Simple advice needed on brine shrimp care

[Yossu]

Once a week, I hatch out a batch of baby brine shrimp to feed my fish. A month or so ago, I decided to see if I could keep some alive as pets. I siphoned off some babies and put them in a plastic cup. They have grown nicely, and are around 1cm long. One of them even looks like it's carrying eggs. Each week, I add a few babies, so the population is of quite mixed size.

I'm interested to know how I can care for them, to keep them alive and healthy as long as possible. I know they only live a few months, but can always add more babies to keep the population up.

So far, I've topped up the water when it has evaporated, but as I'm adding the brine that I hatch the eggs in, I'm worried that I may end up raising the salinity too high, as (if I understand correctly) evaporation leaves most of the mineral content of the water behind. Trouble is that syphoning water off is very difficult, as I can't avoid syphoning shrimp with it. Could do with some advice as to how to keep the water quality up.

I've been feeding them on dried yeast, which makes the water a bit milky. I also tried rubbing two algae pellets together above the water, so algae dust fell in, which would hopefully dissolve to be small enough for them to eat. I have no idea how much I should feed, nor if they need anything else.

Am I doing this right? Any tips you can give to do it better? I've ordered a small aquarium (2 litres) to give them a bigger home, so don't worry about the cramped conditions in the cup. They should be moving to more spacious premises next week.

Any and all advice welcome. Please bear in mind that I'm doing this for entertainment (mine, not the shrimp!), and am not expecting to go into large-scale shrimp farming! My only aim here is to have an interesting tank.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Back in the fold]

I’ve never done it before but I’ve read about how to and it sounds like you’re doing it pretty close to exactly right . You are right to be concerned about the water salinity so maybe a partial water change would be good once a week . This is pretty cool that it’s working out for you and that you did it on a whim . I’m impressed .

 

[Yossu]

@Back in the fold Thanks for the reply. I was wondering about topping up with fresh water, so the overall salinity would remain stable. As I said, regular water changes are hard, as I really don't like watching those wee shrimp go down the sink!

 

[MaloK]

Besides what you are already doing... The only thing you need to have, for a perpetually going colony.

Is a salinity range around 35-40 ppt (specific gravity 1.024-1.028). And you need real marine salt.

 

[Yossu]

And you need real marine salt.

Ooh, didn't think of that. I seem to remember reading that kosher salt was also good, as it doesn't contain the additives that regular salt does. Would that work? Be a lot cheaper than marine salt!

Thanks

 

[MaloK]

Well if you are already using this and if I read correctly some are carrying eggs... I would continue with that. Just try to have a good pulse on the concentration range.

Mix really finely powdered spirulina with you yeast, and lower feeding, the amount of nutrients they need is ridiculous.

You can also add wheat flour, egg yolk, soy bean powder to the diet.

It's very difficult to not pollute the water with time, but a very fine filtration media maintained often does wonders.

 

[Yossu]

Well if you are already using this and if I read correctly some are carrying eggs... I would continue with that. Just try to have a good pulse on the concentration range.

I've only seen one that looks like it's carrying eggs, but then I only have 5 or 6 that are big enough. Most were added more recently. However, even one is hopefully a good sign.

Mix really finely powdered spirulina with you yeast, and lower feeding, the amount of nutrients they need is ridiculous.

I assume you mean ridiculously small? Any idea how I judge it? With fish it's not too hard, as you can see what they eat, but these shrimp are so small that I have no idea what they are eating and what they are leaving.

You can also add wheat flour, egg yolk, soy bean powder to the diet.

Thanks. How about dropping a small piece of algae pellet in and letting is dissolve? They take a while, so shouldn't pollute the water, and would give them some food.

It's very difficult to not pollute the water with time, but a very fine filtration media maintained often does wonders.

I don't know how I would add a filter without sucking up the babies. So far I've been using a large syringe to suck up the debris at the bottom of the cup. Do you recommend a filter? If so, any suggestions at to what? I've never looked at such fine filters.

Thanks again.

 

[MaloK]

I've only seen one that looks like it's carrying eggs, but then I only have 5 or 6 that are big enough. Most were added more recently. However, even one is hopefully a good sign.

If your 5-6 are there every morning and looking good. continue.

I assume you mean ridiculously small? Any idea how I judge it? With fish it's not too hard, as you can see what they eat, but these shrimp are so small that I have no idea what they are eating and what they are leaving.

Yes it's milligrams per weeks.

Thanks. How about dropping a small piece of algae pellet in and letting is dissolve? They take a while, so shouldn't pollute the water, and would give them some food.

Yes, that is a good way to have a constant distribution, but they will eat only from the water layer. not on what is lying on the bottom.

I don't know how I would add a filter without sucking up the babies. So far I've been using a large syringe to suck up the debris at the bottom of the cup. Do you recommend a filter? If so, any suggestions at to what? I've never looked at such fine filters.

Thanks again.

This will never be an environment where everyone survives. But If you can add a powerful enough sponge filter that has the finest sponge you can find in the center of the tank. It will keep food in movement in the water and higher oxygen level. And yes you will have to rinse it often.

Their perfect environment is quite work to emulate.

 

[Yossu]

@MaloK Thanks for the encouragement! I guess I must be doing something right.

I managed to get a photo of the shrimp in question...

Not too clear, but it's hard to get a good shot when they whizz around so fast! Anyway, please tell me what you think, is it carrying eggs?

The new aquarium arrived just now, so I need to get them moved over.

Thanks agian

 

[MaloK]

It's a female alright, but it doesn't seems to carry at the moment. The white pocket you see under her tail is going to get filled with white little spheres that are going to be expelled, they will remain attached to the abdomen and become darker if fertilized.

 

[Yossu]

@MaloK Thanks for the explanation. Looks I'll have to be patient if I want to see babies! Mind you, they are so small that I doubt' I'd see them anyway.

I moved them into the new tank last night. They look even smaller in that, but at least I can see them more clearly.

Thanks again for all the help.

 

[Yossu]

Sadly, when I looked today, I could only see one live shrimp. When I moved them over, there were 5 or 6 decent sized ones, and loads of small ones, ranging from wee babies to ones that were obviously growing.

Not sure what went wrong, as I used the same brine mix that I always use. The only thing I can think of is that it was too cold for them. When they were in the plastic cup, they were on top of my main tank, and were right underneath a large LED light. I wonder if that kept them warm enough. I put the new tank next to the main tank, away from that light.

Anyone know what sort of temperature is good for brine shrimp? I put a thermometer in there earlier, and it looks like the daytime temperature is around 68 degs F.

 

[MaloK]

Minimum 77F max 86F higher temperature accelerates their metabolism. 79-80 is pretty good.

 

[Yossu]

@MaloK Hmm, that probably explains why they died. I guess being under the main tank lamp warmed them more than I thought.

Have to work out a way of warming the small tank. Not sure if they make heaters that small.

Thanks again

 

[MaloK]

I have the 30w from this seller on amazon:

Adjustable Mini Aquarium Heater 0.5-40 Gallon Submersible Small Fish Tank Heater Digital Display Thermostat External Temperature Controller 10W/20W/25W/30W/50W/100W/200W​

Amazon.ca

It's thumb size and passed my quality tests