Feeding Advice

[Siamese Fighting]

So many articles explain how to go about obtaining baby brine ship eggs and hatching them and so forth.. but no one has explained to me the process of how you keep the family tree of these eggs going. I just get the impression you'd use up all the eggs and end up having to get more.. this is obviously not the case - so if someone could explain this to me I would much appreciate it.

Also, can I not just buy 2 adult brine shrimp? What is their life span and living arrangements? Anything to reduce food costs is always a bonus. I feed my fish frozen blood worm every other day, and flakes/pellets the rest of the time.

Thanks

 

[BigC]

I have come across this question time and time again and the simple answer is, to culture brineshrimp from nauplii to adulthood involves such a lot of hassle to be sucessful. Yes, you can hatch the cysts and raise to adulthood but to collect the eggs in such numbers to rear successive generations of the shrimp just wouldn't be viable.
http/www.brineshrimpdirect.com/Frequentl...tions-c123.html
Regards
BigC

 

[aquablue]

I used to raise them.
Feed them yeast. That's what I gave mine.

***Oh yeah and dont give them too much. Just a pinch.

 

[Colin_T]

As mentioned by BigC you can raise them but it takes a lot of space and normally isn't worth the effort.
If you do want to raise them use green salt water, (basically seawater that is full of free floating algae). Put the nauplii (baby shrimp) in the green seawater and leave them for a month or so. They can reach full size in about 3 weeks at a temperature of 28C. Cooler water will take longer. They can also be fed on yeast but care must be taken as it can cause the water to go off very quickly. Keep their container lightly aerated. Too much turbulence can knock them around. Not enough and they can suffocate.
When brineshrimp are well fed and the water is kept in a healthy stable condition the adult females give birth to live young. When the conditions deteriorate they start to produce eggs. The eggs are collected, rinsed and dried before they can be hatched out. You can store dry eggs for years in an airtight container that is kept in the fridge.
Male brineshrimp grow a little larger than females and have a funny shaped head. This is caused by a set of claspers, (claws) that are used to hold the females during breeding.
They live for about 2-3 months under good conditions.

Daphnia are easier to keep and breed and will live in freshwater. Put a handful of lawn fertiliser into a container of freshwater and leave it under a tree. The water will go green and soupy and then you add some daphnia. The daphnia produce little batches of live young that can reproduce after 2 weeks. Start a new culture every few months and you will have daphnia most of the year. If the water is kept cool you will have them all year.

Mosquito larvae can be collected from containers of water sitting under trees. The mozzie larvae feed on bacteria that lives on rotting plant matter in the water.

 

[england]

http/www.fishforums.net/content/Tropical...-worm-Cultures/
i find micro worms a great selection for fish and cheap and easy to cult

 

[BigC]

I have heard of aquarists using a childs plastic blowup paddling pools left outside in sunlight with synthetic seawater which in turn, turns green with algae. Into this they turn in their adults and let nature take its course. But as Colin says its a hassle. I was going to try once in the garage with large black water storage vats and strong overhead luminares, pumps etc but keeping the water "sweet" coupled with the extra man hours, it simply wasn't viable.
Again to Colin, You remind me so much of my own garden, buckets everywhere, er indoors thinks I have a problem and I should seek help LOL
Regards
BigC

 

[Colin_T]

Again to Colin, You remind me so much of my own garden, buckets everywhere, er indoors thinks I have a problem and I should seek help LOL
Regards
BigC

I think it goes with the territory. Once you keep fish for a while you start experimenting. Use any spare container to grow your own fish food, rear fry in icecream buckets, and keep fish in storage crates
Once you have kept fish for a while I think most people end up needing some help