sea monkies/brine shrimp

[soritan]

I want to start raising some brine shrimp for my Sori to eat, I figure it'll especially come in handy when I begin introducing ADFs to my new tank. I've read several how tos on the forum (and elsewhere), but I was wondering.... is it also possible to buy a sea monkey kit and use that?

*feels slightly stupid, now*

I never see it mentioned, anywhere, although most people do at least mention once that brine shrimp generally equals sea monkies. Is there something bad for my betta in the sea monkey kit? Is the stuff they sell at the LPS that greatly superior, although it's marked "not intended to raise brine shrimp with"?

 

[disucs buff]

yes, brine shrimp = sea monkeys

probably buy a better and cheaper kit at you LFS, just look for artemia, or brine shrimp. good luck!

 

[Idolz]

Sea monkey kits usually have only a small amount of brine shrimp eggs. If you wanted to continually hatch them, you should get a vile full of eggs. You will need to get some aquarium salt as well.

I think baby brine shrimp are too small for the larger bettas to want to eat. They are usually hatched for fish fry. I hear it's really hard to raise brine shrimp.

 

[soritan]

Actually, I already looked at my local pet store. They only sell little pouches that contain both conditioner and cycts, and they're all marked "not meant to raise adult sea monkies", and instruct you to use a sawed off 1 litre soda bottle as the tank, with an air stone. I thought maybe buying a kit from a kid's store or something might be better for raising the shrimp to adult size (it's healthier for bettas to eat adults, not erm, 'hatchlings', right?), as it comes with a little tank, a little water conditioner, and a little aerator.

I did purchase a little pouch from the LPS, the one that's marked "not meant to raise adult brine shrimp", but I haven't tried it yet.

Adult shrimp are healthier for bettas to eat, right? Baby brine shrimp are more or less fattening, with little protein?

 

[soritan]

Sea monkey kits usually have only a small amount of brine shrimp eggs. If you wanted to continually hatch them, you should get a vile full of eggs. You will need to get some aquarium salt as well.

I think baby brine shrimp are too small for the larger bettas to want to eat. They are usually hatched for fish fry. I hear it's really hard to raise brine shrimp.

I've read several different opinions on the matter, but I figured it was worth a shot. The kits seemed to be actually designed to keep live adults, so I wondered if it was more practical for someone like me - who is not raising little bettas - instead of a whole hatchery system.

 

[red_fish_blue_fish]

The pet stores by my house sell them by the tbsp. However, I don''t know how they do it in your area. They are so easy to raise. They breed like rabbits. you can hardly see the babies at first. Look like Brine Shrimp waste till they get bigger. There are plenty of sites online you can order them vial USPS. Just do a Google or Yahoo search on it. type in Buying Brine shrimp...or just type in Sea Monkeys. Good luck!

 

[soritan]

Yeah, like I said, I already looked at my local pet store, but they only sold this packet of brine shrimp labeled "not intended to raise adult brine shrimp", and that was it. I have done a fair amount of research online, as I am a habitual researcher, I as just wondering if maybe it'd be simpler to buy a sea monkey kit versus buying all the ingredients seperately.

Generally, buying all the ingredients sepearately would have a high start up cost, and a low maintainance cost. But the kits (the sea monkey kits), would have a relatively low start up cost, and a high maintainence cost.

At the moment, I can't afford to pay a large amount of money for start up, so I was kinda hoping that I could possibly buy a 'sea monkey kit', and use that to *begin* raising live brine shrimp for my Betta.

Later, when I have a more stable cash flow situation, I would like to invest in a proper setup, I was just wondering if the kits would be alright in the meantime.


Ah, well. I suppose it'd be for the best, if I simply waited until I had more money, before I started doing all this fancy stuff for my betta. I'm just one of those 'right now' kinda people.