Re BBS article

[rayjay]

Marc, I just read your article on BBS.
For a simpler, cheaper way, just use your pop bottles inverted over bottoms of other pop bottles used as a base. Then just use rigid air line tubing hooked to the flexible air line tubing and place the tube in the bottle with the end resting on the bottom of the bottle hatcher.
THE MAIN REASON for my posting is to dispute your opening statement:

Feeding brine shrimp to your livestock has been compared to feeding potato chips to your guests for dinner. It isn't nutritious, and provides hardly any proteins at all.

BBS with egg sack will supply a low protein, high huffa product to feed to your fish.
Adult brine shrimp supply excellent protein, and when gut loaded with Selco type huffa's, provide the protein as well as the huffa content.
An excerpt from an article written by Jean Dhont and Patrick Lavens
of theLaboratory of Aquaculture & Artemia Reference Center,
University of Gent
The nutritional quality of Artemia biomass produced in semi-intensive or super-intensive systems is analogous to natural produced biomass except for the lipid content. The protein content of ongrown Artemia, independent of its rearing conditions or food, is appreciably higher than for instar I-nauplii (Table 4.4.1.) and is especially richer in essential amino acids (Table 4.4.2.).

On the other hand the lipid profile, quantitatively (Table 4.4.2.) as well as qualitatively, is variable and a reflection of the diet offered to the Artemia cultures. This does not necessarily restrict their application since high levels of essential fatty acids can easily and very quickly be attained in the Artemia biomass by applying simple bio-encapsulation; in less than one hour the digestive tract of the brine shrimp can be filled with a HUFA enrichment product, boosting the (n-3) HUFA content from a low level of 3 mg.g-1 DW up to levels of more than 50 mg.g-1 .
The article, complete with charts, can be viewed at:
Nutritional properties of ongrown Artemia
The mariculture industry uses both nauplii and adult brine shrimp as a significant part of it's feeding program, raising shrimp, lobster, and fish for the market.

[melev]

I used to set up my brineshrimp hatchery just as you described.



If the hobbyist gutloads adult brine shrimp, they definitely will increase nutrional value. However, many simply bring home a bag from the LFS, and feed some to their tank as they are. That isn't considered nutritious by most of the people I've come to trust in this hobby. However, feeding newly hatched brine with the yolk sac connected is substationally better.

Btw, Tim disagreed with that statement too.

[rayjay]

There is a thread on Dr. Ron's forum in which he replys that he sees nothing wrong with feeding live adult brine shrimp to the fish.
Another disadvantage of feeding the nauplii is that most of my larger fish are not interested in the small portions the nauplii supply, but they sure go nuts for the adults.

I am too lazy to hook an airline into the cap and just use a piece of rigid tube.