How do I gut-load Brine Shrimp?

[lbiminiblue]

My batch of brine shrimp should be hatching within a few hours. Does anyone know how to gutload them? I was thinking of crushing sinking pellets to powder and giving it to them. What about phyto plankton or flakes? I think i'll just feed the fish the newborns today, but I want to know how to gut load them so they're nutritious, want to try it in the future. Thanks

 

[whippetguy]

I was thinking that I've read that phytoplankton works.

 

[lbiminiblue]

do you think pellets would work?

 

[PSU4ME]

It needs to a very small sized thing.... Phyto works. You'll need to feed them a bit before I'd feed them to your fish. Yeast works for that. My LFS throws the tropic marine immunity stuff (green powder) in when I buy mine with a bit of galic. Brine are filter feeders so you need something they can readily absorb it

 

[lbiminiblue]

oh for this load i was thinking of giving them to the fish soon because they have the yolk sacs...but they might be too small. You said yeast will work?

 

[lbiminiblue]

and by the pellets I meant crushed pellet powder.

 

[borderreef]

Newly hatched brine shrimp have far more nutrition than gut loaded. Newborns are living off their yolk sac, which is full of all kinds of nutrients and fatty acids that is more nutrious for the fish and corals. I spot feed newborns every other day and my fish and corals go nuts. I'm looking at another thread on another sight where a guy who has a tank that's been running for almost 40 years has a baby brine shrimp feeding station. The thread is years long (literally), but he describes how to make it. His mandrins and copper bands go nuts for it. They know when to hover over it right before feeding time. He feeds every day.

 

[lbiminiblue]

Ok. It's probably less work that way. And as for the feeding station, I have one similar to that, just haven't hooked it up to a pipe to pour the brine down. Do you know what the pipe would be made of?

 

[lbiminiblue]

Will eating eggshells hurt the fish? Or do I need to siphon just the shrimp out?

 

[borderreef]

Will eating eggshells hurt the fish? Or do I need to siphon just the shrimp out?

No shells. Nothing eats them and they become more ditritus, When baby brine first hatch, depending on your hatchery, the shells float, and the babies sink. That's what happens in those cone-shaped hatcheries. You can also make a two chambered box out of acrylic that has one section that is painted black to make it totally dark. Thats where you put the unhatched eggs. In the partition seperating the two chambers, drill a small hole. When the babies hatch, they naturally swim toward the light, leaving behind the shell. Then it's a matter of using a brine shrimp net (it's just very fine and most fish stores have them) to pull them out. Or a small drain tube. I'm building mine with the drain tube that will go directly into my feeding station. Then it's clean out the dark section and add more eggs.

 

[lbiminiblue]

:/ i'm using a half liter water bottle...i might have to do a transfer then...the first shrimp have hatched, but the majority are still encysted. I just finished making the new feeder device. Before I had a messy tupperware with a net rubber-banded to it. Now i got a PVC end cap and drilled a small hole in the side. I pulled some air hose through the hole and glued it in place. Then I glued the net to PVC. Much neater and it sinks. thank goodness the syringe I would use to transfer the shrimp can fit in the air hose. Anyone care for a picture?

 

[borderreef]

Pics are always good.

 

[lbiminiblue]

Pics are always good.

Saw that coming.

Hopefully You get the idea. I didn't take pics of it during the building stage, so this is the best I can do.

 

[borderreef]

That's awsome. Better still, you don't have to get your hands wet.

 

[lbiminiblue]

yep. You can see the airhose in the right. I put my first batch in there...nothing to eat them, but maybe they'll grow in there...