Brine Shrimp Grow Out

[Riddler05]

Hey Nano-Reefers,

 

I am currently hatching baby brine shrimp on a regular basis to feed some of my livestock. I usually have extra brine shrimp and instead of just getting rid of them I would like to start growing them out so that I can gut load them and feed them to some of my fish (clowns, wrasse, etc.). Currently what I am doing is just dumping my extra baby brine shrimp (which have been rinsed in fresh salt water) into a 5 gallon bucket which contains a light, heater, and rigid airline tubing. I feed a little bit of spirulina powder on a daily basis (the water turns just a slight shade of green). There is no filter.

 

My problem: My culture keeps crashing after about 1-2 weeks.

 

Does anybody have any addvice? Do I need to decapsulate my brine shrimp? Do I need to be filtering my water and how would I do so without loosing the brine shrimp?

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks

Corey Hecksel

[gogo]

water changes.....get a reusable nylon coffee strainer. siphon your bs through it, put them in fresh saltwater...you'll have to figure out your technique, but that's the best thing to do... don't wash your bucket. save the sludge that forms on the bottom. it should be rife with copepods... you can decant them out and add those back into your display as well. if you can get a hold of some live phyto, that'll work even better for you.

i currently culture rotifers, brine shrimp and copepods all in the same cultures with live phyto. you have to work these cultures daily.

[ZephNYC]

Let it be known that brine shrimps are not marine organisms. I know people have had success raising them in artificial seawater, but it is far more difficult. Why do you think there are no brine shrimps living in the ocean? if they could survive there they would populate at least ONE location in all the oceans of the world. Try growing them in rock salt, as it replicates their true environment of salty fresh water.

[Dr.Brain Coral]

Don't brine shrimp like REALLY salty water?

[gogo]

the plankton culture manual states the range for many different strains of artemia from 15-120ppt salinity. it states that they prefer 30-35 ppt (1.0222-1.0260)..."artemia naupii and adults survive in freshwater for about 5 hours before they stop swimming, sink to the bottom and die."

i use old tank water... it's the cheapest way.