Under used food

[Paul B]

I would like to start a thread about another under used food source. New born brine shrimp. These cheap, easy to hatch foods about the only food available for small fish like Pipefish, dwarf seahorses, small gobies and cling fish. I see people buying these fish all the time and have no Idea how to hatch shrimp.
For about $5.00 you can hatch shrimp every day for a couple of months. These fish really will not live long without this food. You can of course buy frozen brine but they rot almost immediately and the types of fish that need this type of food really need it constantly or at least more than a few bites. Those fish are designed like mandarins to eat all day. I know people say thair tank is full of pods and thats great but pods are for the most part crawling animals, many fish need to catch their prey in the water column.
I have been hatching baby brine for about 40 years and have designed a hatchery that seperates the eggs, you can also buy them at a LFS.
You don't want the egg shells in your tank because they will float around forever.
The shrimp take about 36 hours to hatch depending on the temperature and should be fed the day they hatch but they can be kept if you feed them either Selcon or any commercially available coral food. The shrimp do not eat the first day but they are filter feeders from then on. My pipefish have been spawning for a couple of years on shrimp and it also keeps the smaller gobies in breeding condition. I also would not be able to keep cling fish without the shrimp. Even the bangai cardinals eat them although I don't know how they even see them.
Many corals also will eat baby brine shrimp.
Paul

 

[scumonkey]

Good heads up Paul.
I'm another old timer here that uses newly hatched Brine shrimp EVERYDAY!!!
-I use a hatchery from Brine shrimp direct that needs no air stones and you don't have to seperate the egg shells- it does it for you!
http://www.brineshrimpdirect.com/c1/c9/Hatchery-Dish-p183.html
This is my most valuable feeding tool (way better than those upside down bottles with air lines)!
I give credit to the use of the baby brine for helping me keep my Crinoid alive for the past 9 months.
And for being able to keep my red tailed Tamarin Wrasse FAT
I buy the best grade eggs and, they hatch in less than 24 hours.
I keep two hatcheries going so I have baby shrimp swarms to feed my tank twice a day.
You can see the LPS and gorgs in my tank gobble them up, as the swarm glides by- the fish go nuts!
If you use them before they are 6 hours old they already have a rich supply of vitamins in their yolk sac. After a few hours you will have to "enrich" them Like Paul said with Selcon or something.
The best part is...since they are alive, they will not contribute nitrates, or phosphates to your tank like other prepared foods do!

Nice Pics! Thank you for sharing.

 

[Paul B]

Scumonkey thats why we are Old Timers, because we hatch shrimp and feed our animals what they need to eat.
My homemade hatchery also seperates the shells.
Take care.
Paul

 

[basiab]

Most consider brine shrimp as being a very poor nutrient. But they have to be eaten within about 8 hours (while they still have their orange color/yolk sac) otherwise you have to give them the suplements as you mentioned. I had dwarf seahorses and that is all they live on. I now have a small tank of fish and I still give them freshly hatched BS a couple times a week. In the summer they hatch as fast as 12 hours and in the winter 24 to 36. I have a clown goby like in your picture, a spotted cardinal, neon goby and royal gramma. And they all go crazy when I feed them BS. I use a turkey baster and the gramma comes up to the tip with his mouth wide open, he just can not get enough. The cardinal eventualy comes there and tries to catch a large group as they come out of the baster. The gobies just like to chase them all over the place as does the gramma once the baster is empty. As tiny as the BS are the fish seem to enjoy the chase even the gramma who is fairly large.

 

[meschaefer]

I used to have a breeding pair of Bangai Cardinals, and I was able to succefully raise the young by feeding them freshly hatched brine shrimp.

 

[Bob 1000]

I tried this a couple of times, but never knew the benefits... Now I think this will become a staple in my system.... Never thought about them being alive so there will be no phosphates added, unlike frozen..But I use frozen once a month and am all but using pellets now..

 

[Paul B]

Matt I have a batch of baby cardinals on the way which I was not thinking of raising. If I can catch some out of my reef I will raise them since I hatch brine every day anyway.

 

[Awibrandy]

Thank you Paul, and Eric for the link!! You guys are the best!:hug:

 

[sweetsop]

This is great! I would like to try my hand at hatching baby brine shrimp, please advise how or what I need to get to start this.

Thanks!

 

[scumonkey]

please advise how or what I need to get to start this.

http://www.brineshrimpdirect.com/c1/...Dish-p183.html

 

[Paul B]

You can easily build a hatchery that seperates the shrimp from the shells and provides shrimp about every day and a half.
Just make, get or steal a container. I use a plexiglass box about the shape of a milk carton. It is used laying down and there is a barrier between the two sides. One side is black and the other side is clear or white. There is also a black cover needed on the black side. There is a 3/8" hole in the barrier.
The eggs are put into the black side and the entire thing is filled with seawater. Old tankwater will do. When the eggs hatch the shrimp will swim to the light or clear side which should be in a light area. Close the hole and siphon out the shrimp. Dump out the water on the black side with the shells. Simple.
Paul

 

[Dmitry]

Paul,

Your pipefish breed?? You're probably about one of only 2 people in the US who breed pipefish. What do you do with the off-spring?

 

[Paul B]

I have never raised the fry of the bluestripped pipefish. They are in a 100 gallon reef and the fry are too small to see, much less catch. I could catch the male and transfer him to a breeding tank to have the live babies but I don't yet have the time for that.
I will retire in 15 weeks (who'se counting?) maybe then I will try to raise some.
Paul

 

[Dmitry]

Okay, so I just fed my tank the first ever baby brine shrimp batch.... I'm not sure of the results. The shrimp are so small. My Clowns are having a good time chasing them around and a Firefish is eating also. But the tiny Pigmy Angel (he's smaller than the Clowns) seems oblivious. As is the Bicolor Blenny. The Skunk Shrimp doesn't seem to be aware of anything. I think my gorg is happy - all of his polyps are open; I hope he's catching some!

I used that dish from brinshrimpdirect and it really is as easy as it sounds. Mine hatched in about 12 hours.

 

[Paul B]

I feed them to my tank just about every day. I have a bunch of various gobies and I doubt I could keep them without the addition of baby brine. It seems to be all some of them eat. In the sea, tiny creatures is all that they eat and they should be available as much as possable
Paul

 

[h20 freak]

Matt I have a batch of baby cardinals on the way which I was not thinking of raising. If I can catch some out of my reef I will raise them since I hatch brine every day anyway.

You have a breeding pair of bangis?Are they for sale?tank-bred bangis are hard to come by.....

 

[Paul B]

My Cardinals are not for sale and I don't have time right not to try to raise the fry.
They are very easy to breed if you have a pair and if you feed them live black worms almost every day

 

[dreko]

My first batch of shrimp hatched yesterday too... wow they are small!
I bought the hatchery from the posted link, very easy...
Now I just wait to see the results...

 

[dennis]

What is the lifespan of a brine shrimp in a main tank if it escapes being eaten?

 

[Paul B]

A brine shrimp will most likely be caught in a filter or possibly die in an ozonizer. They usually will not live more than a couple of days because of lack of food. They are tiny and really hard to follow them for a few days. If there is no filters or predators in the tank and they are supplied with food they will grow into fine looking adults, :flirt: