Feeding Freshwater Fish BrineShrimp

[AquaJoe]

This may seem silly but way back when I bought a huge vial of brine shrimp eggs from a local PetCo. I bought them because I have three Bettas and read that they absolutely love these shrimp. My question is this, are Brine Shrimp even a fresh water species? Are they a salt water species? Will they survive living in freshwater, if not: how long WILL they survive? Lastly, in your experience do fish like to eat the eggs themselves or the actual live shrimp? I have not bred any as to date but intend to in the near future. Any tips about breeding them would be emmensly appreciated.

One last thing, has anyone ever bought a vial of brine shrimp eggs? Something is telling me I might have a vial of frozen dried brine shrimp, not eggs. Who knows? I can take a macro shot if need be.

One more last thing.... lol .... How often do you feed these suckers to your fish and what do they themselves feed off of?

Joe

 

[AquaJoe]

I voted "Other" because I don't like having to click the "view results" link every time I want to view the results 8)

Joe

 

[Blazeherd2306]

I voted no just because I don't want to introduce a disease into my tank.

 

[Guest]

they sell this at my LFS but i won't buy it becuase, as Blazeherd said, i don't want to indtroduce any disease. Of course, i feed feeze dried foods (specifically bloodworms) which is mosquito larvae. But i don't feed any live food unless you count that im going to buy some guppies so my angels can have guppy fry.

 

[jersysman]

I don't think the poll differentiated between freeze-dried, live, or frozen. It just asked do you feed your fish brine shrimp.

 

[Guest]

oh.. ok, well i haven't ever fed it, even in the freez dried form, i may try it when my angels get bigger. Right now i feed them on flake food, shrimp pellets, and freez dried blood worms, as well as fresh veggies such as shelled peas, cucumber, zucchini, squash. ..

 

[fishyrican]

I have fed brine shrimp to my fish before without a problem. I have purchased the live adult shrimp from the LFS and have also purchased the eggs and hatched them myself. Although the concern about disease may be a valid one, I have never had a problem in years of doing this. Maybe I've been lucky?

In fact, baby brine shrimp is often considered good fry food for some freshwater species.

http://www.sfbb.com has good information on them.

 

[Blazeherd2306]

Actually, I just don't trust my LFS-alot of their fish have disease.

Also, can you feed krill to freshwater fish?

 

[AquaJoe]

So does anyone know if brine shrimp are a SW or FW species?

Thanks for the tips

Joe

 

[greenmaji]

they are naturally a brine water creature.. usually the water in areas that has evaporated down because of drowt.. nevada has areas were this occurs from pumping water to Los Vegas 8O
The LFS really cant screw these up.. I dont think there is a heath concern to feeding them..
You can overfeed with them though.. that would be the only concern I could think of..

 

[BillD]

There are no diseases that frequent saltwater that transfer to fresh water (parasites either). I feed newly hatched BBS to fry, because there is nothing better for any fry large enough to eat them. the salt concentration of places that brine shrimp naturally occur is much higher than the ocean. Very little can tolerate the high salt concentration. The source of the brine shrimp might be of concern, with regards to their exposure to pollutants. Murex brand frozen brine shrimp were harvested from lakes in Saskatchewan and was reputed to be the best source for unpolluted brine shrimp. I don't know if they are still around. There is a similar fresh water version called the fairy shrimp, that looks like a brine shrimp, but grows much larger (1"). They are apain to collect and are only available early in the spring after ice out. Any time you collect from fresh water it is prudent to collect only from waters that contain no fish, to avoid the risk of disease.
As an aside to Ashley nicole, blood worms are not mosquito larva, but they are a good food, especially if they are alive.

 

[talloulou]

I feed my fish frozen brine shrimp. All my fish love them including my betta.

 

[Apocalypse_Gold]

Brine shrimp are a saltier than saltwater species. One of their main natural habitats is the Great Salt Lake in Utah with roughly 7X the salinity of the ocean. As BillD said the main problem is pollution. The dead lakes (no outlet) where they live collect everything that comes down. Some companies that sell bs keep them in clean water before selling them to remedy this. There is no concern if you are hatching them although it is hard to raise them to adult size. There are several ways to hatch them but the simplest is the san francisco bay brand hatchery. The baby brine shrimp hatch in salt water in the bottom and "go towards the light" into a freshwater cup on the top. This way you dont get all the empty cysts (they are technically not eggs but who cares...well apparently me...) and you can dump them right in. Even my adult fish go nuts for the tiny little guys. Must be like popcorn for them.

 

[Toirtis]

I have been feeding live brine shrimp (usually nauplii) for over 3 decades now....despire being a heavily brackish/salt species, they are very similar to various freshwater species that FW fish eat regularly. If the idea of feeding your fish any SW fish/inverts bothers you, I suggest you never read the ingredients on any commercially available flake or pellet food.

 

[Blazeherd2306]

Stupid me! They are saltwater and diseases wouldn't even live in water that salty...or would they?

 

[Toirtis]

sorry, duplicate post

 

[Toirtis]

Stupid me! They are saltwater and diseases wouldn't even live in water that salty...or would they?

Certainly...most FW diseases could not, but there are diseases that live in just about any environment on earth.

 

[AquaJoe]

Brine shrimp are a saltier than saltwater species. One of their main natural habitats is the Great Salt Lake in Utah with roughly 7X the salinity of the ocean. As BillD said the main problem is pollution. The dead lakes (no outlet) where they live collect everything that comes down. Some companies that sell bs keep them in clean water before selling them to remedy this. There is no concern if you are hatching them although it is hard to raise them to adult size. There are several ways to hatch them but the simplest is the san francisco bay brand hatchery. The baby brine shrimp hatch in salt water in the bottom and "go towards the light" into a freshwater cup on the top. This way you dont get all the empty cysts (they are technically not eggs but who cares...well apparently me...) and you can dump them right in. Even my adult fish go nuts for the tiny little guys. Must be like popcorn for them.

Apocalypse_Gold, could you please give me a more detailed explanation about the "san francisco bay brand hatchery" method? I am dealing with brine shrimp eggs and would love to hatch them

Thanks everyone

Joe

 

[Blazeherd2306]

Thanks Toirtis. So there is no way a disease can spread from the LFS tank to mine right?

 

[Toirtis]

Thanks Toirtis. So there is no way a disease can spread from the LFS tank to mine right?

Not if they are keeping them in very briney water, no.