The joys of brine shrimp

[Paul B]

Yes I know what everyone thinks of adult brine shrimp and they are probably correct but they do help sometimes to get a fish to eat until it could be weaned onto something else but I am talking about new born shrimp.
There are so many fish out there that we could easily keep if we could provide them a healthy available diet. New born shrimp are the best thing you could give these fish and sometimes the only available food they will eat. Brine eggs are cheap and available all over the country either from a store or on line. As long as they are dry, they last for years.
My reef is full of over 20 small gobies, bleenies and pipefish most of these fish live on nothing else and I would not be able to keep them if I diden't hatch shrimp every day.
You can buy a hatchery or build one for free.
All you need is some sort of black container. I use an old filter box but I also have one I built out of black acrylic. A clear box could also be used but one half would have to be painted black on the outside.
Just put a black divider with a 3/8" hole in the center across the container dividing it into two equal parts.
Fill it with salt water and add some eggs to one side. The next day cover that half and put the thing in the light. The shrimp will swim to the other side in about 15 minutes and you could suck them out. All the eggs will stay on the other side. Simple, I have been doing it for many years.
Have fun.
Paul

[Paul B]

Some fish you just can't keep without new born shrimp, like this tiny butterfly we collected last week or this blue stripped pipefish

[SubRosa]

The general idea about BS having no nutritive value is a crock. Their exoskeleton is composed of chitin which is a very complex protein. Animals which normally eat arthropods possess chitinase enzymes which allow them to digest it. I don't know about BS specifically but I can state categorically that a German Cockroach is about 49% protein by weight. Hey when you've got an 8 place Kjehldahl digestion setup and only 7 samples to test.....

John

[ZAPCOnj]

not to sound like a total nub but what is it about brine shrimp that is "said" to be bad?

[jski711]

Yes Newly Hatched Baby Brine shrimp is very nutritious because it still has the yolk sac still attatched which is full of protein. Most people people that say they have little nutritional value are talking about adult brine shrimp. I'm no expert but this is said by many people that raise fish, the idea is to get them off brine shrimp and on to mysis.

Jake

[Witfull]

im sure there are many people that are experts on BS~

baby aretima are very good, but unless you hatch it yourself, all you will get is tasty adults. they serve a purpose, but, there are better nutritional diets for many fish. as Paul said,,,they DO serve a niche, and without them, MOST folks will never be able to keep the more demanding species.

[ZAPCOnj]

Originally Posted by Paul B

Yes I know what everyone thinks of adult brine shrimp and they are probably correct but they do help sometimes to get a fish to eat until it could be weaned onto something else but I am talking about new born shrimp.
There are so many fish out there that we could easily keep if we could provide them a healthy available diet. New born shrimp are the best thing you could give these fish and sometimes the only available food they will eat. Brine eggs are cheap and available all over the country either from a store or on line. As long as they are dry, they last for years.
My reef is full of over 20 small gobies, bleenies and pipefish most of these fish live on nothing else and I would not be able to keep them if I diden't hatch shrimp every day.
You can buy a hatchery or build one for free.
All you need is some sort of black container. I use an old filter box but I also have one I built out of black acrylic. A clear box could also be used but one half would have to be painted black on the outside.
Just put a black divider with a 3/8" hole in the center across the container dividing it into two equal parts.
Fill it with salt water and add some eggs to one side. The next day cover that half and put the thing in the light. The shrimp will swim to the other side in about 15 minutes and you could suck them out. All the eggs will stay on the other side. Simple, I have been doing it for many years.
Have fun.
Paul

do you need to put anything in there for water movement? or any rock rubble or anything?

[BigAl07]

Well said Wit

[lcstorc]

What if anything do you feed the babies or is it just the adults that you can "gut load"
Oh and Zap Most people don't say they are bad just that they are not good. There is not much nutrition in them so you don't want them to be the primary diet unless you have no choice. I have always fed them as an occasional treat and the whole tank loves it when I do.
I like the idea of hatching the babies since they are more nutritious so I would love some more details. Are these the decapsulated ones? For that matter, what is the difference?

[BigAl07]

Zap feeding yoru livestock BS is considered to be comparable to you and I eat plain pop-corn 24/7. Yeah it's food and has a good taste but we're not getting a lot FROM it. It's not AIR but it's not a lot more. It makes a GREAT treat though so it's not BAD

[ZAPCOnj]

ahh.. very interesting. I'll have to share this info with the gf. the chromis are doing pretty well in her tank and she is anxious to get a nicer fish for her tank.

With all the choices of food out there and nearly every LFS telling you to feed the frozen hakari brine it's hard to tell what's right and wrong. from the beginning we had planned on feeding a mix of flake/pellet and frozen to whatever she stocked in her tank. Now that we are moving forward and she's starting to stock the tank i'm finding that the feeding options are so broad it's mind boggling.

Thanks for all the info guys/gals

is frozen mysis shrimp a better (more nutritious) choice instead of Frozen Brine?

(sorry to mini Jack your thread)

[Paul B]

What if anything do you feed the babies or is it just the adults that you can "gut load"

The newborn brine shrimp will not eat, they live on their yoke sack which is why you want to feed them to the fish as soon as they hatch, when they are the healthiest and have the largest yoke sack. If you have them for over a day you can give them either brewers yeast or Selcon. You can taise them on just yeast but it is time consuming and just not worth it unless you are raising something like seahorses which at times in their growth need something like a half grown brine shrimp

[jski711]

Yes mysis is better for normal feedings.

[SubRosa]

It's really a matter of knowing about your individual fishes' requirements. Brine shrimp are just roughage to an algae grazer or you and me, but to a planktivore they're a good source of protein. Alot of these misconceptions come from the fact that most fish in captivity will eat almost anything you give them. The other food with "no nutritional value" are Goldfish. Feed them exclusively to an omnivorous FW fish and that fish will often develop hole in the head disease. Feed them exclusively to a SW piscivore and that fish will grow well and die young with its liver looking like a bowl of Jello from the accumulated fat. Feed them exclusively to a FW piscivore and watch that fish grow and thrive, assuming adequate care in other areas. There's a real trend to want to dumb things down so we don't have to think and unlike many I just refuse to buy into it. It's alot easier to learn a good habit than to unlearn a bad one.

John