Brine Shrimp Culturing

[Current Tides]

Hello! I've recently gotten into the realm of culturing live foods. Starting with brine shrimp as my fish and coral seem to enjoy them, and because theyre cheap and nutritious. I've been feeding Zoo Med's spirilina 20, and have read you can use a variety of foods (that I havent tried). but saw someone else using saltwater fish food flakes, so figured id try because i had it lying around. anyone have experiences with growing them out to max size efficiently? i usually only feed them 1-3x/day, but theres always a bit of food on the bottom. They go in whatever temp is ambient, in a 5gal bucket, with an air pump. salt content is 35ppt.

 

[lapin]

I use the Rotigrow Plus from Reed Mariculture for brine shrimp. I buy the frozen block and use it like Phyto in my main tank. Its a bit pricey but can be used for many things.

 

[LeBon]

Not sure why more people arent using brine shrimp,came a bit unfashionable for no apparent reason,.I can see it making a comeback because its efficient.
Small pellets seem more popular than flake.
bought frozen is often high in phosphates

 

[fryman]

Not sure why more people arent using brine shrimp,came a bit unfashionable for no apparent reason,.I can see it making a comeback because its efficient.
Small pellets seem more popular than flake.
bought frozen is often high in phosphates

In the past people were using yeast as feed for artemia (brine shrimp). Artemia fed only yeast do not provide proper nutrition for fish. So I think people got the impression that brine shrimp themselves lack nutrition. I don't think this is true necessarily, although it may depend on what the artemia has eaten and/or what's in their gut at the time.

I'm not really sure about value of artemia raised on flake or pellets but if the food is good for fish on it's own, I'd expect about the same when the fish eats artemia gut filled with the stuff?

In aquaculture, adult artemia used for feed are "gut loaded" with things like selcon or phyto.

 

[rmorris_14]

In the past people were using yeast as feed for artemia (brine shrimp). Artemia fed only yeast do not provide proper nutrition for fish. So I think people got the impression that brine shrimp themselves lack nutrition. I don't think this is true necessarily, although it may depend on what the artemia has eaten and/or what's in their gut at the time.

I'm not really sure about value of artemia raised on flake or pellets but if the food is good for fish on it's own, I'd expect about the same when the fish eats artemia gut filled with the stuff?

In aquaculture, adult artemia used for feed are "gut loaded" with things like selcon or phyto.

Would spirulina be a good alternative to gut load?

 

[fryman]

Would spirulina be a good alternative to gut load?

Better than yeast, I think. But honestly I'm not sure if spirulina is "good" for this purpose. You could try a lit search, probably someone has tried it.

 

[lanpennmm]

I'm doing a term paper about brine shrimp culturing in laboratories (I'm in Biology Major in Brazil, last term) and curiously in this case I still had no success with the purpose, despite using a larger tank (using about 10 gallons), as well as an aerator and a light hood. I still didn't discover what would be the causes of this and I must do another experiment.

The project

A few years ago (starting in 2015), however, I had some success for some time, using a plastic bin with about 15 liters, of aeration, as well as I used aragonite as a substrate. I fed them with dried yeast. Since I never did water changes, it's possible that this was the cause for my culturing collapsing sometime later. I used coarse salt (with iodine), Epsom salt, and baking soda.

In all works related to brine shrimp that I read, I didn't find any evidence that dried yeast wouldn't enough for artemias relating to nutritional value, although I saw that a paper mentioned that the fresh yeast has limited results (an article by Patrick Sorgeloos published in 1989).

However, in my experience, the phytoplankton has spectacular results, with a very fast growth rate and I suspect that also has bigger artemias. The phytoplankton, though, requires very much space to feed since the artemias turn rapidly the green water to translucid, besides the fact that, without a starter, it takes several weeks to start appearing algae.

 

[merkmerk73]

I also suspect it’s lack of water changes that results in a higher death rate

I might see if I can do some water changes from a small bucket every few days and see if that improves survival

 

[Virginia Dave]

I'm doing a term paper about brine shrimp culturing in laboratories (I'm in Biology Major in Brazil, last term) and curiously in this case I still had no success with the purpose, despite using a larger tank (using about 10 gallons), as well as an aerator and a light hood. I still didn't discover what would be the causes of this and I must do another experiment.

The project

A few years ago (starting in 2015), however, I had some success for some time, using a plastic bin with about 15 liters, of aeration, as well as I used aragonite as a substrate. I fed them with dried yeast. Since I never did water changes, it's possible that this was the cause for my culturing collapsing sometime later. I used coarse salt (with iodine), Epsom salt, and baking soda.

In all works related to brine shrimp that I read, I didn't find any evidence that dried yeast wouldn't enough for artemias relating to nutritional value, although I saw that a paper mentioned that the fresh yeast has limited results (an article by Patrick Sorgeloos published in 1989).

However, in my experience, the phytoplankton has spectacular results, with a very fast growth rate and I suspect that also has bigger artemias. The phytoplankton, though, requires very much space to feed since the artemias turn rapidly the green water to translucid, besides the fact that, without a starter, it takes several weeks to start appearing algae.

I did a fair amount of research on Artemia in the late 80's, when the people at the University of Ghent were leading the way (Sorgeloos, Lavens, et al). I don't think the substrate is needed. Your rough salt mix may be the issue, you might try half of the rough mix and cheap aquarium salt for the other half. Low levels of dissolved oxygen are usually the limiting factor in artemia culture. Artemia will eat about anything, Sorgellos and company used micronized rice bran. Martin Moe had success raising them and/or rotifers on V-8 juice. When I cultivate artemia next I'll try using tomato paste that has been diluted with water in a blender. Hope that helps.