baby brine shrimp

[myfrostymember]

ok i am looking into getting a pair of caca's orange flash-- i have read that all apisto's like baby brine shrimp- so before i got the fish i decided to get some brine shrimp and learn to hatch them-- i jsut got my first hatch done and was a little shocked at just how small they really are- i trie dto see if any of my fish i have now would eat them and none even looked at them except my featherfin rainbows--so do apistos really eat bbs being how small they really are-or is there a jumbo version of bbs (just kidding-i think)

so do apisto caca's really eat bbs as their staple diet or should i look into a different culture

matt

 

[RiC]

My apistos eat BBS all the time, regardless of their age! And yes, they do notice them, even if they are tiny! :wink:

 

[myfrostymember]

how do you rinse bbs? i bought a brine shrimp net but the bbs are even smaller then those holes

 

[farm41]

Use the brine shrimp net, you will lose some, but with a good hatch you should have lots left. I just pass them under the tap quickly, maybe for only a second with the faucet on spray. What I don't use goes into a shallow tupperware and into the fridge, I add a teaspoon of rock salt and they will last for a couple of feedings.

 

[aquaticclarity]

I drain my bbs out of the hatching container, an inverted 2liter soda bottle that has the air enter it through a hole in the cap. By draining or siphoning the bbs and water out I can manage to keep a lot of the egg casings out of the shrimp/salt water mix. I then just use a turkey baster to squirt the salt water and shrimp into a given tank. I’ve never rinsed my bbs before feeding them out and have never had a problem. I'm using marine aquarium salt.
Any left over shrimp stays in the cup I drained them into and get put in the refrigerator unaerated. I can keep the bbs alive and viable as a food source for at least 36 hours.
As far as fish eating it I feed large Cory cats a steady diet of bbs and am able to condition them for spawning with it. Apistos, West African dwarf cichlids, and a host of other fish see bbs as their staple diet in my fishroom.

Jeff

 

[Fatts]

I use a coffee filter. Put a little in the filter and run tap over it. I don't think I lose any that way

 

[Cathy G]

I am of the waste not want not crowd so I stuff a coffee filter in my fish net and strain through that. My store bought rams won't look at the bbs, but the ones I raised myself will eat them. If you rear fry on them then all their lives they will eat them. (My theory at least...)

I also store mine in the frig for at least some of the day. I found that if I bump up the temp and keep a light shinning on the hatchery I can hatch them in 24 hours. So, every morning I start a new batch...

I don't know what brand you are using, but the San Fransisco Bay brand works good. It is also smaller than the other brands I hear.

Have fun!
Cathy

 

[myfrostymember]

the ones i use are gsl something or other and they are so small i couldnt hardly see em i thought they hadnt hatched because i couldnt see anything anyway i think im going to start a grindal culture also so ill have two diff live foods and frozen foods for my- betta simpex- dwarf puffer and the apisto's

 

[Mike Wise]

Most creek-dwelling apistos - like your A. cacatuoides - mostly eat micro crustacians in the wild. Baby brines shrimp is very similar to what they eat in the wild. A bbs for an apisto is simiar in size to a peanut to a human. I love peanuts!

I don't rinse my bbs. Instead I dip the shrimp net in a container of fresh water. The bbs float, so none get washed through the netting. Your Great Salt Lake (gsl) brine shrimp are larger than San Francisco shrimp, but I have no problem with them escaping through the netting (unless there are small hole in the seams). I have noticed that newer brine shrimp nets have larger mesh openings than my original 20 year old net (I don't use it now, the seams need to be re-sewn.). Also make sure the net says it is for baby brine shrimp on the packaging. I expect some store will sell fine-meshed nets as shrimp nets if they don't carry the real thing.