Spirulina Brine Shrimp Vs Brine Shrimp? All Answers

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Due to the variety of new and specialized fish food products, fish owners rarely think about raising food for their pets, but it is certainly possible to do so. Although such an endeavor requires some experience with a saltwater system, as well as a certain level of creative innovation, raising live food such as brine shrimp can be rewarding.

Brine shrimp are a popular species for home culture because maintaining a population of them is relatively easy—especially if you know a little about their lifestyle. This zooplankton is also called Artemia and belongs to the crustaceans like shrimp, crabs and lobsters.

By following these basic guidelines and combining them with your experience, you can maintain a healthy population of Artemia. Once you tinker with a system that works, you can just sit back and watch another scene of nature unfold as your fish chase and devour their homegrown prey.

Raising Artemia: First Steps

You should start with a 10 gallon glass tank. Take a thin sheet of acrylic or formica slightly larger than the tank’s dimensions and insert it into the bottom of the tank, creating a concave surface. Seal the seams around the acrylic with silicone. You want to eliminate corners that become dead spaces that impede water circulation and collect hatched clams and other debris. To improve circulation, depending on how creative you want to get, you can glue a divider in the middle of the tank forming a running track.

circulation and ventilation

Setting up a circulation system can be difficult. In order to grow healthy adult Artemia, strong aeration and good water circulation are essential. You need to find a way to manipulate your pump so that the water continuously circulates through all areas of the tank. When using air vents, only use ones that form large bubbles, as brine shrimp will ingest small air bubbles (or become lodged in their swimming appendages), forcing them to the surface where they will eventually die.

lighting, temperature and water quality

Brine shrimp are attracted to light, so use a low light level or they will expend much of their energy (which lowers their quality) staying close to the light source. A 60 to 100 watt light will do, but hatching requires higher light levels (2000 lux constant lighting). Optimal temperature conditions range from around 77 to 86 degrees Fahrenheit, depending on the strain being cultivated. They prefer a salinity between 30-35 ppt and a pH of around 8.

maintenance

To ensure adequate water quality, change about 20 percent of the water every week and clean the bottom of the tank every few days. To do this, turn off the air and let the tank sit. Shine a flashlight on the surface and wait a moment for the Artemia to be attracted to it. Vacuum the material at the bottom, which is mostly melted shells.

Artemia Life Cycle

Start by purchasing a packet of dehydrated Artemia cysts from an aquarium or pet store. These cysts can remain viable for many years provided they are kept dry and not exposed to air – a container in the refrigerator will keep them well. The cysts contain dormant embryos that will resume development once placed in water.

After 15 to 20 hours in approximately 77 degree Fahrenheit water, the cysts rupture and the embryo exits the shell. In this “umbrella” stage, the embryo hangs beneath the cyst envelope, still surrounded by a membrane.

Once it detaches from its shell, it becomes a free-swimming young shrimp called nauplii. It is brownish in color from the yolk it bears to complete its development. After about 12 hours, these nauplii molt and start feeding normally, filtering tiny particles like microalgae and bacteria out of the water.

It takes about eight days and 15 molts for nauplii to mature. With low salinity and good feeding conditions, females produce 10 to 11 broods of a few hundred free-swimming nauplii over about 50 days. Adult Artemia grow to about 8mm long but can reach 20mm in the right environment.

During their life cycle, brine shrimp will change in quality, a major consideration for the aquarist. Newly hatched shrimp are high in fat (about 23 percent dry weight) that is consumed during their development (drops to about 7 percent before adulthood).

However, adult sheets are high in protein: about 63 percent compared to 45 percent for the nauplii. So if you have young fish that need a high-fat diet for their growth, you need to harvest nauplii. But if your tank has a lot of older juveniles and adults that need a high protein diet for health and reproduction, adult Artemia are better.

Harvest your Artemia

To harvest the nauplii, turn off the air and let the brew sit for about 10 minutes. Hatched empty clams float to the surface; unhatched cysts sink to the bottom. The Napulii also focus on the ground. Since they are attracted to the light, use a flashlight to propel them to where you can scoop them out with a paper cup. Harvesting the adults can be done in the same way, and the larger adults can be caught in mesh nets. Unhatched cysts can be collected and used for another batch or saved in case something goes wrong and you have to start over.

Feed your Artemia

Artemia are filter feeders, consuming particles in the water column and inert nutrients. Newly available fortification formulas like Selcon are highly recommended, but you can feed them shrimp fish meal, egg yolk, whey, soybean powder or wheat flour. Dried seaweed such as spirulina can also be used. Do not overload the tank with inert foods as this will cause fouling and low oxygen levels. Continuous drip feeding is best. Small amounts several times a day also work.

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Who Benefits Do you have an aquarium full of vegetable eaters? Then choosing the right Spirulina fish food is important! But why should you buy spirulina fish food? And what is spirulina anyway?

What is spirulina seaweed? Spirulina is a planktonic alga that occurs naturally in volcanic lakes, most commonly in Africa, Asia, South America, and Central America. These lakes are filled with the compounds that spirulina algae need to grow, namely salt, iron, potassium phosphate, potassium nitrate, and sodium bicarbonate. However, it does not require a source of carbon or living energy to make its own food. Spirulina gets its name from its spiral-shaped structure, although you have to look through a microscope to see what it looks like. To the naked eye, spirulina algae looks like dark green algal grass or something you would find at the bottom of a river. Despite its odd appearance, spirulina is a nutritious food source. It’s packed with beta-carotene, vitamin B12, and protein, which makes up between 60 and 70 percent of the plant. In fact, the protein in Spirulina is a complete protein that is usually difficult to find in plants. It also has 62% amino acid content. The nutrients in spirulina are just as important to human nutrition as they are to fish. History shows that the Aztecs were harvesting spirulina as a food source as far back as the 16th century. They knew it helped them stay healthy and strong and they had a comfortable lake to grow it. Today Spirulina is grown all over the world for humans and fish.

Why is Choosing Spirulina Good for Fish? Spirulina is good for fish as it is for humans for many of the same reasons. It offers complete proteins despite being plant derived – one of the few plants that do. It can also boost the fish’s immune system to fight off diseases and bacteria before they cause problems with your fish. In fact, there are lower rates of disease in fish fed Spirulina, meaning your fish can live longer and healthier lives. Many fish owners like spirulina fish food flakes because they help keep the colors of your fish bright and stunning, especially koi, goldfish, betta fish and tropheus cichlids, although it works for many other fish too. It is also known to aid in digestion and is easily digested by older or weak fish compared to other soy or meat based fish foods.

Fun Spirulina Facts Spirulina has been around for a while, which has led to an interesting story. These fun facts show why it’s so cool. Spirulina’s best-known claim to fame in the animal kingdom is as a food for flamingos. Three species of flamingos feed on the spirulina algae that grow in the lakes where they live and breed. The high beta-carotene content in spirulina keeps their feathers pink (and sometimes orange).

Spirulina contains seven important vitamins – A1, B1, B2, B6, B12, C and E.

Both NASA and the European Space Agency proposed spirulina as one of the staple foods to be grown during long-term space missions.

Around 11,000 tons of spirulina algae are produced worldwide every year. The United States is the largest producer, followed by Thailand, India and China. Although spirulina seaweed is primarily a fish food in the commercial market, it has a strong following in the health food industry.

Where to buy spirulina fish food?

buy now

Spirulina fish food like Spirulina Fish Food Flake Frenzy and other HBH products are the best spirulina fish food options for your pet. Spirulina Fish Food Flakes are available from Pisces Pros at great prices. You can find spirulina fish food in bulk or wholesale spirulina fish food as well as individual containers according to your needs. Pisces Pro has the right spirulina fish food for you. Whether you need Spirulina Fish Flake Rush, other Spirulina Fish Flakes, Betta Fish Food, or Frog Food, Pisces Pros has you covered. Visit Picespros.com or contact us to order.

How to Feed Fish Spirulina Fish Food 1. Find the Right Food: If you’re interested in finding a healthy, vegetarian food source for your fish, look for a flake that uses spirulina as a key ingredient. HBH Spirulina Fish Food Flakes like HBH Veggie Flakes are good for vegetarians and are made with Spirulina to keep your fish happy. 2. Feed your fish: All you have to do is sprinkle in a few pinches (or more depending on the number of fish and size of your tank) and watch the HBH Spirulina fish food gobble up. 3. Consider your options: There is no other spirulina fish food list as you cannot buy any other organism that contains spirulina. It’s the only source. However, they can do something called bug stuffing. Even carnivorous fish benefit from spirulina – stuff or feed bugs with spirulina before feeding the bugs to your fish. This recreates feeding situations as they would occur in the wild when eating herbivores.

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You can also visit our Amazon store directly to get a quicker overview of all the products we make. Also, check out all the great reviews that have been left on each of our products. You can also leave us a message there if you need more information about a specific Pisces Pros product.

“It is absolutely wonderful…my seahorses literally fell on top of each other…at this feeding they were excited to eat ‘frozen’ shrimp. They loved it almost as much as live shrimp!!

C.B., Colorado

Freshly frozen adult brine shrimp harvested from hypersaline artificial ponds make excellent food for almost any fish. Not only is it a great source of amino acids, but it is also a natural source of exogenous enzymes to promote better absorption of inert diets – an important factor in feeding farmed fish. Use in conjunction with our Flake Diets Plus and/or GP Diets or other premium feeds for best results.

Product is quickly dewatered and frozen on site, resulting in better product integrity and preservation. Densely packed, nutritious flat packs available.

Packed in dry ice for shipping to most locations via Fedex Second Day Service. If you have any questions or would like to confirm shipping costs, please call (1-800-303-7914). The product is only shipped on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays unless otherwise agreed.

Proximity Analysis: Moisture, 92.2%; protein, 4.3%; ash, 1.5%; fat, 0.3%; Other, 1.7% [dry weight conversion: protein, 52%; ash, 18%; fat, 4%; humidity, 6%; Other, 20% (Wasatch Laboratories)]

Do you feed your saltwater fish flake food, pellets or frozen Mysis? How about live brine shrimp or live fish food in general? In this article I will explain the benefits of feeding your fish live food, especially Artemia (Artemia salina). These creatures can be extremely nutritious for your livestock and are suitable for all levels of marine aquarists.

Background of Artemia Salina Artemia

Brine shrimp (Artemia salina) are small, filter-eating crustaceans that live in saltwater habitats. They grow to around 8mm and take about a week to mature, depending on conditions. Once mature, they can live for several months and produce up to 75 eggs per day. They live in a variety of different inland and coastal saline habitats. These creatures have remarkable resistance to changes in temperature and salinity. Their gills allow them to survive these conditions by absorbing or extracting ions when needed. They can therefore live in most parts of the world offshore, in lakes or in artificial bodies of water. For feeding, they use structures on their legs to capture phytoplankton.

Benefits for your tank

Most people would agree that it is far easier to feed your saltwater fish flakes or pellets than live brine shrimp, copepods, amphipods or even frozen food. While dry food has its advantages, it is beneficial to feed your fish a variety of foods. Imagine only eating potatoes to get you through each day. You would survive, but you wouldn’t be completely healthy for long. The same goes for the fish in your aquarium; They can survive on kibble, but they’re not as healthy as they could possibly be. Hobbyists most likely avoid feeding live food because it’s not as easy to use as dry food, too expensive, or they doubt it will have any real positive effects on their tank. If you’ve been in this hobby for a long time, you’ve probably heard the phrase, “You get out what you put in.” This also applies to feeding.

[LiveFoods]

If you feed your fish well, they will live with amazingly bright colors for a long time. Otherwise, they will simply survive until their shortened life ends. Feeding your fish different types of food will encourage better coloring and longer life. As marine aquarists, our main goal is to replicate the natural environment of the ocean in our reef aquariums as closely as possible. In natural reefs, fish are not fed flake food or frozen food. They hunt and eat living organisms enriched with nutrients from the natural environment. Why shouldn’t we at least try to do the same in our aquariums? By feeding them live food, you more closely mimic the marine environment in which they naturally inhabit. Another popular reason for feeding live brine is to meet the needs of finicky fish. Fish such as dragonflies, butterflies or anthias are all fish that are notoriously difficult to keep successfully due to their dietary needs. Live food can be used to train these fish to eat a specific type of food (e.g. frozen food). You can also feed live food regularly, which would be best for the fish but is not required. While most people feed copepods, brine shrimp are also a good option. They are just as useful as rotifers and copepods for feeding. The downside is that in a fully stocked reef tank they cannot reproduce or even last for more than an hour.

Copepods are not large enough to support many aquarium fish. On the other hand, brine shrimp can be eaten by most or all of the fish in your reef tank.

Live or frozen food?

Why is live brine better than frozen brine? It’s simply because frozen foods are generally lacking in some nutrients. It can have less than dry food. Some aquarists fix this by soaking the food in supplements and dietary supplements. The problem with this is that it’s even more unnatural. It could also be more expensive and require more work. It seems that live food is the way to go.

How to add Artemia salina to a tank

Feeding Artemia to your fish is very easy. First, make sure you acclimate them to the temperature by floating them in a container in your tank. It is good to do this so that the shrimp are not stunned when you first put them in the aquarium. While this is important, brine shrimp are very tolerant of sudden changes. Don’t worry too much about it, just keep it in mind. Before you fill them up, turn off all your pumps and powerheads, otherwise they could simply be chopped up in the powerheads or sucked into your filtration system. Now you can use them. I recommend dumping them all at different times throughout the tank over a five minute period rather than in the same spot at once. Unlike copepods, amphipods, or rotifers, you shouldn’t put them in a swamp, sanctuary, or at night. The reason you would do this (in the case of copepods, amphipods, etc.) is so they can avoid being eaten entirely by fish and start reproducing. However, brine crabs are unlikely to reproduce in your sanctuary like these other small crustaceans.

Conclusion

Artemia (Artemia salina) (especially Nano-Artemia) is an excellent live food that can be used in any saltwater aquarium. They are more nutritionally complete than most dry or frozen foods. They can also be used to feed or train finicky fish. As with everything else in the hobby, there are many ways to feed brine shrimp, so don’t be afraid to try your own methods!

Breeding a crustacean species

Brine shrimp have the ability to produce dormant eggs known as cysts. This has led to extensive use of Artemia in aquaculture. The cysts can be stored for long periods and incubated when needed to provide a convenient form of live food for fish and crustacean larvae.[1]

Artemia nauplii from cysts can be used to feed fish and crustacean larvae after just one day of incubation. Stage I (the newly hatched nauplii with large reserves of yolk in the body) and stage II (the nauplii after the first moult and with a functioning digestive tract) are more commonly used in aquaculture because they are easy to handle, nutrient rich and small in size, resulting in they are suitable for feeding fish and crustacean larvae live or after drying.

diet [edit]

Artemia cyst

Artemia nauplii do not feed in their first stage of development, but use up their own energy reserves stored in the cyst.[2] Wild brine shrimp eat microscopic planktonic algae. Cultured brine shrimp can also be fed particulate foods such as yeast, wheat flour, soybean powder, or egg yolk.[3]

reproduction[ edit ]

Adult female brine shrimp ovulate approximately every 140 hours. Under favorable conditions, the female Artemia can produce eggs that hatch almost immediately. Under extreme conditions, such as B. low oxygen level or salinity above 150 ‰, female brine shrimp produce eggs with a chorionic coating that is brown in color. Also known as cysts, these eggs are metabolically inactive and can remain in complete stasis for two years in dry, oxygen-free conditions, even in freezing temperatures. This property is called cryptobiosis, which means “hidden life”. During cryptobiosis, Artemia eggs can survive temperatures of liquid air (−190 °C or −310.0 °F), and a small percentage can survive above boiling temperature (105 °C or 221 °F) for up to two hours. [4 ] Once placed in salt water (>5‰), the eggs hatch within a few hours. The nauplii or larvae are less than 0.4 mm long when first hatched. Brine shrimp have a biological life cycle of 3-4 months

Nutritional benefits[edit]

As there is not yet an artificial feed formulation that can completely replace brine shrimp, feeding live prey to juvenile fish and crustacean larvae remains essential in commercial hatchery operations. The nutritional properties of newly hatched Artemia are rich in lipids and unsaturated fatty acids.[5] Dried Artemia nauplii contain 37–71% protein, 12–30% lipids, 11–23% carbohydrates, and 4–21% ash.[6]

The fatty acid composition of nauplii is strongly influenced by the environment. The nutritional quality of commercially available Artemia strains is also relatively low in eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, 20:5n-3) and in particular docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6n-3). Because these components are critical to larval development, it is common to feed this live prey with marine oil emulsions rich in EPA and DHA, referred to as the enrichment process.[1]

Industrial Hatchery[ edit ]

Since the development of commercial marine fish farming in the late 1970s, demand for Artemia cysts has gradually increased from a few tons to about 800 tons per year, accounting for about 40% of the total aquaculture demand for early-stage feed. The price of cysts has varied over the past several decades based on demand and the quality of the cysts.[2] For the past 25 years, the Great Salt Lake in the United States has been the primary supplier of brine shrimp cysts to the world aquaculture industry and has been the subject of much speculation about its ability to sustain a growing aquaculture industry.[7] However, due to the unpredictable fluctuations in cyst yield from the Great Salt Lake, there are other sites for cyst production such as Lake Urmia in Iran, Lake Aibi in China, Bolshoye Yarovoye in Siberia, Kara Bogaz Gol in Turkmenistan, and several lakes in Kazakhstan. [7]

Although the brine shrimp hatching process is relatively simple and easy to manage, a number of factors need to be controlled and monitored to get the most out of the cysts. The critical factors are light, temperature, salinity, oxygen levels, pH and cyst density, which vary between different Artemia strains.[8] Hatch quality can be described by hatch efficiency (number of nauplii per gram of cysts), hatch percentage, or hatch synchronicity (time between the first and last cyst hatch).

There are six stages in the hatching and development of the industrial hatchery for brine shrimp.[1]

Artemia nauplii should be separated from the brood waste after hatching and before feeding to the fish or crustacean larvae. After turning off the aeration in the breeding tank, the cyst shells will float and the nauplii will gather at the bottom of the tank. The nauplii are further concentrated in a concentrator rinse and separated from the cysts. The process of accumulation, if required, generally takes place after the nauplii have developed a digestive tract.[1]

When it comes to feeding your betta, there is a lot of conflicting information out there. Some people will tell you that bettas can eat anything you put in the tank, while others will tell you that although they are hardy fish, they will need a strict diet. So you may be wondering if brine shrimp is good for your betta!

Not only will this article tell you if they are good or not, but you will also learn the best ways to feed them to your Betta and how they compare to other types of food you can feed your fish well!

So read on to find out everything you want to know!

Are brine shrimp good for bettas?

To answer the question, yes, brine shrimp are great for bettas! And when they supplement your betta’s diet, they will do wonders for your betta’s health!

What are the benefits of Artemia?

Brine shrimp actually have a number of benefits for your betta! Here are a few reasons why you should feed them every once in a while!

One of the best reasons to give your betta shrimp is because they fill your hunting need! Adding live brine shrimp to your Bettas tank will keep him entertained for hours as he hunts down and attempts to eat those in the tank.

As long as you buy them from a reputable seller, unlike some other live foods, the brine shrimp are highly unlikely to transmit disease.

They are also good for digestion. If your betta suffers from frequent constipation or you only feed it pellets or flakes, adding brine shrimp can improve its digestive system and help your betta stay regular.

But do bettas like brine shrimp?

Obviously, this all depends on your betta. Some Bettas will love brine shrimp, and there will also be a couple who don’t like them at all. In most cases, however, you can be fairly certain that your betta will love eating brine shrimp.

Can you feed an Artemia every day?

It is not recommended to feed your betta artemia every day, but to add them as a supplement to your betta’s diet. If you feed your Betta Artemia too often, they may lose some of the nutrients they need to thrive. That’s why it’s best to have a quality pellet as a staple diet and then supplement his diet with different types of food.

How Often Should You Feed Your Betta Artemia?

When feeding your Betta Artemia it is often best to supplement them about 2 or 3 times a week. This way you can still provide them with all the nutrients they need, but you can also ensure that they enjoy Artemia often!

How to feed brine shrimp to betta

How you feed brine shrimp to your Betta depends entirely on the type of brine shrimp you give them! Here’s how to feed your betta each type, plus the pros and cons of each!

Live Artemia

Live brine shrimp will take the most time to feed your betta, but even then, the time required to prepare them is minimal and will definitely outweigh how good they are for your betta.

If you plan to give your betta brine shrimp, the first thing to do is get them used to your betta’s tank. If you don’t do this, the sudden change in parameters can stun the Artemia, making it too easy for your betta to eat.

To acclimatize them, simply float the bag they are in at the top of the tank for about 20 minutes so the water temperature stays the same.

And once you’ve done that, don’t just throw them in the water all at once. Instead, spread her release out over a few minutes and make sure you drop her around the tank. That way, they’re less likely to all flock to a place that’s hard for your betta to reach.

What are the benefits of live brine shrimp?

They will satisfy your Betta’s hunting urges and stimulate their mind.

They contain more nutrients compared to freeze-dried and frozen Artemia because they are fresher.

They will not rot in the tank unless they die.

What are the disadvantages of live brine shrimp?

Live food will cost more than freeze dried and frozen food.

There is a higher risk of diseases and illnesses being transmitted from the Artemia to your betta.

And obviously, live brine shrimp won’t be able to survive as long as other forms of food because they’re still alive.

Frozen Artemia

If you are planning to feed your betta frozen Artemia then prepare it for your betta as follows.

The frozen Artemia come in cubes, so you only need to cut a small amount of Artemia from the cube. When chopping up the brine shrimp, try to keep the amount you feed your betta about the same size as the pellet you would normally feed it.

Once you’ve chopped off the brine shrimp, place them in a small glass of water in your betta tank to allow them to thaw. And once they’re thawed, all you have to do is pop them in the tank and watch your betta eat them!

Benefits of Frozen Artemia

One of the best things about frozen brine shrimp is their ability to store them. Obviously it will take a long time because it’s frozen.

While frozen brine shrimp don’t contain as many nutrients as live brine shrimp, they still have more than freeze-dried brine shrimp.

Because it’s frozen, your tank is less likely to be contaminated by parasites or bacteria.

Disadvantages of Frozen Artemia

One problem with frozen brine shrimp is the prep time it takes to give them to your betta. Feeding your frozen betta shrimp can be a chore when you’re in a hurry.

Frozen food will not trigger the same hunting instinct in your betta as live food.

Freeze-dried Artemia

And the last thing on the list of brine shrimp to feed your betta is freeze dried! If you want to re-feed your freeze-dried betta shrimp, you will need to soak them in aquarium water. Once it’s soaked, you can drop it into the tank.

If you don’t soak the freeze-dried brine shrimp first and your betta eats it too quickly, it could expand in their stomach, causing constipation or worse.

Benefits of Freeze Dried Artemia

They’re still pretty nutritious, even compared to live brine shrimp!

They are generally the easiest foods to use. You can just keep a tub next to your fish tank and use it little by little.

Disadvantages of freeze-dried Artemia

Because they have been dehydrated, they are the most likely to cause digestive problems of the three.

Artemia or mosquito larvae for fighting fish?

99% of the time you should be feeding your betta brine shrimp instead of bloodworms. Because bloodworms lack many of the nutritional values ​​that bettas need, overfeeding them can lead to digestive problems. As such, they should be used as a treat rather than a regular part of your betta’s diet.

Artemia or Daphnia for fighting fish?

While both brine shrimp and daphnia are amazing for bettas, daphnia tend to be slightly better as they can improve your betta’s digestion a little more than brine shrimp. However, if you only have access to brine shrimp, they will be more than suitable for your betta!

recap

As you can see, brine shrimp are an excellent food source for your betta and you should definitely consider making them a supplement to your betta’s diet! The species you use is up to you, but if you want your Betta to enjoy them the most then I would definitely choose live Artemia!

I hope you enjoyed this article, and if you did, be sure to check out the rest of the site!

Frozen Artemia

I enjoy and rely on your site a lot and wonder if you have any more questions to answer. I have some frozen brine shrimp in a grid of small packets and I’m wondering what I do with them – how long does it take for the betta to eat one packet and should I store this portion in the fridge or freezer? How do you cut off a portion? Should I let it thaw to room temperature? Sorry, I know this is a pretty small question and one I’ll figure out for myself eventually, but I’m a new fish owner and I don’t want to do anything wrong.

A: Artemia is an excellent food for your bettas as part of a balanced diet. Frozen brine shrimp like those made by San Francisco Bay Brand or Hikari are most often sold in flat packs or in individually portioned cubes like the one you describe. With a Betta fish, one cube can go a long way, often lasting a week or more. When feeding in conjunction with other feeds, if stored properly, one pack will last one fish for a year.

Frozen Food Storage: The big brands carefully sterilize their frozen fish foods to kill any harmful bacteria that can make your fish sick. Provided it has been transported correctly and stored quickly by the fish shop staff, the frozen fish food you receive will be safe for your betta. However, the cube packs melt quickly and should be stored in your freezer as soon as possible. I recommend transporting them in a cooler to avoid thawing, especially in warm weather. Refreezing thawed meat (even brine shrimp) increases the likelihood of transferring bacteria to your betta.

Portioning: Bettas are prone to gas and overeating, so small portion sizes are key. A portion of Betta food should be about the size of his eyeball. This amount can be fed two to three times a day. I can often only feed my bettas once a day, so I tend to feed just a little bit more each day, maybe twice the size of their eyeballs. If your betta appears bloated after feeding, reduce the portion size.

I’m sure if you asked 20 people how they split up their frozen cubes of brine shrimp, you’d get 20 different answers. Here’s how I do it… I take a frozen cube from the packet and put it in a zip-top sandwich bag. I position it on the counter in the middle of the bag and tap it VERY lightly with a hammer a few times. Because of all the meat in the cube, it tends to crush rather than split like an ice cube. If you hit it too hard you’ll either damage your countertop or send the cube through your pocket, over your kitchen bar, past your living room furniture where it’ll bounce off your glass patio door and onto the floor where it’ll be quick of your cats examined. So I don’t recommend hitting too hard.

Assuming you’ve mashed it up lightly with a hammer (a rolling pin will do, too), you can scoop out a small portion with a toothpick and feed it directly to your fish, or swish it around in its tank to break it up into small pieces. If he likes the brine shrimp, which most do, he will chase all the small pieces and keep searching long after he’s eaten each piece. The brine shrimp melt almost immediately upon entering the water, so thawing is not necessary in most cases. The leftover in the sandwich bag should be immediately placed back in your freezer for another day. I’m not sure how long it keeps well in the sandwich bag, but personally I throw out all open frozen fish dishes after about 7 days. It’s so cheap that I don’t bother making it last longer, and once it’s open there’s a greater chance of introducing bacteria.

We’d love to hear how others feed their bettas. Please share your feeding routine with us in the comments.

Learn more about feeding Betta fish.

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Alohadood Registered Member

Joined Date: February 2013 Location: Coralville, Iowa Contributions: 23

Not to kick an old thread, but I was searching the interwebz for exactly that…

I’ve found that there are probably around 5-15 clear or muddy white shrimp in my filters that slide to the bottom. I can’t identify them at all, but they are alive. It’s fairly regular and I don’t have any shrimp breeding so I’m sure the tank is old enough that any hitchhikers I would have seen a long time ago… I can say with some certainty these ones come from feeding. You are alive and well alive. The first time I noticed them was when I dropped an upside down bag in the washing machine. it hit and they all scattered and started flopping… swear to god.

Enrichment of Artemia (brine shrimp) – With the in-house enrichment of Seahorse Savvy

Why enrich Artemia?

Enriching (feeding) your Artemia babies (BBS) makes them much more nutritious for your pygmy seahorses or growing seahorse brood. Feeding pygmy seahorses unenriched brine shrimp will have little long-term success. We enrich our Bbs with our own in-house enrichment, specially developed for raising seahorse fry and keeping pygmy seahorses. We highly recommend this step as bbs are not very nutritious on their own. Developed by our staff, our in-house enrichment is what all our seahorse brood and pygmy seahorses are raised on our farm with. Our proprietary fortification consists of spirulina, probiotics, astaxanthin, proteins, vitamins and more.

When and how to enrich your Artempia nauplii (baby Artemia).

We start enriching our bbs when they are ~24 hours old (24 hours after hatching). At this point, their intestines are fully developed. After the Artemia have hatched and we have separated them, we put them in freshly mixed salt water. We fortify our bbs at room temperature.

Our enrichment is dry and should be refrigerated. To prepare fortification, it is mixed in fresh water for about 2 minutes. Once well mixed, add enough fortification to the culture to turn it green. As the water becomes clearer, more fortification can be added. For cultures that are being enriched, a 100% water change every 12 hours is recommended. After the water change, add more enrichment. This is to prevent too much ammonia and bacteria from building up in your culture. Failure to do water changes will result in culture crashes. Clean cultures are key to long-term success with your seahorses.

We fortify our bbs for at least 12 hours before feeding them to our seahorses. At 12 hours, the Artemia gut is fully loaded. For best results, fortify for 24 hours or more. We do not feed Artemia older than ~72 hours as they usually grow too large to be consumed by pygmy seahorses and young seahorse brood.

Enriching adult size brine shrimp

Adult size adult brine shrimp, commonly available from local fishmongers, can also be fortified with our fortification. These are a great snack for your larger seahorse species (not pygmy seahorses). Adult size brine shrimp only need to be enriched 4-6 hours before feeding.

** Brine shrimp culture water should NEVER be added to your aquarium. Artemia culture water is often high in ammonia and bacteria, causing imbalances and problems in your aquarium. Use your strainer to separate the artemia from the culture water before feeding it to your seahorses. Rinse the bbs under cold tap water for about 30 seconds to keep them cleaner.

Our fortification shelf life is approximately 2 years when kept refrigerated or frozen.

For hatching Bbs see our article on hatching Artemia (Baby Brine Shrimp) for Dwarf Seahorses and Seahorse Fry here:

https://seahorsesavvy.com/blogs/news/hatching-artemia-brine-shrimp-for-dwarf-seahorses-and-seahorse-fry

If you have any questions about using our enrichment, please contact us.

Telephone: 410-618-3604

Email: [email protected]

Is there a way to store live artemia babies?

Absolutely! Continue reading….

Reason for keeping live brine shrimp

Storing or holding live brine shrimp in cold temperatures is one way to preserve nutritional quality while maintaining a live food.

Prepare baby Artemia for cold storage

Harvest the baby artemia (BBS) into a fine-mesh net and rinse with fresh water. Divide the harvest of 1 gram Artemia eggs into 3 or 4 shallow dishes (petri dishes) with a saturated salt solution. Put the dishes in the fridge.

The BBS should stay alive for 2-3 days for later feedings.

Benefits of storing baby Artemia

Cold storage of live BBS saves time and eliminates the need to maintain daily broods of Artemia cysts. When newly hatched brine shrimp are stored at 4°C, their metabolism slows down significantly, preserving essential nutrients, lipids and fatty acids that many fish and invertebrate larvae need. Lower metabolism also slows growth and maintains smaller feed particle size for smaller larvae and juveniles.

Subsequent feeding of stored BBS is easy. Simply pour the BBS into a fine mesh net, rinse with fresh water and feed.

Storing live adult brine shrimp in the refrigerator

Can you store live adult brine shrimp? Yes! In fact, many pet stores keep live brine shrimp in the fridge. You put about a quart of live adult brine shrimp in a gallon of clean salt water. To maximize surface area, a shallow, shallow container such as a litter box is used. Ventilation helps, but is not absolutely necessary.

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seonghoonp said: This is way too much work. I’ll just soak my food in it and selectively feed it lol. But it would be ideal to grow live food with chlorella/spirulina. Click to expand…

Soaking doesn’t do anything. Spirulina will only stick to the side of the feed for a while and then fall off immediately when you put it in the tank. If you want to feed the fish spirulina, you have to do something else to get into the fish. e.g. feed it brine shrimp or put it in a gel that the fish will eat.

“Spirulina is galactic: funky, hearty and packed with protein,” says chef Fernando Aciar of Feel Food in NYC. Maybe that’s why he likes to add it to an avocado shake. The vitamin-rich seaweed, which has a concentrated, slightly sulphurous seaweed taste, first began to gain a foothold in health food stores in the 1970s. But nowadays you can go to the corner of Jamba Juice and order it in your smoothie. Would you like to try it yourself? Continue reading.

what you need to know

Spirulina is a type of algae, like seaweed, that grows in freshwater environments such as lakes, rivers, and ponds. The commercial stuff you can buy at health food stores comes from spirulina grown by producers like Nutrex and Earthrise in the US who grow spirulina in closed tanks. Commercial spirulina is most commonly sold as a deep green powder or as a tablet as a dietary supplement. But it’s also used as an ingredient in packaged organic snacks and drinks like Vivapura’s Spirulina Crunchies and GT’s Multi-Green Kombucha.

So how does spirulina go from algae to powder? The founder of Nutrex, Dr. Gerry Cysewski explains that microalgae from the surrounding farm is placed in large enclosed tanks, each containing a total of 150,000 gallons of liquid and nutrients, to cultivate the spirulina until it’s ready for harvest. Once the spirulina is mature, it is pumped out of the pond into a harvesting facility where the algae are sifted out using stainless steel screens. Then the sifted spirulina seaweed paste is laid out and washed three times with drinking water before entering a drying vat that turns it into powder form.

Photo: Nutrex Hawaii Nutrex Hawaii

how to eat it

The two most common forms of commercially available spirulina are powder and tablets. It is also an ingredient in some protein and energy boosting powder blends. You can stir a small spoonful of spirulina powder into a glass of water or juice and drink straight away or add some to a smoothie. Be warned: Even a small amount of highly pigmented spirulina will turn the color of your drink a deep blue-green, almost black. (Have a glass of water handy to avoid a blue-green teeth situation.) You may also find spirulina in some dessert offerings at health food restaurants — sometimes it’s added to raw chocolate brownies or truffle-style energy balls, often made with pureed dates. Nuts, coconut and other natural ingredients.

Some people find spirulina’s slightly zesty sea-veg flavor off-putting, although its intense earthiness can help balance a sweet smoothie or juice. If you go the smoothie route, balance out the overall flavor by combining the spirulina powder with sweet fruits like bananas, pineapple, and mango. If you prefer juice, stir it into a naturally sweet orange or pineapple juice. The only thing you don’t want to do is try a spoonful of powder alone. “That would be like taking a teaspoon of flour,” says Cysewski.

Health Benefits

Spirulina boasts protein, iron, amino acids and antioxidants like beta-carotene. Many spirulina manufacturers will market it as a rich source of plant-based protein, although this can be a little misleading. Although spirulina is typically around 60% protein by weight, the truth is, you would have to eat it in large amounts to get the same amount of protein as you would get from, say, 4 ounces of beef. Many Spirulina eaters report increased energy, and although Nutrex hasn’t done much research on this. Cysewski says he recommends avoiding spirulina before bed.

Breeding a crustacean species

Brine shrimp have the ability to produce dormant eggs known as cysts. This has led to extensive use of Artemia in aquaculture. The cysts can be stored for long periods and incubated when needed to provide a convenient form of live food for fish and crustacean larvae.[1]

Artemia nauplii from cysts can be used to feed fish and crustacean larvae after just one day of incubation. Stage I (the newly hatched nauplii with large reserves of yolk in the body) and stage II (the nauplii after the first moult and with a functioning digestive tract) are more commonly used in aquaculture because they are easy to handle, nutrient rich and small in size, resulting in they are suitable for feeding fish and crustacean larvae live or after drying.

diet [edit]

Artemia cyst

Artemia nauplii do not feed in their first stage of development, but use up their own energy reserves stored in the cyst.[2] Wild brine shrimp eat microscopic planktonic algae. Cultured brine shrimp can also be fed particulate foods such as yeast, wheat flour, soybean powder, or egg yolk.[3]

reproduction[ edit ]

Adult female brine shrimp ovulate approximately every 140 hours. Under favorable conditions, the female Artemia can produce eggs that hatch almost immediately. Under extreme conditions, such as B. low oxygen level or salinity above 150 ‰, female brine shrimp produce eggs with a chorionic coating that is brown in color. Also known as cysts, these eggs are metabolically inactive and can remain in complete stasis for two years in dry, oxygen-free conditions, even in freezing temperatures. This property is called cryptobiosis, which means “hidden life”. During cryptobiosis, Artemia eggs can survive temperatures of liquid air (−190 °C or −310.0 °F), and a small percentage can survive above boiling temperature (105 °C or 221 °F) for up to two hours. [4 ] Once placed in salt water (>5‰), the eggs hatch within a few hours. The nauplii or larvae are less than 0.4 mm long when first hatched. Brine shrimp have a biological life cycle of 3-4 months

Nutritional benefits[edit]

As there is not yet an artificial feed formulation that can completely replace brine shrimp, feeding live prey to juvenile fish and crustacean larvae remains essential in commercial hatchery operations. The nutritional properties of newly hatched Artemia are rich in lipids and unsaturated fatty acids.[5] Dried Artemia nauplii contain 37–71% protein, 12–30% lipids, 11–23% carbohydrates, and 4–21% ash.[6]

The fatty acid composition of nauplii is strongly influenced by the environment. The nutritional quality of commercially available Artemia strains is also relatively low in eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, 20:5n-3) and in particular docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6n-3). Because these components are critical to larval development, it is common to feed this live prey with marine oil emulsions rich in EPA and DHA, referred to as the enrichment process.[1]

Industrial Hatchery[ edit ]

Since the development of commercial marine fish farming in the late 1970s, demand for Artemia cysts has gradually increased from a few tons to about 800 tons per year, accounting for about 40% of the total aquaculture demand for early-stage feed. The price of cysts has varied over the past several decades based on demand and the quality of the cysts.[2] For the past 25 years, the Great Salt Lake in the United States has been the primary supplier of brine shrimp cysts to the world aquaculture industry and has been the subject of much speculation about its ability to sustain a growing aquaculture industry.[7] However, due to the unpredictable fluctuations in cyst yield from the Great Salt Lake, there are other sites for cyst production such as Lake Urmia in Iran, Lake Aibi in China, Bolshoye Yarovoye in Siberia, Kara Bogaz Gol in Turkmenistan, and several lakes in Kazakhstan. [7]

Although the brine shrimp hatching process is relatively simple and easy to manage, a number of factors need to be controlled and monitored to get the most out of the cysts. The critical factors are light, temperature, salinity, oxygen levels, pH and cyst density, which vary between different Artemia strains.[8] Hatch quality can be described by hatch efficiency (number of nauplii per gram of cysts), hatch percentage, or hatch synchronicity (time between the first and last cyst hatch).

There are six stages in the hatching and development of the industrial hatchery for brine shrimp.[1]

Artemia nauplii should be separated from the brood waste after hatching and before feeding to the fish or crustacean larvae. After turning off the aeration in the breeding tank, the cyst shells will float and the nauplii will gather at the bottom of the tank. The nauplii are further concentrated in a concentrator rinse and separated from the cysts. The process of accumulation, if required, generally takes place after the nauplii have developed a digestive tract.[1]

Last summer we published a story announcing Ocean Nutrition’s European awards for their newly launched Sep Art line of Artemia (brine crayfish) cysts and support products. What we didn’t tell you at the time was that we were working to test this product and see if it lived up to the magical hype and claims. We’re officially asking Ocean Nutrition North America to launch this! Here’s why:

Hatching brine shrimp and separating the baby shrimp from the shells and unhatched eggs has always been an easy but tedious task. The problem is that the cysts and shells are indigestible, meaning numerous problems can develop when baby fish ingest them. Until now, the most convenient solution has been to decapsulate the eggs — basically a process of chemically burning off the outer shell, leaving the embryo intact for rehydration and “hatching” while the shells are removed from the equation. DIY decapsulation can be difficult to learn, and commercially available decapsulated eggs (which can be hatched) are not easy to come by.

Now we have a third option. The premise of Sep-Art is very simple. Artemia eggs are coated with a substance that causes the cyst shell to be attracted to magnets. When the harvest water is passed over a powerful magnet, any shells or unhatched eggs are drawn to the magnet and trapped, separating them from the baby brine shrimp.

I have been using the Sep-Art Separator and Sep-Art Artemia Cysts personally for months. The brine shrimp produced are fantastic; I’ve used them with both freshwater and marine fish. Running my AquaMedic Plankton Reactor as my primary incubator, I not only used the Sep Art cysts, but also compared them to classic Artemia eggs as well as my longtime favorite, the decapsulated hatching eggs available through SeahorseSource.com. Now that more than half of the canister of Sep Art Cysts is gone, I’m really scratching my head about what I’ll do when it’s gone!

The delimiter is easy to understand; What I received was a plastic cup with a heavy magnetic base, along with a small bag of Sep Artemia cysts.

How strong is the magnet? Watch this video demonstration:

The premise is simple. You incubate these Artemia eggs like any other egg.

The beauty is in the harvest. I usually have to turn off the air supply to the plankton reactor 24 to 36 hours later. In about 5 minutes, unhatched cysts sink to the bottom. The shells of hatched cysts float. And the lower part of the incubator is filled with newly hatched Artemia baby nauplii. Time to set up the separator.

time to harvest. Note the outflow tube filled with unhatched cysts, as well as the unhatched cysts resting on the base and sides of the cone-shaped floor.

The separator fills with a concentrate consisting mainly of newly hatched brine shrimp and unhatched cysts. My plankton reactor holds about 5 separators of water. However, since the brine shrimp drag towards the bottom of the reactor before harvest, I get most of it in the very first cup.

There are two very important comments I must add. Too often I turn off the air supply to allow the hatchery/reactor separation to take place, but then get distracted with another project. Who wants to sit for 5 minutes and just watch eggs sink and swim? Well, if you wait too long, the shells will all float to the surface, effectively preventing gas exchange; The end result is that if you leave this session for a few hours you will easily kill whatever you just hatched. I’ve done it too many times and it’s very frustrating.

However, harvesting brine shrimp cup by cup is time consuming. Because the water seeps out of the reactor relatively slowly, I often feel tempted to do something else for a minute… during that time I forget to drain the water and end up with some or all of the Newly Hatched Brine Prawns now on my basement floor, save what is left in the separator cup! I haven’t found any really good solutions to these timing issues, and if there was one downside to this process, it’s the time it takes.

Yes, we’re not done with the time, because once you’ve harvested a separator amount of water, cysts, and Artemia babies, you need to let it rest for another 5-10 minutes while the cysts sink or are attracted to the magnetic bottom. Look closely at the bottom of the water part (not the first division at the top, but the second at the top center of the blue part of the separator).

After giving things a minute to settle and get caught, simply pour off the liquid and baby artemia.

And the unhatched cysts and egg shells remain trapped on the Sep-Art Separator’s magnetic base.

You end up with 99.9% pure baby brine shrimp.

Check out this short video from Ocean Nutrition showing magnetic separation in action!

As mentioned, I get MOST of the brine shrimp on the first turn of the plankton reactor; Most aquarists could call it quits, throw away the rest and let it go. Me? no Sometimes I’ll turn the hatchery back on and toss some RotiGrow, RotiGreen or Selcon into the plankton reactor and let it run for another 12-24 hours which will cause the brine shrimp to molt and build up and presumably also give unhatched eggs another chance to hatch. I then repeat the harvesting process again and now get bigger baby shrimp for older fish.

Other times I harvest the entire plankton reactor on the spot because I like to get every last Artemia baby out of it. Of course, all of those memories I mentioned earlier of forgetting the harvest or forgetting that it’s actively being emptied mean that I often flood my basement with what was left of what was in there, even if I didn’t get the harvest’s worth the first time mug screw up the hatchery!

discussion

There are two main questions anyone who needs to hatch brine shrimp must ask – what are the hatchability rates and what is the cost? Well, I haven’t calculated the hatch rates, but maybe that’s because these cysts far outperform the standard Artemia eggs I have on hand. They also far exceed what I can get from a typical serving of decapsulated eggs.

When it comes to cost, it might be difficult to answer. As we reported last summer, it’s possible the 200 gram container of cysts will sell individually for the equivalent of $137. For comparison, 8 ounces of the most expensive Artemia eggs at BrineShrimpDirect are only $36. That would mean that the Sep Art eggs cost almost 4x more than the best regular eggs. Is it worth? Well…I’m willing to say *maybe*. Finally, you have to consider how soon you will use these brine shrimp eggs and what is the actual cost. At the current rate at which I am consuming these Sep Art cysts, my cost per day is probably only $0.50.

It is safe to say that if these Sep-Art Artemia Eggs/Cysts were available, they would probably be the most expensive option on the market. However, our friends at Ocean Nutrition Europe emphasized that the European pricing structures are fundamentally different from the US pricing structures – “If we buy pants in Europe, they cost 90 euros, while the same pair of pants from the same brand costs only 29 USD in the USA . Our tax system, the costs and everything that goes with it makes the cost structure in Europe and the US completely different.” While European pricing translates into seemingly insanely high USD, perhaps US pricing would be completely different. Or maybe not.

I’ve looked at other seemingly “expensive” products in the past and later said, “You know what, it seems expensive, but it’s actually cheaper when you do the math.” I’m not sure I’m making that point in full here can, but you’re certainly getting better Artemia for the money. While it might hurt paying $137 for 200 grams of Sep Art cysts in the US, I *would* do it if I’m working with a regular “premium” egg and find it falls short in comparison ( my current Artemia eggs/cysts are standard, nothing special, I have yet to do a “premium” head-to-head).

Overall, the Sep Art product consistently produces the cleanest, shell-free results on any brine shrimp I have worked with. The hatches “feel” ample for the volume of cysts I set up. The brood water is always clean and unscented which means I have no qualms about storing the concentrated brine shrimp and brood water in my fridge where they will keep for a few days. To be honest, I hardly bother rinsing the nauplii before feeding anymore; I just didn’t have the bacterial issues that I’ve seen with other eggs.

Ultimately, this is a product I really want to see in the US, although I hope the prices aren’t quite as astronomical as the EU prices would suggest. Anyone in need of a constant supply of high quality, live Artemia babies could really benefit from this system. Please, Ocean Nutrition, bring Sep-Art to North America…do it!

Additional information:

Sep art guide available online

Sep-Art video demonstration by Ocean Nutrition Europe

Sep Art at the Interzoo

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