How do people keep baby brine shrimp in the water column?

[Kraig]

To quote one of the brine shrimp hatching pages... "The shrimp are phototropic and will swim toward the light, conveniently gathering themselves together." This pretty much sums up my experience. LOL That's also why a lot of the hatcheries are dark and the shrimp are forced to swim to a light source where the collection area is. Here's one of the hatcheries I have. There are a gazillion bbs swimming in that collection cup right now. They swim from the dark hatchery box up through a hole into the cup where they detect light. I have another inverted bottle hatchery where most of the bottle is blacked out except an area at the bottom so they swim to that area where the light is and I siphon them off. So in my tank with the pumps/powerheads off they just swim to the surface toward my light.

You are correct and I learned a little something today. I knew they would swim towards a light source, but didn't really think about them doing that in the fish tank since the entire tank is lit up. Turned off powerheads and pumps and sure enough, right at the top. I guess there is some advantage then to being able to leave everything on. Off to learn some more on this subject....

 

[Karen00]

You are correct and I learned a little something today. I knew they would swim towards a light source, but didn't really think about them doing that in the fish tank since the entire tank is lit up. Turned off powerheads and pumps and sure enough, right at the top. I guess there is some advantage then to being able to leave everything on. Off to learn some more on this subject....

Well I'm glad to know I don't have mutant brine shrimp. Haha. I was getting a little concerned that it was only mine that did this. There are some good ideas posted here that I can try. I might even look into adding a bubbler to the tank just for feeding. Maybe the movement of the bubbles will keep the water moving gently and the bbs in the water.

 

[Paul B]

 

[Karen00]

Thank you so much Paul! I had found various threads where people mentioned this feeder but I could only find pics and for the life of me I couldn't figure out how the top was made. Question... Does this also work for tiny pods like tisbe and apex or are they too big in comparison to bbs? I'm surprised bbs are able to fit through the nylon. I've been hatching them for awhile but didn't think they were that small.

 

[Unitylover]

wait, cant you just use powerheads to direct them underwater?

 

[Karen00]

wait, cant you just use powerheads to direct them underwater?

I wish. My tank is just a 5g so the powerhead makes the water quite turbulent even with a dampener on it. I accidentally left it on once while feeding and my fish were blown around trying to get the food. I was afraid they were going to be injured. They tend to stay out of the way of the powerhead when it's on throughout the day/night so I turn everything off when feeding. I might try adding an airline/bubbler when feeding to keep the water moving but more gently. Or keep the filtration pump going while feeding but remove the filter media so the bbs move through unobstructed and will be pushed down in the outflow. The feeder idea should work as well. I guess I didn't realize the bbs would go to the surface seeking out the light in my tank. There are so many threads talking about feeding live bbs but I don't ever recall seeing anyone mention they gravitate to the surface so I was wondering what people are doing to prevent this from happening.

 

[Paul B]

wait, cant you just use powerheads to direct them underwater?

No. The shrimp need to stay right on the bottom for mandarins to see them. They won't swim up to the food.

Karen, baby brine shrimp try to get out because they are going to the light and the fish suck them through the mesh. I don't know if pods are attracted to the light so they would probably just stay in the bottom of the feeder until they get bored and die.

The nylon is the perfect size but don't stretch it or the holes will get to big. I am not a stocking expert but the ones I get from my wife work well.

Now I use a tiny screen from the inside of my reverse osmosis canister. It is plastic and the right size but of course I use a spent one and not a new one.

Stockings work well but if you have sea urchins, they will eat through it.
You also need to clean that nylon every few days as it will grow algae making the holes smaller. Or you can just replace it asone pair of stockings can make many of them.

Make the top of the tape container so it comes off, no glue. It is simple to just remove the top and place in a new nylon.

To see if the stocking is the correct size, put the thing on the container and pour some shrimp and water through it. Some shrimp should get through and some stay on the nylon. Then it is perfect.

The top of the feeder is the top of the electrical tape container. Just cut out most of the middle so just the edges are left.

 

[Karen00]

No. The shrimp need to stay right on the bottom for mandarins to see them. They won't swim up to the food.

Karen, baby brine shrimp try to get out because they are going to the light and the fish suck them through the mesh. I don't know if pods are attracted to the light so they would probably just stay in the bottom of the feeder until they get bored and die.

The nylon is the perfect size but don't stretch it or the holes will get to big. I am not a stocking expert but the ones I get from my wife work well.

Now I use a tiny screen from the inside of my reverse osmosis canister. It is plastic and the right size but of course I use a spent one and not a new one.

Stockings work well but if you have sea urchins, they will eat through it.
You also need to clean that nylon every few days as it will grow algae making the holes smaller. Or you can just replace it asone pair of stockings can make many of them.

Make the top of the tape container so it comes off, no glue. It is simple to just remove the top and place in a new nylon.

To see if the stocking is the correct size, put the thing on the container and pour some shrimp and water through it. Some shrimp should get through and some stay on the nylon. Then it is perfect.

The top of the feeder is the top of the electrical tape container. Just cut out most of the middle so just the edges are left.

Thanks for this extra detail Paul! I found a small container that will fit on my limited sand bed area. LOL I also have plenty of old stockings to use. It's amazing the afterlife they have in the aquatic hobby. Haha. That also makes sense about why this works for bbs and not pods. I'm excited to try this. My mandarin will be happy and it will save me 30 mins churning them back into the water column everyday.

 

[Karen00]

Hey @Paul B... Two questions for you... 1. Did you glue the nylon to cutout lid (and did you use something like super glue)? and 2. Do you have yours weighed down with sand in it or something else? I tried a makeshift one today where I just used an elastic to keep the nylon piece on because I didn't have anything small enough with a lid I could cutout but I just found one so want to know how you secured the nylon. Also... makeshift feed that just had water and bbs in it kept wanting to float to the surface. I had to weigh it down with a rock which wasn't ideal.

 

[Paul B]

Karen, don't glue in the nylon as you have to change it all the time. It grows algae and the holes get smaller.

The cover of the container just pushes over it to keep the nylon on.
Mine are weighted with slugs of lead as big as quarters. You can even use quarters or big washers but with the price of gas, you may not want to use quarters. You can get stainless steel washers in a hardware or boating store. The stainless won't hurt your tank but I know many people don't believe that so you can also cover that with GOOP glue.

I have the lead completely covered in "GOOP" glue so the lead doesn't contact the water.
You can use sand but it gets messy so you need something that will stay in one piece and not go all over the place.

 

[Cell]

I used a pvc elbow open on both ends, placed a piece of nylon/leggings over one end, secured with a zip tie, and pushed the other open end into my sandbed. The elbow allowed me to drill a small hole near the "top" in which I stuck a small piece of airline tubing that I could reach with my coral feeder so I could refill the feeder without moving it.

 

[Karen00]

Karen, don't glue in the nylon as you have to change it all the time. It grows algae and the holes get smaller.

The cover of the container just pushes over it to keep the nylon on.
Mine are weighted with slugs of lead as big as quarters. You can even use quarters or big washers but with the price of gas, you may not want to use quarters. You can get stainless steel washers in a hardware or boating store. The stainless won't hurt your tank but I know many people don't believe that so you can also cover that with GOOP glue.

I have the lead completely covered in "GOOP" glue so the lead doesn't contact the water.
You can use sand but it gets messy so you need something that will stay in one piece and not go all over the place.

Thank you, thank you! The last piece of the puzzle has fit in. Haha. I couldn't figure out what the heck I was doing wrong. Doh!

 

[Karen00]

I used a pvc elbow open on both ends, placed a piece of nylon/leggings over one end, secured with a zip tie, and pushed the other open end into my sandbed. The elbow allowed me to drill a small hole near the "top" in which I stuck a small piece of airline tubing that I could reach with my coral feeder so I could refill the feeder without moving it.

This is good as well. I'm glad I posted the question. Lot's of ideas that will work no matter the type of setup. Why an elbow instead of a piece of PVC pipe?