Best Ways To Keep Brine Shrimp For Fish Food

Brine shrimp can grow to twenty millimeters long and are a very good food source for adult fishes. Brine shrimps are ideal fry food because of their nutritional value. They can survive up to five hours in fresh water, and eggs can withstand many years in storage as long as they’re stored away from moisture and air. Eggs can immediately resume their development once they’re returned into oxygenated saltwater. This is one evolutionary adaptation of shrimps that thrive in desert lakes.

Water temperature is a big factor in egg hatching. Lower water temperature means longer hatching time. It takes eggs 15-20 hours to hatch at twenty-five degrees Celsius. Ideal hatching temperatures vary depending on the place of origin of the shrimps. The ideal pH level is 6.0 to 9.0 (8.0 is best), while the salinity level must be between 1.022 and 1.026.

The umbrella stage comes after the shrimps hatch. At this stage the yolk sac is their only means of nutrition. The second stage of development comes after twelve hours. They begin consuming food through filtration of micro-algae. They become full-grown in eight days. Brine shrimp live up to three months.

Rearing Brine Shrimp

A few factors should be considered in successfully rearing brine shrimp. Besides the above stated parameters, there are two more crucial things to remember:

Brine shrimp aren’t finicky eaters. They consume almost anything that they can filter from the water, provided that they can swallow it and it doesn’t liquefy. Brine shrimp food is found in most pet shops. Shrimp food contains micro-algae. There are also some cheaper choices found in your grocery shop — items such as egg yolk, soybean powder, wheat and yeast can be fed to shrimps.

It’s quite tricky to gauge how much food to feed the shrimp. Usually you just feed enough food that will not totally cloud up the water.  On your first few weeks of feeding you should be able to see up to fifteen cm into the water. As the shrimp mature, food concentration should be lowered. At this time you should be able to see up to twenty-five cm into the water. Constant and frequent feeding should be observed.

Maintenance

Brine shrimps are usually kept in small tanks, where water quality declines swiftly. This is why regular water change is a must. Twenty percent water change twice a week is ideal. Keeping the water quality gives you healthy shrimps, so keep the tank clean as brine shrimp molt regularly.

Maintenance should be done at night. Use a torch to lure the shrimp. The light will draw the shrimps to the surface of the tank, keeping the bottom of the tank free for your maintenance work.

Under ideal conditions, you should expect your adult brine shrimp to spawn. Fully-grown females are able to produce up to seventy-five nauplii per day or three hundred every four days. On average shrimps can spawn ten times in their lifespan. Under very good conditions, shrimps can live up to three months and they can spawn every four days during this span of time.

Further Reading

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• Nimbochromis Venustus Photos
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