Improving the brine shrimp for SH

[5380]

I read about the first 6 pages of posts that looked like they'd be educational, and came up with a question, with RC-search restriction I can't find the answers.

In many topics, the nutritional value of brine shrimp w/o enrichment is questioned. I wondered about this cause decap brine is a staple i feed fw for some dwarf earth eaters. I don't remember the context, but i believe that i have read decap brine is a valuable food supply unhatched. I'm interested to know how the community reached this conclusion.

I'm inclined toward automation so it's important for me to understand this topic thinking about setting up a SH tank. Any replys about what your hatching procedure consists of, and personal experience would be helpful.

[Swanwillow]

I think the main difference is that dwarves can easily live off of newly hatched brine shrimp, without any problems.

the problem is feeding to full sized adult seahorses: they won't receive enough nutrition off of the brine to do any good. I think of it this way: baby mammals live off of milk for the first... well, couple months, up to a few years for some. then they are weaned off of milk and onto solid food. After that transition, if you tried to live off of milk, you'd slowly starve to death, even with vitamin supplements. Now, you can live off of steak the rest of your life with vitamin supplementation. Thats why we feed our big horses 'steak' in the form of mysis.

decapping brine is just a step taken to reduce the incedence of hydroids in a dwarf tank: hydroids have suddenly appeared in dwarf tanks after feeding brine shrimp out that wasn't decapped. Hydroids will eat the bbs, AND the dwarf seahorses. Its not that decapped vs capped is healthier per say of nutrition, but its healthier because there won't be hydroids.

[Swanwillow]

oh, and heres the google search for RC
http://www.reefcentral.com/search.php?s=&menu=11

also, go to seahorse.org and syngnathid.org for more research, without restrictions

[rayjay]

The decapped cyst, unhatched, has the advantage of having the complete egg sack intact and unused. Once the cyst is hatched it immediately feeds off the sack, leaving less nutrition for the intended recipient.
The most complete article on brine shrimp that I've been able to find is in an article from the United Nations piece on feeding for the Mariculture Industry. The total article is about more than just brine shrimp, but you can read just the parts you have interest in.
CLICK HERE AND SCROLL TO SECTION 4 (http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/003/W3732E/w3732e00.htm)
If you are getting into seahorses, including raising them, you will have need of ongrown, gut loaded brine shrimp at various stages of growth.
My experiences with growing them I have placed on my website and could give you some ideas on setting up your own grow operation when the time comes. Actually, it would probably be better to start ahead of time because I found it takes some time to get the feel of things (like just how much to feed, how much air to use at each stage) to succeed in higher density growing of the brine shrimp.
While frozen mysis is the main food I feed my seahorses, I can offer variety through the brine shrimp by gut loading with Tahitian Blend, spirulina, and Selco.
MY PAGE ON RAISING BRINE SHRIMP (http://www.angelfire.com/ab/rayjay/brineshrimp.html)