Started a small brine shrimp tank

Cherub

Hey you
M.A.S.C Club Member
#1
I decided to start feeding live brine. I spend so much on frozen food and this will offset the cost, hopefully... 8 dollars for 100 batches of brine is the claim lol.

I bought a 5 gallon tank at petsmart that came with a hood with light, thermometer and a hang on back filter for 30 bucks. I added a small heater I already had too. Then I bought the hatchery for 35 with eggs and bought some spirulina from BRS to fatten the shrimp up with and give the food some nutrients. So 60-70 dollar investment to get it going but perpetual food is the idea.

Has anyone tried doing something like this? Any tips?

View attachment 17567
 

SynDen

Administrator
Staff member
M.A.S.C Club Member
M.A.S.C. B.O.D.
M.A.S.C President
M.A.S.C Webmaster
#5
That harvester works really well from what I have seen. I havent cultured brine continuously but have hatched a number of them over the year. Been wanting to try that hatchery.
You could also culture your own spirulina if you really wanting to cut down on food costs.
 

Cherub

Hey you
M.A.S.C Club Member
#7
It's pretty cool so far. Well there's a thousand little dots floating around right now in it. The hang on back filter was kind of just sucking them up so I cant run it until they get bigger. I added an airstone and they seem happy. It's just the first 24 hours with live brine. That hatchery s still producing shrimp too. I used one scoop, per the instructions but that seems excessive. We'll see how many survive to large enough to eat. the size they are now are probably really nice for corals
 

Cherub

Hey you
M.A.S.C Club Member
#9
well they keep dying on me. Not sure what I'm doing wrong. I'm on my third batch now and they hatch then some die a day or so later then a week later they're all dead. idk... I feed them every two days spirulina mixed with tank water. Not very much, I dont want to over feed them. The water is clean, I only run an airstone, and a heater. Any ideas?
 

MuralReef

Administrator
Staff member
M.A.S.C Club Member
M.A.S.C. B.O.D.
MASC Vice-President
#10
Do they need the heater? I thought room temp was always better. What’s the specific gravity of the water? I’ve never had much success either but I also haven’t taken a very scientific approach.


Sent from my iPhone using MASC - Marine Aquarium Society of Colorado
 

MuralReef

Administrator
Staff member
M.A.S.C Club Member
M.A.S.C. B.O.D.
MASC Vice-President
#11
Maybe a yeast suspension to get them growing and then gut load them prior to feeding the tank?


Sent from my iPhone using MASC - Marine Aquarium Society of Colorado
 
#12
well they keep dying on me. Not sure what I'm doing wrong. I'm on my third batch now and they hatch then some die a day or so later then a week later they're all dead. idk... I feed them every two days spirulina mixed with tank water. Not very much, I dont want to over feed them. The water is clean, I only run an airstone, and a heater. Any ideas?
It might be a problem with maintaining food density in that much water. And if you add a lot of spirulina to increase the density then you might have problems with water quality. The David Ramsey videos on YouTube show him using a couple inches of water. Maybe start with a few inches of water and then gradually increase as the shrimp continue to grow? Or use some live phyto just to get things going, since you can tint the water pretty heavily with that and not worry about water quality as much as with a dead food.
 

Cherub

Hey you
M.A.S.C Club Member
#13
thanks for the replies! This batch died already. I might try the yeast thing first, but I will look for that video too Larry. Much appreciated! I had the heater off this run too to see if that helped. nope...
 

MuralReef

Administrator
Staff member
M.A.S.C Club Member
M.A.S.C. B.O.D.
MASC Vice-President
#14
thanks for the replies! This batch died already. I might try the yeast thing first, but I will look for that video too Larry. Much appreciated! I had the heater off this run too to see if that helped. nope...
I have an excerpt from a book I will send you too.


Sent from my iPhone using MASC - Marine Aquarium Society of Colorado
 
Top