Brine shrimp babes

[kirstyflash]

Batch 4: Day 9.
Jar B had no live shrimp today. Poured it thru the seiv to see if there was anything I could put in the tank, but nothing moved, so it’s been washed out. The other three have quite a lot but I am really happy with A&C, fed with live phyto and sea monkey food. These two show signs of breeding as there are shrimp of different sizes. I have been topping up the jars with RO as water has been evaporating. I’m planning on splitting A into jar B to keep the culture of the live phyto with the shrimp and seeing how they go with breeding. I have found that this variety of brine shrimp is not the same as the ones you get in sea monkey sets as they are much smaller (sea monkeys grow up to 20mm, these are lucky to be 3mm) but still a good feed for the fishies. Going to have to research the difference as I would like some bigger food for them too.

 

[kirstyflash]

Batch 4: Day 10.
There weren’t much left alive in jars c and d today so decided to seiv them and dose what I could to the tank. There was a lot of detritus and not many shrimp. The bristle worms had a field day and it freaked the **** out of hubby (he hates bristle worms)

 

[NakiFantaki]

Try decapsulated eggs! Way easier!!

 

[NakiFantaki]

Do scooters and mandarins eat brine shrimp?

 

[kirstyflash]

Try decapsulated eggs! Way easier!!

For hatching or feeding?

 

[kirstyflash]

Do scooters and mandarins eat brine shrimp?

The mandarin does and my male scooter but not my female scooter

 

[Katrina71]

Try decapsulated eggs! Way easier!!

Could you link the exact ones to get?

 

[kirstyflash]

Could you link the exact ones to get?

+1

 

[NakiFantaki]

For hatching

 

[NakiFantaki]

Seahorsescoure.com

 

[kirstyflash]

Seahorsescoure.com

I can’t search it for some reason

 

[kirstyflash]

Batch 4: Day 18. Sorry for being absent, been working super hard and the kids are now on school holidays so also been spending time with them out in the garden.
So I have been popping my head in on the last remaining brine shrimp jar daily. Honestly I have been neglecting it, but I think it is the best thing I have done! Hubby needed the air pump for his rotifers which he has going in a drum in the shed, so my brine has gone without. They seem to be getting oxygen from the live phyto growing in the jar, which is also sustaining them food wise. They are all different sizes, meaning they are breeding on their own also. They have grown significantly bigger also, some 10mm in length. The light has been on 24/7 to keep the phyto going too. And they are very active. It has been an amazing experiment. I’m going to keep these guys going and maybe split the jar into the other three later down the track.

 

[Katrina71]

Those are big!

 

[kirstyflash]

Those are big!

That’s what she said! Lol!
This is the biggest I have seen them grow.

 

[Katrina71]

That’s what she said! Lol!
This is the biggest I have seen them grow.

Did you change anything?

 

[kirstyflash]

Did you change anything?

The live phyto, no air pump and just left them to do their thing.

 

[kirstyflash]

Batch 4: Day 21. Yesterday I split the jar into 3 and topped up with salt water. Also added more live phyto to them. This way there is more room for them to grow out and breed. Going to do 50% water changes from tomorrow and dose the shrimp I get out into the 40g dt, as the dragonettes and a clown have gone back in.
With the shrimp, I can distinctively see two genders. Females are brown and males are grey. I have witnessed them mating too. The male grabs on to the female about half way down and swims with her. After a while she gives him the flick....literally. Some are now over 15mm, possibly up to 20mm. The last empty jar I just filled with salt water and added some eggs, which will be seived and added to the main tank in a couple of days.

 

[Mikedawg]

Could you link the exact ones to get?

Several public aquariums use a commercial version of this: https://reefbuilders.com/2013/04/30/hands-ocean-nutrition-separt-artemia-system/# or https://www.primo.net.au/shop/Artemia/sep-art-gsl-magnetic-artemia-cystsand
Once the shells are removed using a Sep Art magnet device, feed outs can be enriched with Algamac and S.presso.

 

[kirstyflash]

Batch 4: Day 27
Some of the adults have started to die, but really only a tiny percentage of what there are. I have decided that I will do 50% water changes weekly and dose what I seiv from that to the tanks. And if there isn’t much left in the jars I’ll top them with a tiny pinch of eggs. Feeding them with live phyto and if the water is too clear then I also feed the sea monkey food too. Light is on 24/7 for now, which is helping the phyto grow. And encourages the eggs to hatch. In the photos you can see the eggsac attached to the females