brine shrimp feeding with yeast, etc.

[icefishrod]

I have my new setup up and running for over one month. I went through three hatches. I have not had any luck feeding them. I tried using some green dust algea and shaking it up in a one cup size of saltwater, to create small particles for feeding then brine shrimp. Seems they did not like that type of algea. The type I was using is off a three month old fish only tank. I started a new hatch of brine shrimp one day ago. They are hatched and free swimming as of three hours ago for the majority of them. What I have now is store bought active dry yeast (used in cooking, small packages). How do i go about using that to feed them? I read something like feeding can start or does start 12 hours after hatching. Does this time frame start after they are free swimming? I know green water is the way to go or such, but brine can be fed a variety of foods since i have not setup up any other setups. Any help , thanks?

[dc]

Yeast is not good, I usually strain the powdered algae through my net. They are filter feeders, they don't get to like anything. Maybe you are overfeeding and killing them.

[icefishrod]

I read they latch to a floating paticle towards the rearend by use of their swimming/leg body part (i forget what it is - but you should know if you have ever raised them to mature). Have you? Then their swimming/legs slowly pull it towards their front part to ingest it somehow (mouth - not sure). I have seen this. And i watched them for maybe three hours and it seemed to be a slow process for them to move it to their front. Have you ever found a female laying eggs? I have. Any thoughts. thanks

[dc]

I don't really try to raise them into adulthood, but yes I have. I do one tank, using a 5 gallon now. I hatch them out, wait a day or two. siphon out about 1/2 gallon, clean up the egg shells. I feed the shrimp every day, usually at night as I read that they should be fed 12 hours before feeding to tank. Tahitian Blend is also good. I run it through the net as it said to make the particles as fine as possible. About every 5 days I just dump in more eggs, and don't feed the tank for a couple. Then I start the process all over. I usually end up with various sizes of shrimp. Everything I've read about yeast is it is basically no nutrition.

http://images2.fotki.com/v17/photos/2/28482/171438/21003brine3-vi.jpg

[icefishrod]

Seems that yeast would not be nutritious. But i do not know what yeast is in the first place. I plan to nutrify them couple hours before feeding. I want to raise to second or third week adult. I have done it before. Just wondering how to feed the yeast to them. im thinking shake it up in a cup of saltwater for 5 minutes and then feed it to them. that is what i did before.

[dc]

Well then I guess you answered your own question. I personally wouldn't use it. Seems like it could go bad.

[icefishrod]

Can anyone else help with this? What i do, is shake up a very small amount of active yeast (cooking yeast) by using say 4 oz. saltwater or fresh water what ever the containers need( usng 2 liter soda bottles so the water evaps and i replace with fresh RO) and add t his milky mixture to the bottles for feed. How else can this be done using yeast as food for brine shrimp? What about alternative foods? Can i get a list? What is approx time frame for feeding brine shrimp from young to adult (Once free swimming, or still young attatched to egg, even so how long i have never had a clear response on that, so many hours after free swimming, so many hours after hatched but still attatched to egg??) thanks

[TURK]

THe way I have heard to feed yeast is: Use the tip of a small spoon to get a tiny amount of yeast - mix it in a glass full of fresh salt water, and dump it in the hatchlings tank...the yeast would float at the surface......do this by night and see if it's all gone in the morning.....by the end of the second week, they should be about 1cm in length....do not forget to do regular shiphoning and water changes to prevent a crash....

[JHardman]

A good question that you need to answer for yourself is what are the brine shrimp for? If you are just growing them to adult for the sake of growing them out, yeast is fine. But if you intend to feed your fish these, then yeast is not going to cut it, and frankly will likely do more harm than good. Feeding brine that is not fortified is like feeding cotton candy to a young kid, they love the taste, go nuts for it, but the only thing it does is make the kid hyper and provides no nutritional value what so ever. The effort that your fish expend eating the brine will be more than they obtain from the brine they eat.

One way to do it...

1) Hatch out between 1/8 and 1/4 tablespoon of brine.
2) After about 12 hours (the time it takes them to use up their yolk) harvest the brine, rinse and transfer to a 1g container and add a rigid airline with heavy aeration. Throw out the hatching water.
3) Feed phytoplankton enough to tint the water the color of the phyto. T-iso seems to be the flavor of choice.
4) Continue to feed once a day with phyto.
5) At about one week drain, rinse and transfer to a 5g container with a rigid airline with heavy aeration. Continue to feed daily with phyto.
6) At about three weeks from the time of hatching you should have adult brine shrimp.

Something you should be aware of, many people have a very hard time growing out brine. Many times is it just easier to buy them. If you do a search here on RC for "brine shrimp" posted by "rayjay" you will find a link to his site where he details his grow out setup. If you need live adult brine, the only place I have found to date that sells them online if livebrineshrimp.com

HTH

[G-money]

I think that Brewer's (aka Nutritional) yeast may be the better option for feeding. I don't think you want to feed them active dry (baking) yeast. Natural foods stores should have Brewer's yeast, which has much more nutritional content than baking yeast. A solution of that yeast and perhaps powdered egg yolk should be a mediocre substitute in lieu of phytoplankton.

As mentioned, this will add nutrients to the water and since you can't really filter water with BS in it, you will need to regularly change this water to avoid pollution.

[TerryB]

Personally, I don't know that feeding fish yeast is a good idea. However, you might be interested to know that feeding shrimp and fish the cell wall of Baker's yeast will stimulate the immune system. Beta 1,3 glucan is a powerful biological defense modulator that has no side effects and can be used in conjunction with all modes of therapy such as antibiotics. The problem with using Baker's yeast is that you are not just giving them the cell wall. Beta 1,3 glucan stimulates white blood cells and begins a cascade of other immune system activities. I have already submitted a manuscript for publication on the subject. Right now, I believe the references, etc., are being reviewed.
Terry B

[JHardman]

Originally posted by TerryB
Personally, I don't know that feeding fish yeast is a good idea. However, you might be interested to know that feeding shrimp and fish the cell wall of Baker's yeast will stimulate the immune system. Beta 1,3 glucan is a powerful biological defense modulator that has no side effects and can be used in conjunction with all modes of therapy such as antibiotics. The problem with using Baker's yeast is that you are not just giving them the cell wall. Beta 1,3 glucan stimulates white blood cells and begins a cascade of other immune system activities. I have already submitted a manuscript for publication on the subject. Right now, I believe the references, etc., are being reviewed.
Terry B

Please let us know where we can read it when it is available.

[Louis Z]

Yeast, other non living powders(spirulina), and cryopreserved microalgae concentrates can easily muck up the tank causing a crash. One would have to prolonged suspension of the food, avoid overfeeding and take extra measures to keep the culture tank clean. The extra time you would use cleaning the tank could be used to culture microalgae and avoid the mess altogether. One badside of a dirty tank is the proliferation of the Vibro sp. of bacteria. You also mentioned final enrichment which is still a messy process if you use the selcon or selco products. The final selcon enrichment could be avoided altogether if the BS are grown on several live microalgae strains. As far as feeding brineshrimp I would think the most nutritious (live microalgae) feed would bring them to adulthood faster and produce greater amounts of live young. The adults feed on any and many types of food including bacteria and ciliates(I doubt that any culture water would be devoid without them). I would think that these also contribute to the nutrition of the artemia. Furthermore the live microalgae can be relied upon to keep excess nutrients down and improve water quality. So my choice if you cant tell already would be live microalgae. The reason that artemia produces eggs or cysts is because of deteriorating conditions or high salinity. So your observation of this already signifies problems. If you didnt have enough input or still have unanswered questions from the BB then I would suggest the Plankton Culture Manual, The Artemia Reference Center, The Breeders Net on AAOLM, Live Brineshrimp Direct, and library research in addition to Rayjay's website. The recommendation that John had mentioned is the easiest- buy adults from a LFS. I would enrich them with you guessed it = live microalgae. I do have a question- is cost the reason why you look toward yeast? Now how do I get yeast cell walls without the mess?

[TerryB]

JHardman,
I just received notice today from Terry Siegel that my article has been accepted for publication by Advanced Aquarist Online. I don't have any details yet as to which issue it will be in, etc.
Terry B

[Paul B]

I have been growing brine shrimp to maturity for years now (about twenty five) on just brewers yeast. The brine are then fed to seahorses which grow to maturity with no problems. Yeast is probably not the best thing to feed them but it seems to be nutritious enough to grow them to full size and it seems to fortify them enough to be used as food. When people started to raise brine shrimp, yeast was the only thing there was to feed them.
If you also add some Selcon it would be better but even people could live on a limited diet without added vitamins.
Brine shrimp are filter feeders and I believe they will eat just about anything small enough.

[Louis Z]

PaulB, could you describe how much you feed and what your setup is like? How often do you feed ? Could you list any do's and dont's as for maintenance? TIA .

[Paul B]

when I raise seahorses I keep brine shrimp in a 15 gallon tank and feed regular brewers yeast just enough every day so the water gets a little cloudy. The shrimp grow and I cull out the ones the right size to feed the growing seahorses. The yeast seems to be just right to grow the shrimp and the seahorses. Of course mysis shrimp are better for seahorses but a few years ago you could not get them. Also the brine shrimp are easier to grow to custom size for growing seahorses. The shrimp mature in about two or three weeks. If I were to grow them now I would add Selcon, but I would also feed yeast. Yeast is a food, Selcon is vitamins,fats and some minerals. Brine shrimp still need food. I just use some bubbles for the shrimp to keep the water moving.

[Paul B]

Here is an article I wrote about the seahorses.
http://www.breeders-registry.gen.ca.us/Articles/v4_i3_paul_b/paul_b.htm