Feeding live brine shrimp

[stealyourhouse]

I picked up one of those brine shrimp hatching cones and some bring shrimp eggs from brineshrimpdirect.com. I set it all up this weekend and should have myself some baby brinies tomorrow afternoon.

My question is: how do I feed the shrimp to the tank? I followed Flame Angel's recipe of 2cups tank water 1 cup RO/DI for the shrimp water. So do I just dump the water with the shrimp into the tank?

I know you are supposed to siphon out the brine shrimp, to seperate them from the empty shells. What's the easiest way of doing this?

[stereomandan]

Cut off the air supply to the cone. Wait a couple of minutes. You will see all the brine shrimp collected on the bottom and the shells on top. Just take an airline tube and make sure one end is in the bottom of the cone, then suck the airline to start the syphon and syphon the brine shrimp into a new container. Voila!

Wide, flat containers work best if you're going to store the brine in the fridge for a couple of days. It provides more surface area for air.

Dan

[godlyme]

yeah u really dont want to just dump that nasty water into your tank..prolly do more bad than good....what i do is unplug the airline tubing that pumps bubbles from the bottom of my two liter from the pump and i just let the live brine shrimp siphon down the airline tubing into a stocking..which catches the shrimp and releases the nasty water..then i rinse them off and invert the stocking into the tank in verius places...my fish and other stuff luv them

[stealyourhouse]

Won't the stocking harm the shrimp?

stereomandan - it's cool to let the shrimp sit in the fridge? Won't they die in the cold? Would there be anything wrong with adding all of the shrimp to the tank at once (after you siphon them out)?

[visualscapes]

You can also just buy a little brine shrimp net at your lfs. Works great, and easy. ;)

[stereomandan]

stealyourhouse,

I forgot to mention that you should get a brine shrimp net, like mentioned above.

I store mine in the fridge for 2-3 days. They are still alive. The cold temps slow down their metabolism big time so they survive longer.

Just make sure to net them before you pour them in the tank.

Remember, the a wide short container is way better than a tall narrow container for the fridge. There is more room for oxygen exchange.

Dan

[dc]

I do mine in a 3 gallon clear glass cookie jar! Siphon out the water and add from my main tank, put fresh SW in the main. I feed them Tahitian Blend from Brine Shrimp Direct.

[stealyourhouse]

So if I get a brine shrimp net, I should net them out of the water and just throw them in the tank?

Is there anything bad about putting ALL of the shrimp in the tank at once? Or would it be better to keep some in the fridge?

[RockyHeap]

I still like the idea I just read about here on RC about melting a small 1/4" diameter hole in a 35mm film canister lid, then putting B.S eggs in the container. Place it behind a reef rock to hide it, then when the shrimp hatch they swim up and out the hole to feed the reef slowly at their own pace......

The eggs sacks are left behind, so no muss no fuss.

Shouldn't this work out fine? I've got some BS eggs on order and will post the results after I try it........

[stealyourhouse]

That's interesting, but I heard that brine shrimp won't hatch if the salinity is too high. That's why they say 1.020 is the optimum hatching specific gravity.

Then again, a few weeks after I first added my live rock (before any fish were in the tank), I woke up one morning to see my tank full of baby brine shrimp. I guess there were some eggs in the rocks. They didn't last long though.

[Jamesurq]

Originally posted by RockyHeap
I still like the idea I just read about here on RC about melting a small 1/4" diameter hole in a 35mm film canister lid, then putting B.S eggs in the container. Place it behind a reef rock to hide it, then when the shrimp hatch they swim up and out the hole to feed the reef slowly at their own pace......

The eggs sacks are left behind, so no muss no fuss.

Shouldn't this work out fine? I've got some BS eggs on order and will post the results after I try it........

That sounds like a winner. I might have to try that too...:)

[Mad Scientist]

Just becareful storing shrimp for too long, they will live for a while, but, their nurtrional value drops rapidly. It's kinda likewith green water, you'll hear people on RC going on and on about how they left a bottle of DTs out for 3 days, examined a sample under the 'scope and it was still alive. What you won't hear is that the phyto now has no nutritional value.

With shrimp it's the same deal, the faster you get them in your tank after they hatch, the better. Of course the way to get around this is to feed the shrimp phyto. I have several 10 gal tansk set up (just an air stone and a heater) that I raise brine shrimp to adulthood in. They consume a HUGE ammount of greenwater, but, my horses and my raninford's goby are getting really fat with them, plus they seem to get fish in the "spawning mood."

Good luck, natural/live food is always the best choice.

[stereomandan]

I thought brine shrimp need light to hatch. How would they get the needed light if they were put in a film canister, which is designed to block light. I like the idea of taking hatched brine shrimp and putting them in a film canister with a hole in it. Then they would slowly release to the tank instaed of dumping in a huge amount like I normally do.

Dan

[baondayko]

The brine eggs in a film canister sounds very interesting. Has anyone verified that it works??

Brock

[dc]

It says they need light, movement also. They are soo little at hatching, I would think they would be difficult to get in a container. I usually just siphon out a 1/2 gallon, leaving some of them to grow, and also feed about every two days, add eggs about every 4 days. After about 2 days I start adding the Tahitian Blend. I get some quite large ones.

[baondayko]

I think the B.S. eggs are put into the container, not the actual shrimp. Then they can leave the container as they hatch.

[Mad Scientist]

It you turn out lights on brine shrimp they are going to stop swimming, complicating dripping them into the tank.

IMO, adding a buch at one is better that adding them slowly.