Brine shrimp tank cleaning and keeping

Hi all,

I recently started a brine shrimp tank to feed to guppy fry.

I have a 25L tank which i have about 23l of water. i added 1 & 1/2 cups of normal sea salt to the water.

I read on a few sites that you can get way with feeding the shrimps normal cake flower.
However feeding them live algae is better.

Saying that i have 2 questions.

1) Do i need to culture the algae in order for it to grow or do i just wait for it.

is there a specific light that i should be using ?
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2) how do i clean the gunk at the bottom of the tank(eg. egg shells, unhatched eggs and general waste) with out sucking up half the shrimps.

Since im going to be raising guppies to start off with. Is this the best live food for the fry ?
Is there anything else that might be easier to grow and keep ?

 

Hi Morfien and welcome.

Do you want to raise the brineshrimp?
Normally and that's me, we feed the fry newly hatched brineshrimp
until they are big enough to eat processed foods. This is usually 2-3 weeks.

I do not do it in a tank. I use 3 cut in half 2L coke bottels. Build a airstone into the
cap and connect it to a air pump.
I start the first set on day one and so forth. By day 3 I have used all the shrimp in bottle one
then bottle 2 is next and so the cycle continues. When I am done with one I pour it out
and set it up again.

No struggling with old water,eggs and shrimp in between.

Gerhard

 

Hi morfien,

There is actually a couple of ways to go about keeping the tank clean. In the DIY section a number of different Shrimp hatcheries are proposed, and they all boil down to being able to split the newly hatched shrimp from the eggs and gunk by means of light control. You can maybe do a search on the DIY section.

As far as growing them. . . I know this much - Its a pain in the neck to keep them alive and not worth the trouble. By the time the fry are big enough to "need" bigger food than BBS, there is a number of options available to feed them. This actually makes shrimp raising needless. Guppy fry can eat fine foods at birth, and though BBS is a good food for them, you can immediately add to their diet with a good flake and powder food.

Hope it helps

Marco

 

Guppy fry are very eager to eat processed foods straight of.
Prof Dirk has a very fine granule food that's just the right size and
good quality too.

 

Hi Gerhard,
Your Brine Shrimp raising sounds nice and simple. Half a 2 litre coke bottle and air. What's the catch? Any special temperature or light requirements, and should the water be treated beforehand for pH and hardness, salt content or anything?

By the way my first Guppies have been in the tank for 8 days now, and on day 5 I noticed fin rot. Immediate treatment with Daro Stop Fungus (as advised and supplied by my local pet shop) and keep a close eye for 4 days before re-applying if necessary. Also to change about 1/4 of the water in the tank on the second day after treatment.

They are looking good, it's definitely not spreading, and the tail looks like it's not deteriorating, so, with a bit of luck I've survived my first attack by Murphy!

Two of my females are showing definite signs of increasing girth, so I must start getting ready for the first batch of babies. Should maybe inquire at my local pet shop for brine shrimp eggs or a suitable ready made food.

I took a piece of plastic mesh, the type used for vegetables, and put two pebbles in the bottom with a plastic (Air) tubing ring sealed off on both sides for a float, and the fish are getting used to it in the tank. Hopefully the fittest will survive!

The Guppies are cute, and not stupid either. They know when it is the foodbasket (me) coming in to the living room! They are a joy!

 

Hi Oom Daan

I use 3 bottles with air stone in the cap and turned upside down. Looks like a funnel basically.
I have these 3 bottle in a 1ft tank with water at about 25'C.
No lights.

In the bottles I have about 750ml water to which I simply add 3 teaspoons of aquarium
salt. You could also ad bicarbonate of soda depending on your water hardness.

In regards to your guppies. You need to treat the cause of the disease and try as much
possible to avoid meds.
Fin rot is usually an indicator that the water is not very good in your aquarium.

You need to check your filter if it is sufficient and do not over feed.
Do a few water changes over the next 2 weeks or so and things should look
good as new in no time.
Also feed good quality food to keep your fishes immune system up.

Gerhard

 

Youtube "raising brine shrimp". I remember watching a thing by this guys in Canada (I think) that managed to raise them till they were 1cm. He kept them in big tubs of water. Fed them yeast water I think. Have a look in youtube.

 

Not very hard to raise them. They grow extremely fast.

 

Thanks Gerhard,
Next time I'm in Ermelo I'll let you know beforehand and would like to see your setup if you will allow it.

I think I may have been in too much of a hurry to get the fish in the tank and did not let it settle properly. Water (RO filtered and treated with Sera Van) in the one day and fish in the next! Wont make THAT mistake again!

Thanks again!