Dosing pump as a brine shrimp autofeeder?

[GothFishKeeper]

Sometime in the next few weeks I’ll finally be putting dwarf seahorses in my macroalgae tank, and i was told they should only be eating live baby brine shrimp 3 times a day. I have the kit from brs to hatch them and I’ve made a couple batches and they’ve turned out well. I don’t mind feeding that often, but I’m wondering if it’s possible to use any kind of dosing pump attached to a small resovoir of bbs as an autofeeder just to make it easier on me.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Ideas?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Yes, I dose live phyto and have dosed Arctipods on a doser. Both were from a fridge or cold chest.

 

[rhitee93]

Interesting! Do they not get "squished" (highly technical term) going through the rollers of the pump?

 

[GothFishKeeper]

Interesting! Do they not get "squished" (highly technical term) going through the rollers of the pump?

That’s the thing i was wondering about too, maybe some inevitably do but since they’re so small most of them make it through?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Most of the liquid just moves forward as the rollers pinch and move. I don’t think things get crushed.

 

[Fish Fan]

How long would the baby brine remain alive/viable in a setup like this? I'm thinking a day or two max? Thanks guys!

 

[GothFishKeeper]

Most of the liquid just moves forward as the rollers pinch and move. I don’t think things get crushed.

Gotcha! Any suggestions on an affordable yet reliable dosing pump to do it with? I think I’m gonna do a copepod culture that’ll just continuously dose into the tank a few times a day along with supplemental enriched bbs fed manually a few times a week.

 

[GothFishKeeper]

How long would the baby brine remain alive/viable in a setup like this? I'm think a day or two max? Thanks guys!

Honestly baby brine are incredibly hardy little creatures, when I moved all my setups down to the basement from my old bedroom I left a literal cup of them up there and forgot about it. A week and a half later they had doubled in size and were swimming around in the 5mm thick layer of water that had started to even crystalize from the salt due to evaporation.

 

[Fish Fan]

Honestly baby brine are incredibly hardy little creatures, when I moved all my setups down to the basement from my old bedroom I left a literal cup of them up there and forgot about it. A week and a half later they had doubled in size and were swimming around in the 5mm thick layer of water that had started to even crystalize from the salt due to evaporation.

With no food? Maybe some were eating each other? I'm not surprised about them living in the high salinity, I think that's something they are known for. I believe brine shrimp can be found in the Great Salt Lake in Utah, which is a hyper saline body of water.

 

[pooootiqe]

Be sure to aerate the reservoir so BBS distribute evenly.

Been thinking about this recently. Might try placing BBS in a HOB filter and run it periodically to flush them into the DT. The food density will lower overtime but seems like a cheap and easy way to do auto feeding.

 

[MoeStachio]

Honestly baby brine are incredibly hardy little creatures, when I moved all my setups down to the basement from my old bedroom I left a literal cup of them up there and forgot about it. A week and a half later they had doubled in size and were swimming around in the 5mm thick layer of water that had started to even crystalize from the salt due to evaporation.

With no food? Maybe some were eating each other? I'm not surprised about them living in the high salinity, I think that's something they are known for. I believe brine shrimp can be found in the Great Salt Lake in Utah, which is a hyper saline body of water.

I mean. Brine is a saline solution. They're Brine Shrimp

I would assume they're quite tolerant.

Cool to hear they can survive like tho!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Gotcha! Any suggestions on an affordable yet reliable dosing pump to do it with? I think I’m gonna do a copepod culture that’ll just continuously dose into the tank a few times a day along with supplemental enriched bbs fed manually a few times a week.

I use the BRS 1.1 mL per min doser for these.