brine shrimp

[alxgchu]

please help.. i started hatching artemia cyst 5 days ago.. it went well and all baby brine shrimp was transfered to anonther container so i can grow them to adult. i have research on what to feed them and i learned that yeast can be used to feed them.. i used bread yeast and feed them twice a day. i used a bulb to check on their size but as the day goes by i noticed that the quantity of my baby brine shrimp is constantly depleting. also im not sure if their size is growing.. i have put oxygen to moderate bubble as to have constant movement in the water also to avoid dead spot. hope to hear from anyone with knowledge and experience in culturing brine shrimp soon.. because the quantity is getting lesser and lesser each day! thanks!

 

[HoopsGuru]

Might be feeding too much, causing the water quality to degrade killing the newly hatched shrimp. What are you trying raise them for? Just curious, as trying to raise and use them for fish food is a very time consuming task when there are tons of available prepared foods that are more nutritious. If you are just having fun experimenting, try varying the amount you feed (and also make sure you have fine bubbles if possible over coarse ones as they can be damaging) and see if you get any better survival ratios.

 

[alxgchu]

actually, i was just experimenting on trying to grow them. because we dont have available live adult brine shrimp in our country. food source for marine fish are also limited here. during my vacation in singapore i went to a fish farm that sells live and frozen brine shrimp. and they told me that they feed live brine shrimp to their fish, thats why i want to try. i'm currently feeding sera and tetra flakes only. i just want to try out live food bcoz its fun to see them eating.. thanks for your advicce but i'm sure that i dont feed too much maybe its the quality of the water. i'l try to change it. by the way, what kind of food you are referring to that are nutritious?
and also make sure you have fine bubbles if possible over coarse ones as they can be damaging - fine bubbles? i didnt use airtone and put the oxygen level max.. is that wrong? should i use airstone?

 

[HoopsGuru]

I don't know if it would be the quality of your start water, since you are getting a good hatch rate (apparently, since many of them are dying). Brine shrimp are pretty sturdy (normally hatch well in straight tapwater with the brine mix added, no need to even remove chlorine!) unless they get high ammonia levels.

"More nutritious" foods would vary depending on the livestock. If commercial foods are slim in your area you can make your own food. For carnivores, and nice mix of fresh shrimp, clams, mussels, squid, scallops, etc. For herbivores, maybe markets in your area would have seaweeds and algae available (nori, etc.). For omnivores, combine the two. All prepared foods would benefit from a marine vitamin, but I suspect that they might be slim pickings for you as well and are not absolutely necessary.

 

[rayjay]

Growing adult brine shrimp is a pain in the keester. But, like you, I can't find a local supplier so I grow them.
I've spent years developing my program to grow them and have yet to find a SIMPLE way to do it. To get any kind of significant yield is labour intensive, and it takes a while to get the experience to be able to grow a batch to Adult with minimal losses.
My website has a page on my trials and tribulations on growing them.
Also, at the end of my article there are more links with more information you can peruse.
Good luck.

LINK to:RASING BRINE SHRIMP TO ADULT

 

[rayjay]

Forgot to mention about aeration of the brine shrimp water.
DO NOTuse an air stone, as small bubbles kill the brine shrimp.
When the brine shrimp are small, very vigourous aeration should be used, but as they grow larger, the airflow must be cut back as it can be too much for the larger brine, especially when full sized, where vigourous aeration can "blow them apart", literally.

 

[alxgchu]

hi rayjay! i already saw the link to raising brine shrimp. you indicate that they need "VIGOROUS AGITATION" - does this means i need to put my pump to maximum level in the sense that the water moves rapidly within the container just like a washing mashine?

 

[rayjay]

Not knowing what your container size is or pump size, all I can tell you is that it should look like the water is boiling. This kind of flow should be good for about a week to ten days before starting to back off on the flow.
There is no need to feed the brine in the first day as they don't have a mouth or anus until after the first molt.
The nauplii have an egg sack they feed off at first, and once that sack is depleted, they look to be smaller in size for quite a few days, until they begin to grow from the food you feed them.
When doing water changes you will find all the molts at the bottom of the container when allowed to sit before siphoning off the live brine.
There WILL be some losses but they will look just like the rest of the molts in the bottom of the container.
There is also some loss when doing the water changes as I don't siphon real close to the bottom so that I don't get the garbage sucked up and transfered to the new water.
I should have mentioned, forget about feeding them yeast as it's not nutritious enough for your fish, even if the brine do manage to live on it.
If you don't have spirulina then just use any flake food until you can get spirulina or a cryopaste like Tahitian Blend.
Crush the flake and make a "ball" in a piece of dense cloth as described on my brine shrimp page.
As mentioned before, gradually reduce the air flow so that by about the 17th day the water should just be aerated enough to keep everything in suspension as much as possible, but not enough to damage the shrimp.