What do brine shrimp eat?

[ckoscak]

What do I feed brine shrimp?

I'd like to feed brine shrimp to my fish, but I'd like the shrimp to be a bit larger before feeding to my fish.

Also, I got a Sea-Monkey's kit for Christmas from a friend and I don't want to pay for Sea Monkey food.

 

[RustyRay]

I raised brine shrimp on regular Tetra tropical fish food. Of course, the shrimp cannot eat such big flakes. So, I combined a bit of saltwater with a bunch of food flakes, and then mixed it all in a blender for a minute. They result is a suspension of ultra small food that is the perfect size for brine shrimp.

I had trouble finding brine shrimp food locally. My fish stores don't carry it, and I wasn't about to mail order a vial of $2 food and pay $6 for shipping.

Other good foods are spirulina algae powder or spirulina flake food. But anything that is too big needs to be blended up for their small brine shrimp mouths.

 

[fishypoo2]

They also eat free-swimming algae ("green water"), but try not to add to much, as this will bring the salinity down. They also eat yeast, and as previously mentioned, flake food. Thanks,
Ryan
Editor of Tropical Fish Monthly
Great Aquariums Start With a Great Magazine
tropicalfish48@hotmail.com

 

[mcvancleave]

So how long would they live ad ayone know about how big they get.

 

[125gJoe]

I'm not sure about the 'blender' method for making the flakes smaller, unless you need to feed Local Fish Store amounts..

Seems to me that finger-pinched (grinded) flake foods in a cup of tank water will do the trick.. The big Blender throws me off on feeding Brine Shrimp.

By the way, don't plan on saving your food mixture for any length of time --- it will rot or decay real quick!

 

[ckoscak]

Thank you all for your replies.

 

[RustyRay]

Grinding up the food by hand does not work. I've even used the end of a pencil as a pestle. But even after 20 minutes of grinding the food it was not small enough for the baby brine shrimp. The blender method is good because one can add as much food to the mix as one wants. It does not have to be for a "fsih store" amount of brine shrimp. I was adding a cup of saltwater to the blender and a pinch of flake food. Then I simply blended for about 30 seconds. I was raising a gallon jug of brine shrimp not "Local Fish Store amounts."

Why don't you try the method before dismissing it?