shiuh Posted October 11, 2004 Report Share Posted October 11, 2004 anyone knows where i can purchase brine shrimp? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wok Posted October 11, 2004 Report Share Posted October 11, 2004 go to your lfs and buy some eggs and raise them yourself. you can buy frozen brineshrimp as well from your lfs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shiuh Posted October 12, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 12, 2004 well, i just buy them today... having problem hatching them though... any help available? can table salt be used as coarse salt instead? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wok Posted October 12, 2004 Report Share Posted October 12, 2004 from what i have seen from the other postings about brineshrimp you cannot use normal table salt. your lfs has salt that u use in your aquarium. you will need a constant bubbling to hatch the shrimp. the eggs arent supposed to settle down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shiuh Posted October 12, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 12, 2004 wow...this is actually harder than i thought...have to run another trip to petstore...(i've asked the petstore about normal salt, they have no idea...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted October 12, 2004 Report Share Posted October 12, 2004 Hi shiuh, Welcome to the NZ Fishroom There are many opinions on the type of salt to use, but I personally use the "Sea Salt" that is available cheaply from any supermarket. Many table salts contain Iodine, which is not good for your tank mates. Hatching... There's heaps of info on the net, but basically you need (for small quantities).. a Coke bottle that has had the bottom removed. Drill a hole in the cap so that you can force an airline in without leaks. You can fit an airstone to this on the inside, but it works without, but is somewhat quieter with the stone fitted. Fill to about 3/4 full with water, and add around two tablespoons of sea salt. Add around a teaspoon full of "Baking Soda".. as this will assist the hatching. Set the air running so that the salt.. soda.. and water are mixed thoroughly. Add around 1/4 to 1/2 a level teaspoon of the Brine Shrimp Eggs and adjust the air to keep them in suspension... but not so they are forced out of the water... (experiment a little) Suspend the bottle in a tank if possible so that the temp remains constant, or in a warm place if you prefer. At around 80F.. the eggs will hatch in around 12 to 18hrs... whereas cooler temps will take a bit longer. Harvesting.... Stop the air and allow the eggs to settle for about ten mins. The live baby shrimp will be attracted to light, so you can "draw" them towards a light and siphon them off into a fine mesh sieve. Some advise rinsing them under clean water at this point, but I personally don't bother. Any probs... just let us know. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shiuh Posted October 12, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 12, 2004 many thanks Pegasus!! i will try tonite and let you know if i run into anymore problems Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shiuh Posted October 12, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 12, 2004 oh yea...one more question,can sea salt be obtained at local supermarket like newworld, pak n save, woolworth etc? what would the brand name be? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted October 12, 2004 Report Share Posted October 12, 2004 It sure can be purchased there. Just look in the area where the baking and such are kept. It will say "Sea Salt" in bold writing on the front. "Rock Salt" works as well... but is a bit harder to get. What fish have you got...? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shiuh Posted October 12, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 12, 2004 oh okay.. i will that... i got community tank of neons, platties, angel fish, siamese fighter, black widow and algae eater. my platy just had babies, i want to feed the fry live shrimps to enhance the growth you see.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke* Posted October 12, 2004 Report Share Posted October 12, 2004 They will certainly delight in the taste of fresh baby brine shrimp Just don't feed them that too much as i hear it can act as a laxative. Feed them some crushed up flake for variety. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shiuh Posted October 13, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2004 the shrimps hatched today...i ended up gettin them up together with hatched eggs. any idea on how to filter them cleanly? they sure are tiny huh? how can i grow them up? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brianemone Posted October 13, 2004 Report Share Posted October 13, 2004 do they breed when hatched and matured? or do you constantly need to hatch new ones? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shiuh Posted October 13, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2004 im not sure..its my first attempt.. but i heard you can grow them and breed them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted October 13, 2004 Report Share Posted October 13, 2004 the shrimps hatched today...i ended up gettin them up together with hatched eggs. any idea on how to filter them cleanly? Good to hear you got some results If you had done as per the instructions I wrote... then you should have no shells in with the shrimp. The newly hatched shrimp are attracted to light... so once everything has settled and the shrimp have congregated in one area.. you siphon them off into a sieve with a piece of airline tubing. Hi Brian... You ask... do they breed when hatched and matured? or do you constantly need to hatch new ones? Yes... you can get the shrimp to grow to maturity and start to produce their own eggs... but not with the "Coke Bottle" method Details are here on this site somewhere if you search for Brine Shrimp.... otherwise visit my site and look under "All About Live Foods" The addy is below. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shiuh Posted October 13, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2004 i got some bad news here....i feed the baby fry with the shrimps,unhatched eggs and seasalt water mix. its killing my baby platties...died one by one... i think is the seasalt water mix that kills my fish??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shiuh Posted October 13, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2004 i got some bad news here....i feed the baby fry with the shrimps,unhatched eggs and seasalt water mix. its killing my baby platties...died one by one... i think is the seasalt water mix that kills my fish??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Posted October 13, 2004 Report Share Posted October 13, 2004 You sieve the BBS from the hatching mix before you feed them the hatched shrimp. Are you sure that that is what killed them?? I've raised thousands of baby fish on BBS and don't attribute any of their deaths to that. Alan 104 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shiuh Posted October 14, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2004 i have no idea...all my baby fish dead and now only one left...i guess it wont hold much longer... i think the baby ate the unhatched eggs and died...i have problem sieving! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shiuh Posted October 14, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2004 I think i didnt give BBS a quick rinse in fresh water before feeding them to the fish..tats why its killing them?(tat will be hard to do though :-? ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted October 14, 2004 Report Share Posted October 14, 2004 When I fed BBS to my fish I siphoned them out using a turkeybaster and squirted them into a white (so I could see them) hankie cupped over a jar. The salty water went straight through leaving the eggs which I flushed with warm fresh water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shiuh Posted October 14, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2004 by warm fresh water do you mean warm tap water? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted October 14, 2004 Report Share Posted October 14, 2004 Hi shiuh, I... like many other millions of hobbyists... have fed countless millions of both baby brine shrimp and adult shrimps to our fish for decades... without any ill effects. It is a RECOGNISED food among breeders worldwide.. so the BBS did NOT kill your fish, and it is highly unlikely that the husks or shells would have either, for the fish would have eaten the BBS (baby brine shrimp) in preference to the shells. Platies can stand certain levels of salt... but hopefully you didn't pour the whole concoction in there IE: Salt mix plus eggs and shells. The thing at this point is NOT to be disheartened... as your fish will soon produce more young.. and we all learn by the mistakes we make. Let's just clarify what you were SUPPOSED to do,... Once the shrimp had hatched the air should have been stopped in the hatcher and the shrimp and shells allowed to seperate. The BBS are easily visible, and are the pink mass that you can see bobbing around in jerky movements. At this point, a light will attract them to one area where they will congregate enmass. Using a container to collect the water you are about to remove... you place a sieve.. (or a hanky as Caryl mentions) over the container and siphon the BBS from the main container into the sieve. It should be a seething mass of live BBS... with very few shells. At this point you can rinse them under the tap if you wish.. but as mentioned.. I feed millions of these per day/week and never bother rinsing them. One thing NOT to do is OVERFEED THEM... (which I suspect you may have done)... as the shrimp will die in fresh water after a few hours... so ONLY feed enough for each feed. You can either return the siphoned shrimp to the container, ... or.. Freeze the remainder for the next feeds. The ORIGINAL Coke bottle mixture should be capable of producing for two or three days... then will need replacing with a fresh salt mix and eggs. If the prob WAS overfeeding... then a couple of water changes of 25-- 30% will help. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livebearer_breeder Posted October 14, 2004 Report Share Posted October 14, 2004 agreed with bill! it doubt it would have been the salt water mixture that would have killed the baby platy, as they prefer saltyish water or brackish water, an as long as you didnt put most of the salt solution into the tank then it shouldnt have done any harm! i have lost many baby platy in my time breeding them, they are one of the worst livebearers to breed as if there stressed etc they will give you a bad brood, water conditions could have played a part in killing your babies though! what sort of tanks etc do you mature them in? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killifan Posted October 14, 2004 Report Share Posted October 14, 2004 I've been to your website Pegasus and been reading about live food, but am a bit puzzled. With infusoria particularly and daphnia, what doI look for. you mention infusoria making the water cloudy, do I just tip this cloudy water into the tank for the babies or what? Also how do you know when fry are able to move onto microworms? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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