Brine Shrimp Colony

[Jak]

I'm completely new to inverts and I was wondering if anyone has kept or heard of someone who kept a sustainable brine shrimp (or other) colony with the intent of having them in a tank where fish would eat them and they would reproduce fast enough to be sustainable?

I've gotten as far as I'd probably need to keep a wad of java moss to keep the shrimp safe while they breed. That's all haha.

Id be interested in feeding my fish too I just wondered if I could build them into an eco system.

 

[Samphotog]

They need saltwater so you can't keep them with the feeding tank. If you want to breed them you should set up a 5-10 gallon aquarium. Once it's set up you just hatch eggs and then wait for them to hatch and they'll breed by themselves. After around a week they will be mature enough to breed and are capable of breeding about every 4 days. Know that adult brine shrimp don't have as much nutritional value as babies unless you fortify them

 

[Wy Renegade]

There are other shrimp that you can grow in a freshwater environment - scuds or fairy shrimp for example. If you set the tank up correctly and don't overstock your fish population, then the shrimp population can be maintained in the tank. Issues include things like the shrimp will eat eggs that are laid, not enough hidding places for the shrimp so they all get ate, etc.

 

[bob mccoy]

brine shrimp hatched from eggs lose all there nutritional value after a few hours frm hatching

 

[Wy Renegade]

brine shrimp hatched from eggs lose all there nutritional value after a few hours frm hatching

Bob I've heard that before and as a scientist it makes me curious. Can you explain how or why that is? Obviously living things that are still living don't lose nutritional value, so is it that brine shrimp hatched in a sterile environment are quickly using up their food stores and therefore nutritional value decreases or does their shell harden so they can't be digested or . . . . . ? Just curious as to the explaination.

 

[Jak]

There are other shrimp that you can grow in a freshwater environment - scuds or fairy shrimp for example. If you set the tank up correctly and don't overstock your fish population, then the shrimp population can be maintained in the tank. Issues include things like the shrimp will eat eggs that are laid, not enough hidding places for the shrimp so they all get ate, etc.

Ok so maybe brine shrimp are a bad way to go. Haha

I don't plan to breed any fish so the shrimp eating eggs doesnt scare me. I have dwarf Gouramis, julii coris, a bristle nose pleco and some Australian rainbows in the tank now. Lots of driftwood and some plants. I will be adding more plants too.

What about ghost shrimp?
I'd be inerested in learning more about scuds and fairy shrimp too.

 

[bob mccoy]

well from what i have studied and red in books and online the baby brine shrimp that we hatch have kinda like a yolk sack like fish fry do and after a few hours its used up and thats where the nourishment leaves them. here is a good report on them if anyone feels like reading it .



en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brine_shrimp

 

[aluka]

Some ppl keep bring shrimp colonies, because its cheaper and easier to keep then continously hatching new bbs. If you keep the water brackish rather than saltwater, they will become live bearing instead of egg laying. But as others said, they are less nutritious as they get older, even if you feed them.

I plan one keeping a colony, mostly because i dont have the heart to dump the left overs after i feed my frys =(.