DIY baby brine shrimp feeder

[TaliaShepard]

I just wanted to express my amazement with this diy. First, disclaimer, it is NOT my diy. I found it by browsing thru forums on feeding dragonets. The original creator is Paul B. 

 

I got a biota mandarin (tiny little thing) and of course once I got her home she turned her nose up at every prepared food I offered her including the tdo pellets I watched her scarf down in the lfs. I dosed the tank with extra pods and started researching ways to get this finicky creature to eat. I came up with Paul's baby brine shrimp feeder. It's basically a small tubberware cup with a lid. I cut the lid out and used panty hose to create a filter. Then I got some rigid tubing, bent it at a 90 degree angle and inserted it into the cup. The tube sticks out of the water and I have a funnel stuck in it. 

 

Then just hatch baby brine shrimp and pour down the funnel. They go into the tube and down to the cup then they swim up into the mesh and a few of them get out but most of them get stuck in the panty hose. Then miss finicky can just sit on the cup and slurp down shrimp as fast as her little heart desires. 

 

The design is brilliant and it works so well. Took her 2 days to figure out where the shrimp were coming from and now she hangs out there every morning waiting for her all you can eat buffet. It would work for any finicky eater or pod specialist and I will put one in every tank I own from now on. The shrimp are easy to hatch out and as long as you feed them within 12 hours of hatching they still have their yolk sac so they are nutritious. 

 

I still plan to get the mandarin back on frozen/pellets and I'll continue to dose the tank with pods and may try my hand at culturing them but this way she's in no danger of starving and even if I get her back on frozen I'll still keep her feeder full for her because it's good for her to have a continuous food source. 

 

Anyway happy reefing and hope this helps someone out with a finicky fish that demands live foods! 

 

P.S. Sorry for the ridiculous blue photos but I have no clue how to white balance them 

[DaJMasta]

Either an orange filter (sometimes called a warming filter, you can get used cheap ones for photography usually under the number 85 - unlettered, B or C are my preferences), or you can just turn down the blue color channel and boost the gamma in an image editing program (irfanview does a fine job and is free).  If your camera can be set to manual color temperature, make the number go as high as it goes and that should help some without anything additional.  There's also the option of including more white light while taking the picture, but with intense blues you generally need to dial them back with a filter or on their own for best results.

 

Pictures aside, glad to hear it's eating well.  I would definitely keep trying the TDO it liked before (and there are many sizes, maybe what you've got isn't the size it was looking for?), I've had best results with frozen food.  Especially if it's coming over to the feeder on its own now, I'd just add some of the food you want it to eat on or near the feeder - they are sort of haphazard eaters, so it's only a matter of time before it tries something else on accident.  Though this can attract other critters, so sometimes you have to be careful about it.  I'd also try to feed without the pumps on, at least for 5-10 mins, as they will pick around at things for a while and aren't really fast enough eaters to chase things down drifting through the water.

 

Good luck!

[TaliaShepard]

Thanks for the photo advice! I'll look into the filters! 

 

I bought the same size tdo she was scarfing down in the store and I've been feeding it once a day. I always turn the pumps off for 30 minutes when I feed her to give her time to eat. She's the only fish in the tank so her only competition are the hermits and 2 nassarius snails. She picks at the pellets but doesnt really go to town on them like she did in the store. Maybe it's because there is other food in the tank she'd rather eat, I have no clue. Putting the food on top of the feeder though is a great idea. I'll try that! Id like to see if she'd go for lobster eggs or white worms if I can find any. I've tried frozen baby brine shrimp, rotifers, and cyclopeeze with no luck. 

[DaJMasta]

My larger two seem to prefer big meaty foods, and while they may be on the big side for a little fish, that little vacuum mouth they have can fit a piece of food bigger than you'd normally think.  You may even try something as big as smaller bloodworms or hikari mysis, which are somewhat smaller than most other brands.

One of the first things one of mine tried to eat when I was training it was a krill head from marine cuisine which is a mix, and I don't think there are any mandarins big enough to fit that in their mouth with ease.  Instead, it got into the mouth but not much further, and it took a couple minutes of intermittent thrashing to keep it down....... but they don't seem to back away from a challenge in terms of food size.