how do i grow brine shrimp

[jv_xbishop]

i know how to hatch brine shrimp. the question is how do i grow brine shrimp into adults? do i just keep them in the same/similar solution used to hatch them in? what do i feed them to grow them out? thanks.

jay

 

[tjudy]

You can grow them in a 2 liter bottle of salt water. Bubble the water a lot less than you do to hatch them. Only use a very small number of cysts, or they will be too crowded. When I have done it I started with 1/4 tsp. in a 2-liter bottle, and reduced the population by 1/2 every few days until I had close to adult shrimp. I fed them dissolved yeast. I made a solution of 1/2 tsp of bakers yeast in a few cup of water and shook it up really well before feeding. I would feed once a day with just enough yeast solution to make the water cloudy. The brine shrimp would eat it all in about two day. I also changed the water 50% every other day.

It was cool to do, but the nutritional value is pretty poor compared to bbs so I do not see a need for growing them out.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
Ted's is a good method. If you want to get maximum survival it helps to have a saltier medium for the adult shrimps (if you've got a hygrometer, specific gravity about 1.024 or about twice as salty), and a small amount of crushed coral sand or oyster shell in the container. As well as yeast you can also feed them with a marine phytoplankton culture, you can buy these from specialist suppliers (http://www.reefphyto.co.uk/products/Nannochloropsis-Phytoplankton.html), they also sell "Brine shrimp enrichment", feed etc.

As Ted says it's entertaining but there are much easier ways of getting live food. Have you got some grindal worms? well worth getting a culture and very easy to look after.

cheers Darrel