Brine shrimp disappeared overnight

[dcom]

Hi guys,
I have a hang on the back sump for my nano to which I've added live shrimp (adults) with the idea of having a constant supply to my seahorses and mandarins.
I think thats a good idea, but it hasn't work because all (or almost all) the shrimp died overnight.
I have tried several times modifying little things so i know they are not going to the main tank during the night, also, it is not because of predators in the sump and it is not for lack of phytoplancton.
So what can it be?

Do live shrimp require different salinity and/or temperature for long term survival?
The pump in the sump runs slow... could it be that the water in the sumps requires more oxygen or a strongest flow?

Thanks in advance

 

[tdileo]

Brine shrimp don't really last in aquariums. Your best bet is to just have a hatchery going. However mysis shrimp and copepods will be a food source for your seahorses and will keep their own population up in the average tank.

 

[Daddy-o]

Brine shrimp have little nutritional value and seahorses fed solely on artemia (brine shrimp) will starve to death over time.

 

[dcom]

I do have an artemia hatchery to feed my fish too, just wanted to also have constant production of brine without the hatching.

- Could the artemia reproduce and have a stable population if i start adding them to the sump instead of the main tank?
Ive read the adult artemia eats the younger artemia fry and post are usually very discouraging post about this idea with artemia so I havent even tried

Dont know if anyone has been succesful yet on keeping the artemia population alive longterm in the sump.

 

[Greybeard]

1st, a disclaimer.... My seahorse knowledge is more than a decade old. Long ago, I was a fairly serious seahorse hobbyist, and was even the primary maintainer of Seahorse.org... but that was _long ago_

Brine shrimp as an enticement... a live food source for them to hunt between feedings, is not a bad idea. Google in tank brine shrimp hatchery This kind of device will give you a steady stream of newly hatched brine shrimp, with minimal labor.

tdileo mentioned mysis and copepods... this is the right answer. If you can get a breeding population of some of the smaller species of mysid and gammarus shrimp growing... usually in a refugeum, you'll have excellent quality 'browse' for your horses.

That still won't eliminate the need for periodic feedings with frozen PE mysis, or something along those lines. I always had my best results with PE mysis and Selcon.

I didn't see what kind of seahorses you're housing... the above applies mainly to larger species... kuda, erectus, reidi... If you've got dwarf horses (zosterae), then enriched brine shrimp as a primary food is (or used to be) acceptable. They just won't eat frozen mysis.

Beautiful, interesting, engaging... Seahorses are incredible animals. I made up my mind about 15 years ago that these creatures were better left in the oceans. A few rounds with GBD taking out an entire herd brought me to that decision. I feel the same way about Cephalopods... Incredible creatures, but even an 'expert' keeper can loose them for seemingly no reason. Even if you're successful, you get what, 2 years at the outside? Nope. I don't do Great Danes either

 

[dcom]

Brine shrimp as an enticement... a live food source for them to hunt between feedings, is not a bad idea.

Thanks for your reply Greybeard.
Copepods have been breeding longterm in my tank, then maybe I should focus on trying to maintain a stable mysid population as you mentioned.
I dont know about the different species of mysids and which are smaller but will take a look into that and start adding those to the sump.
Hopefully they will start to breed and populate.