You can use rock salt for them. Just make the water up at least 24 hours before using it so all the salt can dissolve. Use a hydrometer to measure the salinity (salt level).
Make sure there is an air operated sponge filter on the tank, but it doesn't have to bubble away heaps. Any ammonia produced in the water will kill the brineshrimp due to the high pH of salt water (pH around 8.5). An established biological filter is required to keep ammonia levels at 0ppm otherwise you will lose the brineshrimp.
Don't add the eggs to the rearing tank because they rot and cause ammonia problems. Use an eye dropper to suck the nauplii out of the hatching container and move them to the rearing tank.
Put a piece of gladwrap (plastic lunch wrap) or just some clear plastic on the top of the tank to reduce evaporation. Tape it onto the glass. Or get a coverglass for the tank. Fluctuating salinity can kill the nauplii (baby brineshrimp).
Adult rainbowfish will eat newly hatched brineshrimp once they know they are there.
You can feed them on green water and that way you have less ammonia issues and don't pollute the water by adding things to it.
The following link has information on culturing green water. You can make it with fresh or salt water, depending on the species of organisms you are culturing. It's the same process for fresh or salt water, you just use fresh water for freshwater fish, and salt water for saltwater fish (or brineshrimp).
STARTING OUT Make sure you have a pair, (1 male + 1 female). There is nothing worse than spending your hard-earned dollars buying a couple of fish to try and breed and ending up with a pair of fish of the same sex. Let's face it, to reproduce fish you need a male and a female. Two males won't do...
www.fishforums.net
