Feeding live brine shrimp

[Moe]

OK I just got two bumblebee goby. They are adorable. LFS said that they prefer to eat live brine shrimp. So I bought a bag of them. It's impossible to tell how many but a lot. He said to just drain the water and dump them in. This part went well, all my fish loved them they ate tons. The gobies ate a bunch. Here's my question - after I put them in it seemed like way too many. I try not to overfeed the fish but these guys were eating the shrimp by the dozen. I'm afraid all of my fish are going to explode. Do fish know when to stop or can they eat themselves to death? My second question is some of the shrimp made it to the bottom of the tank and proceeded to dig their way down into the gravel. So now what? Do they just stay there? Will they die in the gravel and foul up my tank? Should I try to vacuum out my gravel tomorrow? Live food - It sounded like a good idea at the time. Now I'm not so sure.

 

[wuvmybetta]

They'll burrow and die.Your pleco will probably clean up, but dead shrimp can do a number on your ammonia so a vac tomorrow is a good idea. Try storing them in a jar with an airstone , you may need to add a little clean salt water, they'll live for a week or two and you can just net out a scoop at feeding time but they probably won't last that long (they don't around here anyway)

hope that helped a little

 

[Abernathy]

Hello.

When I was using live brine shrimp for my puffers, I would simply dump the whole bag in a jar and stick it in the fridge. Then, at feeding time, I used a baster or squirter thingamajig and served lunch a few dozen brine shrimp at a time. No mess, and those brine shrimp stay alive for at least 10 days. Of course, you might think they're dead since they barely are moving, but once warmed up, they get around.

 

[Moe]

I woke up this morning and one of my cardinal tetras was dead. I feel it is definitely connected to the brine shrimp somehow. All the tetras were doing great yesterday. They did eat some of the brine shrimp. I did a 20% water change and vacuumed the gravel. There were some brine shrimp carcasses but now nearly as many as I saw burying themselves in the gravel. I don't think the pleco could have got them because they really went under the gravel. Just when everything was going well I had to add another fish, and one with special dietary requirements as well. I'm going to try feeding the goby frozen food and see if they will eat. If not I think they must go back because I'm afraid to use the live brine shrimp again. Any more advice you guys have would be appreciated.

 

[Alien Anna]

Has you rinsed the brine shrimp in fresh, dechlorinated water? Cardinals really cannot tolerate salt. Also check you didn't over-feed and get a nitrite spike - cardinals are pretty sensitive to that as well.

 

[Moe]

I did not rinse them. I just followed directions from LFS. I just dumped the brine shrimp bag into a net to drain out the water then I put them in the tank. Nitrite and ammonia are at 0. I guess that could have done it. I hate to loose a fish because on negligence on my part.

 

[wuvmybetta]

hmmmm....
that's very strange, I know cardinals are very hard to keep since they're so sensitive, but I would point the finger at the gobies, they ARE new,maybe they brought a disease with them (or they're murderers ), but it also could have been a spike or something

 

[Alien Anna]

hmmmm....
that's very strange, I know cardinals are very hard to keep since they're so sensitive, but I would point the finger at the gobies, they ARE new,maybe they brought a disease with them (or they're murderers ), but it also could have been a spike or something

A nitrite level of 0.1 ppm is plenty high enough to kill cardinals so that must have been it. Oh well - you live and learn

 

[Cian McLiam]

Hi,
Sorry to hear about your cardinals. These two fish seem completely incompatibile to me. Brackish water is usually recommended for Bumblebees, a freind keeps them with Archer fish and has no problems. The soft acidic waters with virtually nil salt that cardinals thrive in (preferably tannin stained and filtered through peat) wont suit the gobies at all. I think!

Ken

 

[Moe]

Woke up this morning and on of my swordtails is dead. I'm attributing it to the brine shrimp thing again. I thought I was ready to do the live food think but I think it is too much trouble. I read all the back posts on feeding live food and found a few where their were unexplained deaths after using live food. I'm scared to risk it again. I've decided to take the goby back. I tested the water params again today and ammonia and nitrite are still 0.
Anna - I think you misread my other post. It said 0. I... not 0.1

 

[Alien Anna]

Anna - I think you misread my other post. It said 0. I... not 0.1

Right! How weird how that came out

As for live food, I feed live food at least once a week and I've never had any problems. But frozen food is almost as good and doesn't go off, so maybe stick to that in future. I must admit, I've never heard of live brineshrimps causing problems - I grow my own.