'Soaking' brine shrimp eggs in fish oil?

[LordJoshaeus]

Hi everyone! Here's an odd question...after learning that brine shrimp rehydrate themselves for the first hour after they are placed in water, I decided to test to see if they would do the same with fish oil (in this case, cod liver oil) and thus be enriched before they even hatch. Here are details on what I did yesterday and this morning;
- I soaked 1/8th tsp brine shrimp eggs in 2 ml cod liver oil for about 20 minutes yesterday morning. Most of the eggs took in cod liver oil and sank to the bottom of the mixture.
- After this I thoroughly rinsed the eggs in tap water before adding them to a hatchery. The water turned cloudy white in about a minute...not sure why, but my best guess is that the residual cod liver oil not contained in the eggs rapidly oxidized in the hatchery.
- Not only did the brine shrimp hatch normally this morning, but they were also more active and vigorous than usual and were a deeper orange. (I had hatched a 'normal' batch of brine shrimp minus the fish oil yesterday for comparison...aside from the cod liver oil soak, the hatching conditions for the two batches were identical). I believe that the brine shrimp had likely incorporated the cod liver oil into their yolk sacs during the growing process, altering their color and giving them more energy.

Is it possible that I have found a new way to enrich brine shrimp, one that does not require waiting until the nauplii are capable of eating and that does not require multiple hatcheries? How would I confirm whether or not the nauplii enriched in this fashion are really an improvement over brine shrimp not soaked in the fish oil? Thanks

 

[Gareth elliott]

Interesting.

cheapest way to test would be to raise a few control batches and a few oil hatches.

then under a scope do an average growth size. Will need slides with measurements on them.

more conclusive would be to submit Samples for a dietary assay. Not cheap lol.

 

[LordJoshaeus]

Batches of brine shrimp, or batches of fry eating the brine shrimp?

 

[Gareth elliott]

I would test the batches of brine shrimp under a scope. Each batch measure say 10 brine shrimp on the same day. Take the average and compare them to the control groups.
Also notate hatch time, any late hatchers measure again. By adding the difference in hatch times. repeat experiment to make sure you get the same results.

make sure each sample has the same temperature and salinity.

if hatching time varies markedly batch by batch regardless of if oil or not oil. Use the handicapped results and see if these are linear.

 

[LordJoshaeus]

Does this mean I would need to grow out the brine shrimp, or would I be hatching batches of oil enriched brine shrimp and normal brine shrimp each day and comparing the results under the microscope?

 

[Gareth elliott]

Yes, could also test a third group adding the fish oil to the hatching water to test if tge results are not from osmosis after hatching.

 

[LordJoshaeus]

OK! Thanks I do not currently have a microscope...guess it would be a useful acquisition at this point.