Dwarf Seahorse Feeding

[cmof29]

Ive been thinking about setting up a dwarf sea horse tank. I read that they need to be fed live baby brine shrimp. Im kind of a noob with this stuff, so how do I hatch brine shrimp?

 

[rayjay]

It is best to decap the cysts first before hatching.
After decapping, you place the cysts in an inverted pop bottle with the bottom cut off, add salt water (I use 1.017) and aerate until hatched. Hatch time depends on temperature of water but a decent estimate is one day to two days.
Then you remove what you are going to need for the day and place them in another inverted pop bottle, aerate and grow them out for another day until the brine complete their digestive system at the second Instar stage.
Now that they can eat, change the water and add enrichment material (I use Dan's Feed from seahorsesource.com) and aerate. After 12 hours, again change the water and add new enrichment and run for another 12 hours.
Then, harvest, rinse very well, and feed to the dwarfs.
I feed sizes from 3 days old up to about 1/3 of adult size and the adult dwarfs have no problems eating that range of sizes.
RAISING BRINE SHRIMP TO ADULT

 

[cmof29]

Thank you for your help. Appreciate it a lot.

 

[timinnl]

What size tank and equpment are you planning for the tank?

 

[cmof29]

A 10g with a hob filter and standard lighting. I plan to do weekly water changes. I also wanted a more natural look, instead of using fake plants. I wanted to get some small peices of aquacultered rock.

 

[wdt2000]

If you only need a small amount of brine each day, these work great.
http://www.brineshrimpdirect.com/c9/Hatchery-Dish-p183.html

Very easy to use and not an eye sore like most brine shrimp hatcheries.

 

[cmof29]

If you only need a small amount of brine each day, these work great.
http://www.brineshrimpdirect.com/c9/Hatchery-Dish-p183.html

Very easy to use and not an eye sore like most brine shrimp hatcheries.

Wow, this seems easier than using a bottle with the air tube and stuff.

 

[rayjay]

A lot of money to take the place of using pop bottles.
Anyway, that hatcher cannot enrich the brine so you still need other containers for growout and enricment. Also, it's far better to use decapped cysts as well.
http://www.angelfire.com/ab/rayjay/Hatcher.html

 

[cmof29]

Decisions, the pop bottle doesnt look bad. How long do the brine shrimp last after hatching?

 

[rayjay]

When the cysts first hatch, the nauplii have an egg sack that they feed off for a period of time, but as they feed off that sack, the nutrient value diminishes.
At this Instar I stage they don't have a complete digestive system and can't be fed until they molt into the Instar II stage when they can be enriched.
If you don't enrich then you have to feed the bbs to the dwarfs immediately upon hatching before the nutrient sack is appreciably devoured by the nauplii.
Proper enrichment however can provide a much more balanced nutrition than newly hatched at their best.
I hatch, growout, and other than what I use at each feeding, I keep them growing out by feeding greenwater and blended spirulina powder.
The adult dwarfs can easily feed on this batch as they grow for at least two weeks if the growout water is in the lower seventies, making growth slower than it would be at 80°.
If there are fry in the container then I merely add 2 day old nauplii to the older brine that I place in the enrichment so that all can be satisfied.

 

[rayjay]

I've seen it suggested elsewhere that for new hobbyists, it sometimes is best to start hatching/growing brine before you get dwarfs so you gain a bit of experience before you absolutely need production of brine for food.

 

[cmof29]

I wanted to practice while my tank was cycling. Im still a little confused with what to do. I was thinking of having 3 bottles, put the eggs in the first one, when they hatch move them to the second bottle for 24 hours. Then put new eggs in the first bottle. After 24 hours put the bbs that is in the 2nd bottle in the 3rd and keep the cycle going. Am I on the right track? Or totally off?

 

[rayjay]

That would work if they DO hatch out in 24 hours, but some that hatch at room temperature find that it takes over a day for hatching.
I detest daily hatching that's why I do large batches every 10 days to 2 weeks.

 

[cmof29]

How large of a batch(cup/tsp)? I was gonna set up the bottles near a window so the temp would be higher, I read that higher temps increase how fast they hatch. Also, do I need to add anything to the bottles to make them enriched?

 

[NyReefNoob]

ive been keeping sh's for a few years now and still wouldnt try dwarfs. too much work and too hard to worry about, especially if you cannot get them onto frozen or really have i down pat for hatching bb

 

[cmof29]

ive been keeping sh's for a few years now and still wouldnt try dwarfs. too much work and too hard to worry about, especially if you cannot get them onto frozen or really have i down pat for hatching bb

Ive been wanting to try sh's for awhile but I never had room. Right now I only have room for a 10 gal. Ive done alot of research and I think I can handle the work.

 

[mwilliams62]

Can someone help me I am trying to find the forum that had a link in it on how to decap the cyst eggs....

thanks
mary

 

[rayjay]

Mary, there are quite a few variations on decapping the cysts.
I tried a few before I found one that worked for me.
My method is on my brine shrimp page but you can google "decapping brine shrimp cysts" and get a lot of hits.
Decapping Brine Shrimp Cysts

 

[mwilliams62]

Thanks.

Mary

 

[cmof29]

Rayjay do you add anything to your water to enrich the BBS?