Brine shrimp

[Tenko]

I usually feed my fish some live bloodworms every other day, as well as flakes and pellets, but the quality of them at my lfs has been a bit poor lately so I haven't got them for a few weeks.

This week one of my angels hasn't been eating much, it seems that flakes, pellets and even freeze-dried bloodworms aren't good enough. I'm a bit concerned so thought I'd get some live food, but the lfs didn't get a delivery this week. Instead, I bought some brine shrimp, no bigger than the bloodworms I'd usually buy.

As the name suggests, I assume they are in salty water and therefore it's not advisable to them add directly to my tank. Is this correct? Would you suggest rinsing them under the tap and putting them in dechlorinated tap water before adding? If so would this kill the shrimp? Any suggestions?

 

[csr mel]

did you buy the brine shrimp live?

i believe they can live for around 5 hours in fresh water, so dont worry about rensing them off. i have been raising my own brine shrimp from eggs for my platy fry. every 2 hours or so i put in about 200 of them, they are gone in like 30 seconds :\

 

[NinjaSmurf]

Brine shrimp can live in freshwater if I'm not mistaken and you don't need to rinse them. My uncle once put some seamonkey eggs (brine shrimp) in a very shallow small pond that dries up every year at our house. The next year the pond was filled with them. I've kept them in fresh water forever and my bettas always loved them.

 

[Tenko]

Thanks.

I'll put some in dechlorinated water a few hours before I feed the fish.

How easy are they to raise?

 

[csr mel]

i think it is pretty easy. i am very new to fish in general and raising brine shrimp. you can buy a kit from the fish store which is a small box with 2 packets of brine shrimp and salt premixed. you just add water and wait 24 hours. it cost me like $9 and is going strong for 4 days now and i havent even used the second packet of brine shrimp.

i have heard that putting a bubbler in with the brine shrimp helps them somehow, so i did this and it seems as though i am getting more of them. you also need to feed them once in a while, what i do is dust off the top of furnature and sprinkle a little dust into the water. brine shrimp do not care what they eat apparently.
the kit makes it very easy to catch them also. it is a clever design.

 

[chip_ab22]

brine shrimp can live for a while in fresh water. i always gently rinse in fresh water before feeding to my fish. you can also buy a hatchery (5 litre capacity ) or a 1 gallon tank to raise the brine so they are bigger and newly hatched brine are good for fry livebearers and for slightly older fry of egglayers. keep in salt water ( i use 32g salt per 1 litre of water ). Gently airate the water and feed after three days. i buy liquizell and brine shrimp food ( liquid ) and they should be adult in about a fortnight. good luck.