Ocean Nutrition Instant Baby Brine Shrimp

[Epos7]

Just curious if anyone has opinions on this food. So far I've been feeding my apistos a mix of pellets, frozen BBS, frozen daphnia, and Repashy Community Plus. Yesterday I fed some Ocean Nutrition Instant Baby Brine Shrimp, and the apistos seemed to appreciate it. The Agassizi in particular has colored up a lot since yesterday.

I will likely start hatching my own BBS soon, but I wonder if Ocean Nutrition's product is a better alternative to frozen BBS? Once opened it must be refrigerated and used within six weeks.

 

[MacZ]

As the nauplii are dead, they sink (albeit slowly) and cover surfaces. This is good for aufwuchs eaters like Otocinclus and bottom feeders like Corydoras. I would also use them for dwarf cichlids old enough to chew sand. Freshly free swimming fry that mostly react to movement may not be as interested, though.

 

[Epos7]

As the nauplii are dead, they sink (albeit slowly) and cover surfaces. This is good for aufwuchs eaters like Otocinclus and bottom feeders like Corydoras. I would also use them for dwarf cichlids old enough to chew sand. Freshly free swimming fry that mostly react to movement may not be as interested, though.

Yeah, my apistos both eat sand so hopefully they're getting a lot of what falls to the bottom. The rummynose tetras are voracious but the nice thing about the BBS over pellets is the sheer numbers - even the tetras can't come close to eating them before they drift down.

 

[MacZ]

It tempts to overfeeding. When feeding live artemia nauplii they stay alive several hours, so you have little waste that may settle somewhere or be sucked into the filters. So beware how much you feed each feeding.
That small glass will usually feed many tanks during the best before period after opening. And that's what probably makes it a bit wasteful in general.

Care to keep us posted about the use? I'd like to know whether a glass will be empty by the end of the six weeks without overfeeding or turning the water bad.

 

[Epos7]

Sure, I'll follow up in six weeks once the jar is expired.

 

[Epos7]

I ended up with 20-25% remaining after six weeks. It's not the cheapest way to feed your fish, but given the shelf life is relatively long before being opened, is nice to keep on hand in case travel or other obstacles prevent maintaining a hatchery.

 

[anewbie]

If you use shrimp direct and hatch your own a small jar will last a year. Of course it is easier if you don't have to hatch them yourself. This is what I have:

Amazon.com

The dish has plus/negative - there are better hatcher esp if you want the shrimps to grow for a while for larger fishes. I'm usually breeding just one tank at a time and the dish produces enough until the shrimp expire (i suppose i could put them in the fridge and they would last longer but the general rule is at room temp the shrimps egg sack will be gone after 3 days (which has the most nutrients in bbs).

 

[Epos7]

If you use shrimp direct and hatch your own a small jar will last a year. Of course it is easier if you don't have to hatch them yourself. This is what I have:

Amazon.com

The dish has plus/negative - there are better hatcher esp if you want the shrimps to grow for a while for larger fishes. I'm usually breeding just one tank at a time and the dish produces enough until the shrimp expire (i suppose i could put them in the fridge and they would last longer but the general rule is at room temp the shrimps egg sack will be gone after 3 days (which has the most nutrients in bbs).

I'm not doing any breeding, but my apistos and tetras seem to like BBS. What do you feed your adults?

 

[anewbie]

I'm not doing any breeding, but my apistos and tetras seem to like BBS. What do you feed your adults?

Mostly fluval bug bite right now; i might try some grindel worms after i move and maybe adult brine shrimp not sure - will experiment with a few culture till one works. After i move i'll have a basement for the cultures.

 

[Epos7]

Mostly fluval bug bite right now; i might try some grindel worms after i move and maybe adult brine shrimp not sure - will experiment with a few culture till one works. After i move i'll have a basement for the cultures.

I have some bug bites, haven't tried them for my apistos yet. So far they seem to like Dr. Bassleer acai and garlic pellets.

 

[anewbie]

I have some bug bites, haven't tried them for my apistos yet. So far they seem to like Dr. Bassleer acai and garlic pellets.

I read somewhere that too much garlic was bad for fishes so i stopped feeding them so much garlic.

 

[MacZ]

I read somewhere that too much garlic was bad for fishes so i stopped feeding them so much garlic.

Garlic is not a problem by itself. But it's also something many manufacturers add because it entices fish to eat, even if the food is otherwise not their preferred diet.
Dr. Bassleer use high quality ingredients, the composition is questionable though. The Acai stuff is to far herbivore leaning for dwarf cichlids. It may cause intestinal problems. Generally I'd avoid a too high percentage of dry foods.

 

[Epos7]

Garlic is not a problem by itself. But it's also something many manufacturers add because it entices fish to eat, even if the food is otherwise not their preferred diet.
Dr. Bassleer use high quality ingredients, the composition is questionable though. The Acai stuff is to far herbivore leaning for dwarf cichlids. It may cause intestinal problems. Generally I'd avoid a too high percentage of dry foods.

Interesting, I didn't realize the Acai stuff wasn't ideal. It's 55% protein, vs 45% for Bug Bites. Is it the 4% fiber that makes it a no go?

 

[MacZ]

The percentage alone isn't it. Look at the ingredients list:

Fish and fish by-products, grain, crustaceans, vegetable by-products, yeast, minerals, 1 % Acai berries extract

Besides that this list is not very detailed... Fish and fish by-products means fishmeal which is not a good base for fish that are adapted for a diet of detritus, insect(-larvae) and crustaceans. Unspecified grain is simply a binder and filler, fish can't do anything with carbs from such vegetable sources. Then finally custaceans in the list followed by more fillers, taste enhancers and a laughable 1% of that acai berries. As an extract... That's basically like orange juice from juice concentrate.

I take the "high quality ingredients" statement back. Since they sold to Aquarium Münster the stuff has gone significantly down.

 

[Epos7]

The percentage alone isn't it. Look at the ingredients list:

Besides that this list is not very detailed... Fish and fish by-products means fishmeal which is not a good base for fish that are adapted for a diet of detritus, insect(-larvae) and crustaceans. Unspecified grain is simply a binder and filler, fish can't do anything with carbs from such vegetable sources. Then finally custaceans in the list followed by more fillers, taste enhancers and a laughable 1% of that acai berries. As an extract... That's basically like orange juice from juice concentrate.

I take the "high quality ingredients" statement back. Since they sold to Aquarium Münster the stuff has gone significantly down.

Thanks. Might have to toss these jars then. I do have some bug bites and various Hikari dry pellets.

As far as live foods, are BBS still a good food source for adult apistos? I'm trying to figure out which live food I should culture.

 

[MacZ]

Thanks. Might have to toss these jars then. I do have some bug bites and various Hikari dry pellets.

My advice: Try something on insect/crustacean basis. It should have as little starches (potatoes, legumes, grains) as possible, but some is always required as a binder. Otherwise some vegetables and bacteria cultures are fine. The usual vitamin/mineral cocktail also.

I'd say any live foods will do, with a few exceptions:
- Red Mosquito Larvae (bloodworms) are often bad quality and are known to cause deaths regularly. Especially among dwarf cichlids.
- Live Tubifex are known to transmit diseases sometimes, tepending on the source.

Otherwise, knock yourself out. Everything from Cyclops to Mysis is fine.

 

[Epos7]

Otherwise, knock yourself out. Everything from Cyclops to Mysis is fine.

Excellent, thanks. Think I'll go with BBS as they sound easiest to maintain.

 

[Epos7]

My advice: Try something on insect/crustacean basis. It should have as little starches (potatoes, legumes, grains) as possible, but some is always required as a binder. Otherwise some vegetables and bacteria cultures are fine. The usual vitamin/mineral cocktail also.

Think I'll start feeding the Fluval Bug Bites I already have as a dry food. May also look into some products from North Fin:

Bug Pro
Cichlid Formula

 

[Mike Wise]

Hopefully you have Bug Bites in pellet form. My apistos weren't interested in the flakes, but my tetras loved them.

 

[anewbie]

I use the blue and red containers (small and small/medium) for my fishes. They gobble them down. I have weaned my young pucallpaensis to eat the flakes (they aren't that young now - maybe 3 months old); since i can grind the flakes down into small pieces for them.