growing brine shrimp to adouthood

joshuashih1

Seahorse Owner
I have a 20 gallon saltwater tank with nothing but saltwater and a air pump with airline. I know how to hatch baby brine shrimp but how do I raise them to adoult hood
 
Raising out brine shrimp is generally a pain in the ass. You can't grow it in very high densities, or it tends to crash. It takes 6-8 weeks to grow out.

I'm currently experimenting with growing it in 40 gallon tubs in the back yard - only one fish store carries brine shrimp anymore and they often have shortages so I'd like a back up culture. But I live in wisconsin, so I can only do this for the summer unless I magically find more space inside the house before winter.

Low and flat are what you want for containers for optimal growth. You also want to only use a weighted airline (no filter, no air stone) and have to get the flow just right to not buffet them around too much, but to allow for enough air to keep the water moving. Which makes keeping water quality high difficult. They are rather tolerant to bad conditions, but it can get *really bad* quick.

You can feed live algae (phytoplankton), an instant algae type food (frozen or refrigerated algae), or spirulina. Live algae is going to pollute the water the least.
 
Marine depot sells a pretty legit setup for mass producing brine shrimp. You might check them out. I think the unit sells for somewhere around 130.00 USD (maybe more cant remember). They also sell a variety of foods for raising brine shrimp and attachments for moving your fresh hatched over to a larger "raising tank".
 
I have 2 15 gallon brine shrimp tanks and i also have one of the hatch and feed things that you put in the system. (dont like it that much). I use my 2 15 gallon tanks to grow my brine shrimp and all i have is a heater, large air pump, air stone, and brine eggs.
I put in eggs when the temp is right. after a day or so i skimm the top of the water to clear it. add food or feed some babys to the tank as a treat to my corals. when the tank is done i clean it and start all over. that is why i have 2 tanks i can keep a stedy supply of food for my systems.
 
Unless you are enriching the brine before you feed the there is little nutritional value to them and shouldn't be the sole diet for your tank
 
I never said it was. I know brine are not that rich. i do feed my fish, seahorses and corals the brine but it is not the main food sorce. but i also give brine shrimp to my fresh water tanks as well. so it gets used.
 
Back
Top