Live brine shrimp

[porthosandjazz]

Ok, I just bought two bags (buy one get one free) of live brine shrimp. My thinking was that I would put one bag in the tank, one in the refugium where they can grow and live in the algae and reproduce and occasionally get sucked up into the top as food for the fishies. Is that completely a stupid idea?
I did some research, and didn't find much on the subject, but did find this... is that true... If you place a mature pair of Peppermint shrimp in your refugium they may reward you by spawning and giving your fish a regular supply of shrimp larvae
Thanks in advance!
You know what? I also have another question... will putting two bags of live brine shrimp in my 125 gallon be way too much? Will that make the nitrates shoot through the roof? should I just give the second bag to the lfs? Can the live brine shrimp survive in normal saltwater aquarium conditions?

 

[wigle36]

I don't think that would be a good idea. I just put live brine in my
tank that i keep my copepods. Bad idea. Brine shrimp last a couple
days then die. The ammonia level on my little tank went haywire.
Probably lost all my copepods.

I should have known better.
I would only buy enough for a good feeding or make a tank that
you can hold them for a couple days. They make a big mess when
they die off.

 

[ophiura]

They will not likely survive and yes, I would keep a real close eye on your water quality You want to buy copepods - those sold tend to be bottom dwellers. Brine just kind of float around and eventually get eaten or sucked into filters.

 

[dmitry]

Unless you want to hatch your own brine shrimp and feed them to your tank as babies - they have nutritional value within only about 6-8 hours of hatching. After that they're like popcorn for your fish.

 

[nycbob]

dont feed ur fish brine shrimps. they r not that nutritional.

 

[porthosandjazz]

Originally Posted by Dmitry
Unless you want to hatch your own brine shrimp and feed them to your tank as babies - they have nutritional value within only about 6-8 hours of hatching. After that they're like popcorn for your fish.
NOW you guys tell me! hahaha! Actually, I should have asked before buying.
I bought two bags, and according to what someone said on here, I knew they would raise my nitrates. And I didn't want to just throw them away. I couldn't drive em to the LFS because I had to acclimate fish. So I just dumped both bags in. My valentini puffer loved them! But all nine of my other fish hated them. They all spit them out, so it was a total waste. So that my nitrates would not increase, I did a 25 gallon water change for probably 16 oz. of brine shrimp water. Wow.
That was SO not how I thought it was going to work out!
Live and learn, right! I won't be buying live brine again anytime soon!
I am sure there are some good reasons for getting them, like trying to get a lionfish to eat or something. But it was just a bust.