Brine Shrimp Phyto

[tbrown]

Question for those in the know? I'm getting ready to start some phyto cultures - 4 different varieties at build out potentially.

I'm also going to be raising apox, tiggers, and tisbe pods.

I'm considering adding some brine shrimp to the mix.

Can brine shrimp be raised and fed only phyto or do they need other feeds?

 

[afboundguy]

What would the brine shrimp be for? I hatch and put them in a Paul B style feeder 1-3 times a day for my mandarin as that's when they're most nutritional.

You can gut load them with phyto after they've been alive for over 24 hours but depending on what you're feeding might not be worth gut loading them.

I culture all three of those pods and have 5-7 strands of phyto going and pods love the mixed phyto! This past rotation of BBS in the dish hatchery I put in left over phyto and the eggs are still hatching.

 

[tbrown]

What would the brine shrimp be for? I hatch and put them in a Paul B style feeder 1-3 times a day for my mandarin as that's when they're most nutritional.

You can gut load them with phyto after they've been alive for over 24 hours but depending on what you're feeding might not be worth gut loading them.

I culture all three of those pods and have 5-7 strands of phyto going and pods love the mixed phyto! This past rotation of BBS in the dish hatchery I put in left over phyto and the eggs are still hatching.

I'm hoping to eventually add a Mandarin or Dragonette but the brine Shrimp would just be for some different offerings of food for the fish. I've read that they're not very nutritious but that you can gut load them with phyto to make them "more" nutritious so I was just curious if they could survive on phyto alone and if that would make them better?

 

[afboundguy]

I'm hoping to eventually add a Mandarin or Dragonette but the brine Shrimp would just be for some different offerings of food for the fish. I've read that they're not very nutritious but that you can gut load them with phyto to make them "more" nutritious so I was just curious if they could survive on phyto alone and if that would make them better?

They are super fatty and "nutritional" when first born within first 24 hours. After roughly 24 hours they consume their yolk sack and their mouth develops and they loose nutritional value. At that point you can gut load them with phyto so that's the way to make them nutritional.

I just add my freshly hatched BBS to the mandarin hatchery disk and mandarin picks them off pretty quickly. If any survive I'm sure they guy load on everything in my tank.