# Culturing Brine Shrimp



## 987456321 (May 13, 2012)

Hello, i have a few questions about culturing brine shrimp
firstly: how would i filter the tank? i presume the water needs to be filtered, but the brine shrimp would get caught in the filter and die...
water changes: how would i do them? taking water out of the brine shrimp tank would inevitably catch them, so is there a better way of keeping the water clean (like what plants in a freshwater tank) Also, in a 5 gallon tank, how often would i have to change the water, and how much? 
Feeding: what do brine shrimp eat (filter). i have heard yeast, but is this the best thing to be feeding them, and how much should i be feeding?
Movement: can there be too much movement of the water? too little?
Empty cysts: these float to the surface after the water movement (bubbles) is turned off, and i should just remove them?

In the end i want to have a sustainable collection of these guys to feed my fish (mostly guppies and tetras atm)

thanks 

If this is in the wrong section of the forum, please move it, thanks


----------



## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

Brine shrimp are best when they are newly hatched, a good option is to buy frozen baby brine shrimp

but if you want adult shrimp, a few tips

for water changes, use air line tubing with an air stone at the end so you don't suck them up

Filter with a sponge filter.

These are the only answers I have

There are better options than breeding brine shrimp for a live food for fish, there are lots of different worms that are good


----------



## 987456321 (May 13, 2012)

pyrrolin said:


> Brine shrimp are best when they are newly hatched, a good option is to buy frozen baby brine shrimp
> 
> but if you want adult shrimp, a few tips
> 
> ...


going for the adult ones, and some live food is better than none

an airstone is a great idea.
i ordered a sponge filter off ebay, shipping takes forever 

I was told i am not allowed to bring worms in the house lol, maybe daphnia if i can get my hands on a starter

Thanks for the input


----------



## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

Try some of the sites that sell brine shrimp eggs online. Some have super information on how to raise them, how to keep them, some sell everything you need. There are commercial hatcheries you can buy that make it easier to manage too. Just google brine shrimp eggs or how to hatch brine shrimp, you'll find more info than you can use.


----------



## 987456321 (May 13, 2012)

I have a 5-10 gallon tank set up (not too sure, its a hex tank though) with a DIY lift tube (1/2 inch plastic tube, about 6" long, airline tube siliconed about a half inch from the bottom of the tube inside) and another airline tube in it (seperate pumps, for redundancy)
in it i mixed saltwater (no idea of the specific gravity of it.) and a pack of san fransisco brand brine shrimp mix (i accounted for the salt from the mix)
I have a heater in the tank set to 78F and a CFL bulb that is left on from when i wake up, till when i sleep (13-17 hours a day)
I feed spirulina powder (i think, whatever my LFS sold me. it smells terrible though) twice a day, a small amount that doesn't even cloud the water

currently i see some brine shrimp 'holding' another, and others with ¿eggs¿


----------



## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

Bet the 'holding' is doing the happy dance... baby brine shrimp should be forthcoming.

Did you know they used to sell brine shrimp as 'sea monkeys', for pets, in the back of every comic book I saw when I was a kid right up until I switched to paper backs. Right in the back with the ads for soap that would turn your friends hands black, or gum that would turn their tongue black, and whoopie cushions and magic tricks. Who knew the sea monkeys were a genuine critter ?

For YEARS, from the time I was four or so, I thought they were some sort of tiny sea primate ! It was some time before I grew up and learned the truth. 

Plenty of people still keep them as pets, you can still buy kits to raise 'sea monkeys' today, online, mostly.


----------



## 987456321 (May 13, 2012)

Fishfur said:


> Bet the 'holding' is doing the happy dance... baby brine shrimp should be forthcoming


I thought that too, anyone know how long it takes to get new brine shrimplings
?
cheers


----------



## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

about 24 hours I think


----------



## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

I found a bunch of articles on how to do this, but this one has a neat idea, if you want to do the bit of work required and have the tanks needed. Yeast seems to be a popular food, and the first link also has a recipe for an egg yolk based food. Once you put eggs in the water, you get hatchlings within 36 - 24 hours.

http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/fishfood/largebrineshrimp.php

And this one uses pop bottles, so less work, but looks pretty easy.

http://www.rockytop.net/brineshrimp.php


----------



## 987456321 (May 13, 2012)

Fishfur said:


> I found a bunch of articles on how to do this, but this one has a neat idea, if you want to do the bit of work required and have the tanks needed. Yeast seems to be a popular food, and the first link also has a recipe for an egg yolk based food. Once you put eggs in the water, you get hatchlings within 36 - 24 hours.
> 
> http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/fishfood/largebrineshrimp.php
> 
> ...


Lots of good info there, thanks
I was wondering more about the hatch time of eggs that are produced from the adults already grown in my brine shrimp tank (like how long from the time i can see the eggs on the adults, to the time there are baby shrimps)


----------



## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

Well, that one I can't answer.. but you might get an answer from BAs in Scarborough because they maintain a Brine shrimp tank all the time and sell them for food. Any time I am in there the water looks red because of the masses of baby shrimp in it.

Mississauga store has just started with one, but every time I see it, there are fewer shrimp in it.. I think they are having some problems getting it going. Certainly there are no baby shrimps in it.. what are there are adults.


----------



## 987456321 (May 13, 2012)

Fishfur said:


> Well, that one I can't answer.. but you might get an answer from BAs in Scarborough because they maintain a Brine shrimp tank all the time and sell them for food. Any time I am in there the water looks red because of the masses of baby shrimp in it.
> 
> Mississauga store has just started with one, but every time I see it, there are fewer shrimp in it.. I think they are having some problems getting it going. Certainly there are no baby shrimps in it.. what are there are adults.


I think i may be going up to scarborough monday (surprising, because i rarely leave the shwa) so i'll drop by there and ask them questions for a while if i can get to the store


----------

