Freeze Dried Brine Shrimp

[Kyle E.]

I got some Omega One Freeze dried brine shrimp today and was just wondering what your experiences have been with it. Do your fish like it, is it a good food and how is best to feed it? It comes in big chunks and I have small fish so I just kind of broke little bits off of a chunk and dropped it in. They seemed to like it but not super voraciously or anything.

Probably better than just feeding them my slightly stale tetra flakes as I have been doing for the past year.

 

[Fishmanic]

I bought a container of FD Brine Shrimp about a year ago. Still have some left. Honestly, I wouldn't buy it again.

My fish much prefer frozen brine shrimp and go crazy over it. I dissolve a cube in a small container of tank water and feed with a pipette. I feed just as much as they will eat in 30 seconds or so as they will gobble it up. I save the rest in the fridge and feed it the next day and the day after that. You could also cut a cube in half if you don't' have a lot of fish to feed.

 

[ClownLurch]

I bought a container of FD Brine Shrimp about a year ago. Still have some left. Honestly, I wouldn't buy it again.

My fish much prefer frozen brine shrimp and go crazy over it. I dissolve a cube in a small container of tank water and feed with a pipette. I feed just as much as they will eat in 30 seconds or so as they will gobble it up. I save the rest in the fridge and feed it the next day and the day after that. You could also cut a cube in half if you don't' have a lot of fish to feed.

That’s how I feed mine. Dissolve it on radiator atm for a few mins then turkey baste it in. WCMM tried swimming up basterwhen I sucked up tank water and had head stuck yesterday until I squirted him out. Seems ok though.

 

[Essjay]

If it's freeze dried rather than frozen, I would rehydrate it in a bit of tank water for several minutes before putting it in the tank. With freeze dried blood worm, they can expand a lot when they rehydrate and if they do this inside the fish it isn't good for them. I assume that dried brine shrimp could do the same.

 

[FishGuest5123]

I have read that there is less nutritional value in freeze dried food and that they should be used more as a treat than for nutritional purposes.

 

[Kyle E.]

Ahh hmm I see. I am definitely from now on going to rehydrate it before feeding it to them. Sounds like I probably should have gotten frozen but oh well. Thanks for your help guys!

 

[AbbeysDad]

I'm not a fan of freeze dried foods and as mentioned, if you use them, rehydrate before feeding. In addition to live foods like white worms and daphnia, I like a blend of two or three high quality commericial flake foods. I like to blend to better ensure balanced nutrition...and again, I speak of the quality foods, not loaded with grain/grain starch binder/fillers.

 

[Kyle E.]

So what are reasons why you would use flakes over pellets and vice versa? My flakes are running out and I am wondering about trying pellets, but should I stick with flakes? I have a betta, dwarf gourami (yes in the same tank, deal with it), cherry barbs, and guppies.

I have heard that flakes can cause constipation with the betta? With the expanding in the stomach thing right? But all I could find yesterday when I looked were flakes. There were no floating pellets that weren't labeled as cichlid or goldfish pellets. I am sure they would have been too big for my fish.

 

[FishGuest5123]

I use both. Some of my fish prefer pellets and some prefer flakes. I have quite a few tanks and it seems that whatever I started out with in a particular tank is what the fish prefer. I use Omega One and New Life Spectrum. All fish are equally as healthy.

 

[Kyle E.]

Thank you so much for your advice! I fed them the FD brine shrimp again today, this time rehydrating it in a cup with tank water, and they seemed to like it pretty well! I will probably get frozen next time but I think the FD will work just fine for the rest of the container.

I watched a few videos on hatching brine shrimp eggs and I really want to do that now lol. I won't be able to for a while but it looks really fun, and I like the idea of feeding my fish live foods that I know are healthy because I hatched them myself! It looks remarkably easier than I thought it would be as well. Only takes around 1 day to hatch??? Wow.

Now I want to research how to grow them bigger and maybe have them lay eggs and make more..... That might be way more than I could handle right now though lol.

 

[Realpedro]

Thank you so much for your advice! I fed them the FD brine shrimp again today, this time rehydrating it in a cup with tank water, and they seemed to like it pretty well! I will probably get frozen next time but I think the FD will work just fine for the rest of the container.

I watched a few videos on hatching brine shrimp eggs and I really want to do that now lol. I won't be able to for a while but it looks really fun, and I like the idea of feeding my fish live foods that I know are healthy because I hatched them myself! It looks remarkably easier than I thought it would be as well. Only takes around 1 day to hatch??? Wow.

Now I want to research how to grow them bigger and maybe have them lay eggs and make more..... That might be way more than I could handle right now though lol.

I started hatching baby brine shrimp a few months back. Like most things, it's easy once you've done it once or twice, and I think it's well worth the modest cost. All my fish loooove it, but I use it mostly for breeding pairs and fry.

 

[Kyle E.]

At what size would I want to feed them to my fish? Would the betta and DG be able to eat enough babies to fill up, or should I grow them out a little?

Also it actually looks pretty easy to farm them as well. I did some more research and it looks like you could raise them pretty easily and then they just kinda make more babies.

 

[AbbeysDad]

So what are reasons why you would use flakes over pellets and vice versa?

I have mainly smaller fish (angels, corys, neons) and breed/grow out/sell swordtails. They all just seem to take flakes better than pellets. If you're thinking of switching, I'd suggest a small container until you see how it's received.

 

[Realpedro]

At what size would I want to feed them to my fish? Would the betta and DG be able to eat enough babies to fill up, or should I grow them out a little?

Also it actually looks pretty easy to farm them as well. I did some more research and it looks like you could raise them pretty easily and then they just kinda make more babies.

Baby brine shrimp are more like a snack for dwarf gouramis. If you are looking at it as a major dietary staple, I'd use adult brine shrimp.

 

[FishGuest5123]

Adult brine shrimp, IMO, are a hassle to grow out. I tried it and fed spirulena (?) to them. It was a mess and tub began smelling foul. Perhaps if you have a basement to feed them in it could work.