Best way to keep Brine Shrimp....

[Jgoal55]

Was talking to Rogger about this a few days ago.

I love feeding enriched brine to my tank as it's really fun to see everything get so excited.

Problem is, I really don't want to set up a hatchery, but I also don't want to be going to the store every few days to buy more. Right now I can only buy a portion at a time which is enough for two feedings and I'd really like to buy enough for 8-10 feedings every time I go.

I'm looking to keep brine shrimp alive for a couple of weeks at a time or more.

I was thinking of setting up a 5 gallon tank and just buying a bunch at a time. I'd throw in a large air sponge, some salty water, feed them every time the water gets clear, and when they run out, I do a full water change and I go buy more.

Anything wrong with this plan? It sounds perfect to me so if someone could poke some holes in it for me before I go buy the stuff and regret it, Id really appreciate it.

 

[Joshporksandwic]

If you make your own a batch it can last you months. Make your own breeder with an upside down 2ltr soda bottle. Put half a teaspoon of eggs and in 12 hrs you have thousands of babies. Remove the empty shells and put in a container with a bubler. I used to feed crushed fish flakes or spirulina powder. I would never change the water and they would get very big and even start breeding on their own.

 

[SirReefer]

If you make your own a batch it can last you months. Make your own breeder with an upside down 2ltr soda bottle. Put half a teaspoon of eggs and in 12 hrs you have thousands of babies. Remove the empty shells and put in a container with a bubler. I used to feed crushed fish flakes or spirulina powder. I would never change the water and they would get very big and even start breeding on their own.

Once you remove the shells do you keep them in the same 2liter bottle ? Can't you place some in the refugium to breed there ? I am interested in this also. I e see some sellers of brine eggs say premium grade others with 98% or 99% hatch rate.. Does any of that stuff matter, I'm sure there will be a lot regardless..

 

[mrx66699]

call me

 

[tmz]

The shells are nasty and should be separated from the newly hatched brine shrimp and discarded.

 

[billsreef]

Once you remove the shells do you keep them in the same 2liter bottle ? Can't you place some in the refugium to breed there ? I am interested in this also. I e see some sellers of brine eggs say premium grade others with 98% or 99% hatch rate.. Does any of that stuff matter, I'm sure there will be a lot regardless..

Your going to pay a big premium for 98-99% hatch rate. Probably only worth the extra if your hatching large production scale quantities.

For the shells, decapsulation is the way to go. Quick and dirty decapsulation, soak cysts for one hour in fresh water,put cysts in half and half mix of water and bleach, stir for 5 minutes, strain through brine shrimp sieve (320 micron mesh or coffee filter) and rinse well under the tap. Then normal hatching routine in sea water.

 

[MinuteJohn]

So what is the point of decapsulation? If you decapsulate does it completely remove the shell?

 

[billsreef]

Decapsulation dissolves the hard outer shell of the cyst. So no shells to seperate from the shrimp

 

[tmz]

Hi Bill,


How do you store the decapsulated eggs prior to begining the hatch? Trying to improve seahorse erectus fry rearing routine.

 

[billsreef]

Hi Tom,

I usually just decap what I'm going to use. For storage of large quantities of decaped cysts you can store them in a container of supersaturated salt water kept in the fridge. The supersaturated SW dehydrates the cysts. I've had them stay viable several weeks like this, but find somewhat better hatch rates with freshly decapped cysts, hence why I typically just decap immediately prior to setting up the hatching cone.

 

[tmz]

Thanks, I need new nauplii daily for young seahorse fry; they need the yolk sac. So I seaparate and store new hatch in the fridge for a day or so as I use it and hath another small batch. I dribble in some slecon but since the new baby brine don't eat for at least a day, I don't know if that helps add much if any nutrition. Do you enrich the brine shrimp you use at all?

 

[Joshporksandwic]

Once you remove the shells do you keep them in the same 2liter bottle ? Can't you place some in the refugium to breed there ? I am interested in this also. I e see some sellers of brine eggs say premium grade others with 98% or 99% hatch rate.. Does any of that stuff matter, I'm sure there will be a lot regardless..

just get the cheapest. To remove the eggs I just turn off air pump and put a flashlight at the bottom and the brine go to the light and eggs float. I syphon out and put the brine in a bigger container. If you want to come by I can give you a 6 month supply and show you how to do it. I put them everywhere and after a day they're gone. I've only been able to breed them on a 5 gallon bucked that i forgot I had and a few months later it was full of adults and babies all over.

 

[marke]

Josh I know you have a unique appetite. Can you pan fry the big ones? Joking! you have gotten good advice on how to grow them The question I have is why do you want live b shrimp. They are not that nutrient rich for your fish, and too big for your corals to eat. Also you typically need live phytoplankton to feed the young ones. I suggest feeding pellets and some frozen stuff like roggers reef food. Feed your fish and corals highly nutritious food that doesn't take so much work.
<a href="http://s946.photobucket.com/user/benihannah/media/abirdofparadise_zpsd0ef6636.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i946.photobucket.com/albums/ad309/benihannah/abirdofparadise_zpsd0ef6636.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo abirdofparadise_zpsd0ef6636.jpg"/></a>

 

[SirReefer]

just get the cheapest. To remove the eggs I just turn off air pump and put a flashlight at the bottom and the brine go to the light and eggs float. I syphon out and put the brine in a bigger container. If you want to come by I can give you a 6 month supply and show you how to do it. I put them everywhere and after a day they're gone. I've only been able to breed them on a 5 gallon bucked that i forgot I had and a few months later it was full of adults and babies all over.

Sounds good thanks.. I was the guy the went yesterday so when my friend decides to go ill remind you.

 

[Joshporksandwic]

Sounds good thanks.. I was the guy the went yesterday so when my friend decides to go ill remind you.

Cool!

 

[SirReefer]

I actually stumbled across this link when I was reading earlier today.. Learned along with the advice here.. The link is below

http://www.angelfire.com/ab/rayjay/brineshrimp.html

 

[billsreef]

Thanks, I need new nauplii daily for young seahorse fry; they need the yolk sac. So I seaparate and store new hatch in the fridge for a day or so as I use it and hath another small batch. I dribble in some slecon but since the new baby brine don't eat for at least a day, I don't know if that helps add much if any nutrition. Do you enrich the brine shrimp you use at all?

I feed new hatch nauplii immediately after hatching. At that point enriching isn't likely to do much at all, so I don't bother. Anything your keeping for feeding out the next day, I would definitely enrich. Depending on temps, about half day after hatching they can start feeding and taking up that selcon...they have also started loosing nutritional value by this point, making enrichment more important.

I've only been able to breed them on a 5 gallon bucked that i forgot I had and a few months later it was full of adults and babies all over.

Best culture I ever had was an old 5 gallon half full of old sand and water change water. Looked into it one day, and the brine shrimp were growing like gang busters

The question I have is why do you want live b shrimp. They are not that nutrient rich for your fish, and too big for your corals to eat.

The adults can be enriched with high quality feeds like Isochyrsus (algae) and selcon, basically making them the delivery system for what you fed the shrimp This is worth doing for finicky eaters that cue in on the movement, and are ignoring dead type foods. Otherwise, for myself, I've switched to the more nutritional mysis shrimp as a frozen food along with other foods such as pellets.

 

[Joshporksandwic]

Before I feed them to my tank I put the on a cup with phyto or spirulina for 15-30 min. When you look at their bellies it's dark green. Best way to get carnivores to eat their vegies.

 

[Jgoal55]

Josh I know you have a unique appetite. Can you pan fry the big ones? Joking! you have gotten good advice on how to grow them The question I have is why do you want live b shrimp. They are not that nutrient rich for your fish, and too big for your corals to eat. Also you typically need live phytoplankton to feed the young ones. I suggest feeding pellets and some frozen stuff like roggers reef food. Feed your fish and corals highly nutritious food that doesn't take so much work.

yup. exactly what bills reef said.

 

[tmz]

I feed new hatch nauplii immediately after hatching. At that point enriching isn't likely to do much at all, so I don't bother. Anything your keeping for feeding out the next day, I would definitely enrich. Depending on temps, about half day after hatching they can start feeding and taking up that selcon...they have also started loosing nutritional value by this point, making enrichment more important.

Thanks Bill,

I've modified my approach based on your advice.

I feed some of the nauplii hatch immediately. Younger fry( under 2 weeks ) get a copious amount every few hours.

Some of the hatch is kept separately ,aerated at room temp and enriched with selcon and atremia food. These are fed to the younger fry throughout the first 24 hours . After 24 hours a new atremia batch is ready.

I keep a third batch for 2 to 3 days of enrichment for feeding to older fry (>4 weeks) along with some new hatch and one day old enriched atremia. They also get some frozen cyclopeeze. Minced mysis will come a little later.



The seahorses breed regularly ,so I have several ages going at one time . Hoping to improve survival rates with a focus on nutrition.
Thanks again.