I thought it would be cool to try to keep baby brine shrimp until full grown? Lol probably not but I thought I'd try it. So, what do you feed them?
What to feed baby brine shrimp?
- Thread starter Sweetheart
- Start date
I have never kept my BBS past a few days since I usually feed them to my fish, BUT, I have asked that same question before, and from what I understand they eat algea or greenwater. I think, although I am not certain, that you can make greenwater for them and they will munch on and live on that. I am sure someone who knows more than I do about it will chime in lol. Good luck with the project.
Start by feeding them powdered algae. You can buy it, or if you have a mortar and pestle, you can crush algae wafers. Since the brine shrimp are extremely tiny when they hatch, the wafers need to be finely crushed. As they age, add crushed fish food (flakes or whatnot) to the algae.
Only add tiny amounts of food at a time, as it is easy to foul the water and kill off all of them. It's a good idea to do partial water changes (~15% of total water volume) cautiously, about every four days, for the first few weeks.
Good luck.
Only add tiny amounts of food at a time, as it is easy to foul the water and kill off all of them. It's a good idea to do partial water changes (~15% of total water volume) cautiously, about every four days, for the first few weeks.
Good luck.
Like the above posters have already stated, finely crushed spirulina flakes or tablets would be your best bet. Just heed pixl8r's advice & feed your BBS in very small quantities, it's really easy to foul the water & kill all of them off.
I hatch BBS all the time as feeders & like Ashes2ashes, I don't concern myself with feeding them because they're all gone in a couple of days. However I was once interested in growing them out a bit so I could feed them to larger fish & I was told that you could feed them baby food (such as peas, or string beans) a few drops at a time. I was told wheat flour would work as well & that even yeast would yield some results. I use DYI CO2 so I had yeast handy & tried that & it worked. I was able to grow out a few (very few) to adult hood (about 6 - 8 weeks) but I lost most of the original hatchlings.
If you want to take a crack at it just for the challenge then go for it. But if you are trying it as a viable option for live food, it's not worth it unless you are willing to dedicate a set up exclusively for growing out your brine shrimp (about a 5 gallon tank, minimum, would be about right)
I hatch BBS all the time as feeders & like Ashes2ashes, I don't concern myself with feeding them because they're all gone in a couple of days. However I was once interested in growing them out a bit so I could feed them to larger fish & I was told that you could feed them baby food (such as peas, or string beans) a few drops at a time. I was told wheat flour would work as well & that even yeast would yield some results. I use DYI CO2 so I had yeast handy & tried that & it worked. I was able to grow out a few (very few) to adult hood (about 6 - 8 weeks) but I lost most of the original hatchlings.
If you want to take a crack at it just for the challenge then go for it. But if you are trying it as a viable option for live food, it's not worth it unless you are willing to dedicate a set up exclusively for growing out your brine shrimp (about a 5 gallon tank, minimum, would be about right)
I first built a system to breed brine shrimp as a test bed for rearing Macrobrachium scabriculum. Their young hatch in brackish water and grow in decreasing levels of salinity.
I was able to get about 60% of my brine shrimp to mature, but it takes work. I had three 'hatcheries' (two liter bottles with constant air flow), and two nursery tanks.
I was only able to get about 25% of my M. scabriculum, say 40 shrimp per brood, all the way to fresh water. However, the amount of work, and space, it took to achieve that level of success was never cost effective, so after a year, I stopped that breeding program.
I was able to get about 60% of my brine shrimp to mature, but it takes work. I had three 'hatcheries' (two liter bottles with constant air flow), and two nursery tanks.
I was only able to get about 25% of my M. scabriculum, say 40 shrimp per brood, all the way to fresh water. However, the amount of work, and space, it took to achieve that level of success was never cost effective, so after a year, I stopped that breeding program.