Got some brine shrimp to test out...

[Rocky998]

So I bought some frozen brine shrimp at my local pet store to test and then later this night I put some in a container of tank water and shook it up (the shrimp were fairly big). I tried putting them in the fry tank and the fry all came out and even were nipping at the big stuff! Others ignored it and were like: "I'm picky give me the normal stuff" but I didnt do that and made sure to force it down their tiny little throats .
But then I made some more up in a baggy, making sure to crush it before melting it with tank water. And they went crazy. Still biting the big pieces.
I tried it with my adult but Betsy didnt care and did something I've never seen her do... She ate a snail off the glass and I was offended because obviously she was protesting

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Brine shrimp is awesome! I feed it to my clownfish pair and dottyback on occasion. It’s packed with nutrients.

 

[connorlindeman]

I feed brine shrimp every week to my fish. makes them turn into piranhas

 

[Rocky998]

Awesome! Im hoping this will help my fry grow a bit more and also it will be great for my adults!

 

[Ladytcat2003]

I get those frozen brine shrimp for my Betta, Toshi. He loves them. Won't eat anything else not even bloodworms...tried them frozen too. He wasn't having any of it. The only downside to the frozen shrimp is that they sink directly to the bottom of the tank and if you don't get the uneaten it will cause issues with the water parameters. So, I've played around with the idea of hatching my own live brine shrimp. I have actually hatched them before as a child with what was being advertised as "Sea Monkeys". LOL!!! At the time I didn't know what they were. Now years later, I find out that those are my Toshi's favorite food. So hatching them and feeding him live food, he will get that predatory nature some exercise. And in turn, ill have an extra happy little dude. OH, they aren't hard to hatch either. Just make sure you get the "Hatching Brine Eggs", because they have the shell free eggs and they don't hatch. Those are really good for the fry.

 

[Colin_T]

If you are feeding baby fish, you need to buy frozen baby brineshrimp or buy dry brineshrimp eggs and hatch them yourself.

You also want to keep feeding the other foods to the fish whenever you introduce a new food to them so they can get use to the new stuff and keeping eating the old food as well. If you don't then a number of them will usually starve.

You can use a pair of scissors to cut the frozen food up so it's smaller.

Get a number of frozen foods including marine mix if they sell it. Marine mix has prawn, fish and squid in and is 100% protein. Use a pr of scissors to cut it into tiny bits and offer a small amount at a time feed until the babies look like pregnant guppies.

 

[Rocky998]

If you are feeding baby fish, you need to buy frozen baby brineshrimp or buy dry brineshrimp eggs and hatch them yourself.

You also want to keep feeding the other foods to the fish whenever you introduce a new food to them so they can get use to the new stuff and keeping eating the old food as well. If you don't then a number of them will usually starve.

You can use a pair of scissors to cut the frozen food up so it's smaller.

Get a number of frozen foods including marine mix if they sell it. Marine mix has prawn, fish and squid in and is 100% protein. Use a pr of scissors to cut it into tiny bits and offer a small amount at a time feed until the babies look like pregnant guppies.

The fry are loving the brine shrimp and eat until stuffed

 

[Rocky998]

I get those frozen brine shrimp for my Betta, Toshi. He loves them. Won't eat anything else not even bloodworms...tried them frozen too. He wasn't having any of it. The only downside to the frozen shrimp is that they sink directly to the bottom of the tank and if you don't get the uneaten it will cause issues with the water parameters. So, I've played around with the idea of hatching my own live brine shrimp. I have actually hatched them before as a child with what was being advertised as "Sea Monkeys". LOL!!! At the time I didn't know what they were. Now years later, I find out that those are my Toshi's favorite food. So hatching them and feeding him live food, he will get that predatory nature some exercise. And in turn, ill have an extra happy little dude. OH, they aren't hard to hatch either. Just make sure you get the "Hatching Brine Eggs", because they have the shell free eggs and they don't hatch. Those are really good for the fry.

Thats awesome! Also love your bettas name

 

[Lynnzer]

The frozen stuff I buy, I leave in a small container in a couple of ml's of tank water to unfreeze, then I squirt some into the tanks so that they are floating around the tank. I found that once they sink, they stink, unless you have bottom feeders to snap them up.
I much prefer using vinegar eels. They are dead easy to breed in an ongoing culture and are around the same size as baby brineshrimp, or even smaller. They live in the tank for ages, swimming around invisible to the naked eye but the fish see them and love them. At least they don't sink and stink.

 

[Rocky998]

I was always told about how brine shrimp are really good... I don't want to cu!tire stuff anymore. I learned that I suck at it

 

[Back in the fold]

Unless someone disagrees I have to say that the quality of frozen brine shrimp has plummeted . Years ago San Francisco Bay Brand frozen brine shrimp was deep pink almost red and smelled good. That might sound weird that brine shrimp could smell good but it smelled fresh unlike today when OmegaOne is grey and smells old at best. OmegaOne spirulina enriched FBS is a bit better but not by much. I looked at the price of Brine Shrimp Direct's FBS and it was reasonable enough but the shipping price was beyond my budget. I believe theirs is aquacultured right there in Ogden Utah. So, I don't feed FBS anymore and instead rely on live fruitflies, Grindal Worms and dry prepared foods . One prepared food I use is Brine Shrimp Direct's Cool Color flakes manufactured by their proprietary cool cooking methodology. These are flakes that are gently dried rather than baked to a crisp like most. The fish go wild for it and the price is almost a steal. $14 bucks for a full pound.

 

[Rocky998]

Unless someone disagrees I have to say that the quality of frozen brine shrimp has plummeted . Years ago San Francisco Bay Brand frozen brine shrimp was deep pink almost red and smelled good. That might sound weird that brine shrimp could smell good but it smelled fresh unlike today when OmegaOne is grey and smells old at best. OmegaOne spirulina enriched FBS is a bit better but not by much. I looked at the price of Brine Shrimp Direct's FBS and it was reasonable enough but the shipping price was beyond my budget. I believe theirs is aquacultured right there in Ogden Utah. So, I don't feed FBS anymore and instead rely on live fruitflies, Grindal Worms and dry prepared foods . One prepared food I use is Brine Shrimp Direct's Cool Color flakes manufactured by their proprietary cool cooking methodology. These are flakes that are gently dried rather than baked to a crisp like most. The fish go wild for it and the price is almost a steal. $14 bucks for a full pound.

My fish are loving the FB frozen shrimp!... Its better quality than the dry pellets thats for sure

 

[TwoTankAmin]

For most fish the best food is live. Some want meat, some whant plants, some want algae and many will eat a mix. In many cases the next best alternative is something frozen or something with prime ingredients that are usually pretty pricey in small amounts.

However, there is an issue with live brine that most of us in the hobby never thing about. Brine shrimp are small. Yhey grow fast and molt a bunch. If one knows the following it will mean your fish actually get decent nutrition from brine shrimp and not just a candy type value,

1. If you hatch BBS you need to feed them as soon as possible afyer they hatch. All the nutritional value they have they will use to grow and do their first molt in a matter of hours. As they grow they feed and stock up on nutritious value which they then use and deplete. When feeding older brine they should be gut loaded in advance.

Many years ago on another forum I hade an argument with another member about the above. I had quoted an article written by a marine biologist on foods including an extensive piece on Brine shrimp. He mostly worked with SW things and was living in Hawaii. I contacted him via email and we went back and forth a number of times. I learned a fair amount from him. Here is the article. Bear in mind SW fish have some different nutrtional needs than FW. As a result adult brine fed to them have been fed a diet which includes such things which are not needed by FW fish. Aside from that, all other things are pretty much the same for both types of fish.

Aquarium Invertebrates: Nutritional Value Of Live Foods For The Coral Reef Aquarium, Part 2 by Rob Toonen | Jan 15, 2004 |
Continuing on from where I left off last time, we now move onto the fourth potential live food source, brine shrimp… 4) Brine Shrimp

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Use a pr of scissors to cut it into tiny bits and offer a small amount at a time feed until the babies look like pregnant guppies.

I know exactly what you mean, but the turn of phrase still made me laugh!

I was always told about how brine shrimp are really good... I don't want to cu!tire stuff anymore. I learned that I suck at it

What did you try culturing? It makes me a bit nervous too, but I keep a culture of live microworms going now, since I have fish small enough to eat them always (pygmy cories) and my bronzes often spawn unexpectedly, so having some on hand is useful for me. Stupidly easy to keep a culture of this stuff, all you need to know how to do is mix porridge oats with water - that's it! Couple of small plastic takeaway containers with holes pierced in the lids, a pinch of yeast, which is cheap and available in the baking isle, and you can keep a culture going at all times.


I hope this isn't hijacking, and sorry if it is, Rocky! But might be useful info for you too - @Colin_T and @TwoTankAmin I'd really like to learn how to keep a culture of either BBS or maybe daphnia going - but have to admit that I get nervous about it, which is probably silly! I wouldn't need a huge amount, only have two tanks now, but do have a lot of young cory babies still, and always have pygmy cories, so would want a culture I could keep going for a long while, even if I don't use it every day, you know? So maybe daphnia would make more sense than BBS?

I do have a pond outside where I've found live bloodworms! But wouldn't feed anything from the pond directly to the tanks. Hopefully I could find daphnia too now in summer. But I know @Colin_T that I've seen you talk before about getting an initial culture from a pond, then cultivating it for a few generations to make sure it's clean/pest free? Should I just try it and stop being precious about it?

 

[Rocky998]

I know exactly what you mean, but the turn of phrase still made me laugh!

What did you try culturing? It makes me a bit nervous too, but I keep a culture of live microworms going now, since I have fish small enough to eat them always (pygmy cories) and my bronzes often spawn unexpectedly, so having some on hand is useful for me. Stupidly easy to keep a culture of this stuff, all you need to know how to do is mix porridge oats with water - that's it! Couple of small plastic takeaway containers with holes pierced in the lids, a pinch of yeast, which is cheap and available in the baking isle, and you can keep a culture going at all times.


I hope this isn't hijacking, and sorry if it is, Rocky! But might be useful info for you too - @Colin_T and @TwoTankAmin I'd really like to learn how to keep a culture of either BBS or maybe daphnia going - but have to admit that I get nervous about it, which is probably silly! I wouldn't need a huge amount, only have two tanks now, but do have a lot of young cory babies still, and always have pygmy cories, so would want a culture I could keep going for a long while, even if I don't use it every day, you know? So maybe daphnia would make more sense than BBS?

I do have a pond outside where I've found live bloodworms! But wouldn't feed anything from the pond directly to the tanks. Hopefully I could find daphnia too now in summer. But I know @Colin_T that I've seen you talk before about getting an initial culture from a pond, then cultivating it for a few generations to make sure it's clean/pest free? Should I just try it and stop being precious about it?

I tried culturing infusoria which worked really well the first time... But the second time it turned green soooo... That didnt go well.
Really? Oats and yeast? How long should it sit for? How much do I use and how much do I feed? Where do I keep it?... Ive never heard this method ever.

Dont worry @AdoraBelle Dearheart, its not hijacking the thread. It was on subject and its a place for other people with related questions to learn as well!