Sea Monkey time- Luck with brine shrimp?

[zap724]

Has anyone had good luck with hatching brine shrimp? If so, any suggested equipment or links to suppliers. Also how often do you feed your tank? Any pitfalls? (my daughter wants sea horses and our mandarin looks thin)

Thanks,
Brian

 

[Doglover_50]

Horses, and monkeys, and gobys, oh my!
they are quite easy, however, they do not provide much nutrition, even when fed supplements. You may want to to go ATR on the weekend to put up the pod soup stuff they have-I don't think you can count on them to help your mandarin much...and it sounds like he needs some intervention! Perhaps others will answer your question more directly...sorry!

 

[bajabum]

Baby brine shrimp make fish ADD if used to often. They also can affect water quality. I use them to grow green water and I feed them sometimes. Manderins look down for food, not up. I use them for my small signal blennies, manderins will starve before they look up. I order brine shrimp eggs from Utah. The stores are to old to hatch. I have a hatcher that hangs on the outside of a tank which is hooked to air. Valve at bottom is used to seperate egg shells from larvae. For Sea horses the egg shells will kill them. Salt water, eggs and air for circulation will hatch them. There are lots of ideas on raising them on the web. It has been well used in the classroom. Rest is on the web.

 

[zap724]

Never thought about it, but the manderin does look down. I have heard about them eating frozen prepared food, I will try to get some below him tonite.

I saw on the tank side type hatcher, I thought if you fed the shrimp while they still had the yolk sacks they provide alot of nutrition.

Thanks Doglover and Baja.

I think I also like the concept of giving my fish something fun to eat. (like I give my dogs milkbone because I love them, not because they need them to live

But if there is more negative then positive with live brine shrimp, I didn't want to start a sea monkey family.

 

[bajabum]

I feed them 24 hours after I start them, just not to often or to much. If you are feeding to much your fish behavior will change. You can scare baby clowns to death from feeding to much BBS. Algae starts growing, your feeding to much. It is caviar, high food value till the egg sack is gone.

 

[Doglover_50]

mandarins and frozen--hit or miss. You'd be lucky if yours takes it if it is skinny. When you put in the frozen, TURN OFF most or all powerheads--they can't chase the frozen, it has to move by the mandarin very slowly, and it needs to be something smaller--mine likes mysid shrimp. Mine takes frozen, pure luck--wish you the same luck!