Freeze live brineshrimp

[mushy coral]

Ive been feeding my coral twice a week one on wednesday (ab+ and sometimes mix with minced shrimp) and one on saturday (reefroid + fauna mins). I am planning to add brineshrimp to the coral food mix cause i occasionally buy brineshrimp to feed my fishes as treat but everytime there still half the bag left. Can i gut load the brineshrimp woth spirurina powder and wait for a day then drain them out and put straight into freezer?

 

[fishguy242]

@Jay Hemdal ?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Ive been feeding my coral twice a week one on wednesday (ab+ and sometimes mix with minced shrimp) and one on saturday (reefroid + fauna mins). I am planning to add brineshrimp to the coral food mix cause i occasionally buy brineshrimp to feed my fishes as treat but everytime there still half the bag left. Can i gut load the brineshrimp woth spirurina powder and wait for a day then drain them out and put straight into freezer?

That should work - easy to confirm it; the live brine shrimp will eat the spirulina and you can then see it as a green line down the center of their bodies.

 

[mushy coral]

That should work - easy to confirm it; the live brine shrimp will eat the spirulina and you can then see it as a green line down the center of their bodies.

Thanks! Beside used for gut load brine, can i use the spirulina powder for anything else, I still have plenty of it. And compare to phytoplankton which is better?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Thanks! Beside used for gut load brine, can i use the spirulina powder for anything else, I still have plenty of it. And compare to phytoplankton which is better?

Live phytoplankton (depending on species) is better than dried spirulina for filter feeding invertebrates. I use spirulina as a food additive, like in homemade gelatin food.

 

[mushy coral]

Live phytoplankton (depending on species) is better than dried spirulina for filter feeding invertebrates. I use spirulina as a food additive, like in homemade gelatin food.

I have the brineshrimps gut loaded and just added them into the freezer. I also start my phytoplankton culture again. Do you know how long could the brineshrimp stay frozen before they start to lose nutrients? These are fully grown brineshrimp, some carrying eegs so they not as rich in nutrients as the baby brine so i want to preserve as much of those nutrients as possible

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I have the brineshrimps gut loaded and just added them into the freezer. I also start my phytoplankton culture again. Do you know how long could the brineshrimp stay frozen before they start to lose nutrients? These are fully grown brineshrimp, some carrying eegs so they not as rich in nutrients as the baby brine so i want to preserve as much of those nutrients as possible

Any frozen storage less than 6 months would be fine (just like regular seafood items for humans). However, there is some immediate loss of nutrients when freezing brine shrimp - the ice crystals that form can pierce cells, releasing fluids that contain nutrients. It is most often an issue with frozen packs of brine shrimp that have been thawed and refrozen multiple times going through the supply chain. Your gut loading will overcome that to a great degree.

 

[mushy coral]

Any frozen storage less than 6 months would be fine (just like regular seafood items for humans). However, there is some immediate loss of nutrients when freezing brine shrimp - the ice crystals that form can pierce cells, releasing fluids that contain nutrients. It is most often an issue with frozen packs of brine shrimp that have been thawed and refrozen multiple times going through the supply chain. Your gut loading will overcome that to a great degree.

I was thinking that do adult brineshrimp carry egg do something bad to the coral digestive system cause people always say that dont feed corals the brineshrimp egg but nothing about the eggs that not yet detach from the mother

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I was thinking that do adult brineshrimp carry egg do something bad to the coral digestive system cause people always say that dont feed corals the brineshrimp egg but nothing about the eggs that not yet detach from the mother

They mean don’t feed the dried out eggs used for hatching brine shrimp, those are tough to digest. The unreleased eggs on the female’s body are not an issue.

 

[mushy coral]

They mean don’t feed the dried out eggs used for hatching brine shrimp, those are tough to digest. The unreleased eggs on the female’s body are not an issue.

Thanks! Imma go and feed my tank now