Without further rumination, let's assume that we've successfully hatched the eggs and wish to culture the brine shrimp. Given the myriad ways to inadvertently kill these critters, even in a comfortable, controlled environment, it seems counter-intuitive, if not downright discouraging to the aquarist, that an animal of prehistoric pedigree can, in its natural setting, be left high and dry in the summer, desiccated for months under the hot sun, forcibly removed to a faraway clime in the gut of an avian migrant, re-deposited in a hyper-saline lake devoid of life, and subjected to subfreezing temperatures, only to emerge from its capsule to thrive again and even propagate. The following primer is designed to help obviate the need to commit the most frequent mistakes - most often, the mistakes of overstocking, overfeeding, underfeeding, inadequate aeration, under-filtration, and providing inappropriate feeds. Yet, raising brine shrimp to maturity in useful numbers is not an easy task and you can expect to spend as much time at it, if not more, as you would breeding and caring for baby fish - often with less-than-hoped for results. They grow quickly, multiplying in weight 500-fold in three to four weeks and increasing in size from 450 microns to 1.5 centimeters in length.They originate in hyper-saline biotopes and, therefore, they are seldom vectors for diseases that affect fish.They can be fed to both marine and freshwater fish, surviving and swimming for hours - even in fresh water.They can be enriched with other feeds or additives, a process often referred to as "bio-encapsulation" in order to deliver HUFAs, antibiotics, or other nutrients to the target species (see SELCO).They are high in protein, ranging from 55% to 60% protein by dry weight, supporting rapid weight gain in young fish.They are soft and easily digestible and contain enzymes that help fish to better utilize other feeds.In addition to moving about the water column, live brine shrimp have a number of other useful traits, namely: For this reason, live brine shrimp will always be an integral part of the solution for sustaining healthy aquarium populations. That having been said, seldom does a soggy, inanimate particle of gelatinized starch and dried fishmeal ignite the feeding response in fish like the herky-jerky swimming antics of a live brine shrimp. These prepared diets and, more importantly, the specific amino acids, lipids, and vitamins they contain are, if not complete replacements for live feed, often necessary additions to a single species diet lacking in one or more of the essential nutrients. Alternatively, there are many convenient and well-formulated artificial, inert diets that purport to completely eliminate the need for such live food. The benefits of feeding live artemia are well known and accepted in the aquarium community. ![]() ![]() What are the guidelines for culturing brine shrimp?
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