Breeding Brine Shrimp

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salmonslayer

UP ALL NIGHT
Joined
Mar 26, 2006
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Hi all, anyone know if feeding you reef babby brine shrimp will help or have any affect on feeding corals or just a waste of time. Thanks / Tracy
Here is my contraption


 
Feeding them is really the only nutrition they have. So anything in their gut is better than nothing at all. Brine are really not good for much unless you trying to raise somthing picky like seahorses. I throw it in my tank to amuse myself and watch the fish go nuts. My brine breeder is not quite as elaborate as yours.

Don
 
Yes don, but do you know if the corals will eat them and are they to big for a coral to eat.
Thanks sihaya, I will check that out
 
Yes don, but do you know if the corals will eat them and are they to big for a coral to eat.

It depends on the coral. They're probably too big for most "sps." But your "lps" should appreciate them. I'd think zoos might even eat them (if they can catch them). And I imagine some azooxanthellate Gorgonians might be able to eat them. Sometimes it's hard to say, but you can usually guess by the size of the polyps and if the coral is good at "catching" things.
 
I will just have to give it a shot. I will suck them out with a turkey baster when there small ( with egg sack still on them ) and hope they eat them. May be a waste of time when I can go to the LFS and buy them LOL. The only down side is I will have to pay alot more for them.
 
Do you have any analysis information on brine shrimp?

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Brine Shrimp Direct Typical Cyst Analysis:
Great Salt Lake Strain
Biometrics (Grade A):
Diameter of hydrated cysts = 240 microns (average)
Length of Instar I nauplii = 450 microns(average)
Proximate Analysis (Dry Weight Basis):
Protein: 55%
Fat: 14.0% minimum
Ash: 8.1% minimum
Moisture: 7.0% maximum
Essential Fatty Acids:
18:2n-6: 0.3 mg/g (dry weight)
18:3n-3: 19.0
20:5n-3: 3.5
22:6n-3: 0.1
omega-3 Fatty acids 5.0 (HUFA — highly unsaturated fatty acids)
Microbiological Analysis:
Marine Bacteria: (CFU/g) 10,000 maximum
Yeasts/molds: (CFU/g) 1,000 maximum
Coliforms: (MPN/g) 10 maximum
E. coli: (1g) negative
Salmonella: negative
V. cholerae: negative
Heavy Metals (microgram/g):
Cadmium: 0.5 maximum
Copper: 6.0 maximum
Lead: 0.8 maximum
Mercury: 0.3 maximum
Pesticides (microgram/g):
Chlorinated Hydrocarbons: 0.03 maximum
Organo-Phosphates: 0.01 maximum
PCB — total: 0.01 maximum
Trichloroethylene: 0.01 maximum
Cyst Storage:
Brine shrimp cysts are best stored at low-humidity, low-temperature conditions to maintain their hatching quality. For long-term storage, store at temperatures below 50°F (10°C), but above freezing.
 
among the three principal influences on coral growth (within reasonable ranges) - LIGHT, WATER FLOW and FEEDING - I can assure you that light is a distant(!) third place contrary to the emphasis most folks place on it.

With adequate water flow, extra feedings can supplant most any deficiency in lighting (but the reverse is not true/possible... see photoinhibition).

Feeding new hatched artemis is especially helpful for tripping larger polyped corals and some sps (like Pocillopora) to spawn in aquaria.

Feed rotifers and copepods too (better) if you can.
 
Anthony - have you ever tried the hatching disk? I hate to sound like I work for these people, but it really is one of the coolest things I've come across in the hobby. I think everyone should consider one. It makes it soooo easy to hatch brine shrimp in quantities suitable for feeding home reef aquariums. And you don't have to worry about shells or anything. You don't need a bubbler either. There's nothing to plug in. You don't even need an extra light or heater.
 
A lot of people have asked me how the hatching disk works. So I thought I'd take a fe pics and explain how I believe it works. 1) brine shrimp don't actually need 80F to hatch. It just supposedly takes longer at lower temperatures. 2) I think the reason the disk doesn't need a bubbler is because it's enclosed. Normally you need a bubbler to keep the eggs wet (to keep them from sticking to the sides and drying out as the water evaporates.) But with the disk having a cover, you lose very little (if any) water to evaporation and the inside is probably pretty high humidity. (I would think). 3) You don't have to separate out egg shells because the inside of the disk is something of a "maze" that the shrimp have to swim through. You see the white circles? Because that part breaks through the surface of the water, they can't swim over it to get to the light. They have to swim under it... leaving the capsules (which float) on the other side). Here are some pics:
IMG_1800.jpg

IMG_1796.jpg

IMG_1795.jpg

IMG_1799.jpg
 
Oh, and that little white cup in the center is a strainer... so you don't need a brine shrimp net either! :D

By the way, in that last picture, those are the baby brine shrimp that have swam to the center. And that was after only 12 hours!! I kid you not! There will be a whole bunch more within the next 12 hours and they usually keep on coming for at least another day or two.
 
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