pretty easy to culture from what I read, just need to mix up some correct salinity salt water, put it in a 2 liter bottle with some air, and put half a teaspoon of brine egg in and they will hatch within the next 24 hours, then just siphon them out, and theres your fish food.
I'm curious to how long the eggs keep int he refridgerator though, because even the smallest amount of eggs I can get, will last me over a month.

 

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by xandrew245x http:///t/390760/culturing-brine-shrimp#post_3462066
I plan on getting coral once I get all the fish on my list, so i will probably start culturing phyto then.
Brine shrimp is pretty easy to culture from what I read, just need to mix up some correct salinity salt water, put it in a 2 liter bottle with some air, and put half a teaspoon of brine egg in and they will hatch within the next 24 hours, then just siphon them out, and theres your fish food.
I'm curious to how long the eggs keep int he refridgerator though, because even the smallest amount of eggs I can get, will last me over a month.
If I knew the answer to that, I may try and save my seahorse babies...newly hatched brine shrimp is all they can eat. I have heard of people with big pickle jars and different stages of growth on the brine shrimp...to feed dwarf horses. I can't stand the thought of keeping jars all over the house. To feed your fish I imagine you need older than newly hatched since that would be smaller than copepod size.

 

[xandrew245x]

Yeah, I think they would need to grow a little, a small tank would work perfectly, and I would need to beed them, I'm not to sure what to feed them, because all the stuff I read to feed them, I read elsewhere isn't very nutritonal.

 

[xandrew245x]

I stumbled across a pretty cool brine shrimp tank, you split a tank in half, black out the one side, and put a small hole into the next compartment thats covered during hatching, once they are done hatching you open the hole and shine light in the second compartment and they will swim over there. Easy way to separate all your live brine from the waste.

 

[wartooth1]

I just started doing this myself. At my LFS they had a brine hatchery that goes inside the aquarium and you connect it to an air pump, the bubbles inside the hatchery cause the eggs to hatch and then the fry flows into a chamber where they are able to swim out into the aquarium. Kinda neat, and considering that the hatchery, air pump, and vial of brine eggs all cost under $25 total, I see no harm in trying it out.

 

[xandrew245x]

Yeah I saw that on marine depot I contemplated it, but decided on the kit that came with the bottle stand, airline tubing and the eggs.