Sources of live food other than brine shrimp ?

snake · 09/07/2006, 11:28 AM

Hello all, I am researching for source of live food I can feed to my fish other than brine shrimp and that can be easy to reproduce at home.

So do you know any ? and how to reproduce them?

Thanks

Holmie_D_Klown · 09/07/2006, 11:42 AM

what type of fish?

snake · 09/07/2006, 11:56 AM

In this particular case for a copperband butterfly, but I would like a food that most of the fish wil accept it, actually I keep 2 tangs, a royal gramma, and maroon clownfsh.

Thanks

rayjay · 09/09/2006, 11:02 AM

There isn't anything as easy as brine shrimp, at least that is normal to salt water.
I raise brine shrimp and mysids for resale, and mysids are a lot more work for 1/1000th the numbers.
What ever you decide on however, it should only be a part of your feeding program as variety is much more likely to supply all the needs of your fish.
Contrary to what many people think, live brine shrimp are not nutritionless.
When first hatched, before the egg sack is used up, the brine are low in protein, but are very high in the fatty acids that our inhabitants need. As the sack is consumed by the shrimp, the fatty acid levels go down rapidly and the protein levels increase so that cultured live brine shrimp produced from Great Salt Lake cysts, have protein levels based on dry weight, in the high 50% range, and wild caught ones can be over 60% protein. While the fatty acid content of adults is low, the brine can be gut loaded with Selco/Selcon type products to restore the levels of fatty acids with adults taking only about 1 hour to gut load.
They can also be gut loaded with spirulina which will boost the protein levels even more.
The United Nations article for Live Foods for the Aquaculture Industry, edited by the Artemia Reference Centre at the University of Ghent, provides the most complete information on Artemia (brine shrimp) available on the internet.
The section on nutrition is found at:
NUTRIONAL PROPERTIES OF ONGROWN ARTEMIA

The complete article on Artemia can be found at:
ARTEMIA

The complete article on Live Foods for the Aquaculture Industry can be found at:
Manual on the Production and Use of Live Food for Aquaculture

snake · 09/15/2006, 07:06 AM

Very good information rayjay, thanks I will start hatching my brine shrimp to complement my fish's daily diet.

09/07/2006, 11:28 AM	#1
snake Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Guadalajara, Mexico Posts: 242	Sources of live food other than brine shrimp ? Hello all, I am researching for source of live food I can feed to my fish other than brine shrimp and that can be easy to reproduce at home. So do you know any ? and how to reproduce them? Thanks

09/09/2006, 11:02 AM	#4
rayjay Registered Member Join Date: Oct 1999 Location: London, Ontario, Canada Posts: 3,969	There isn't anything as easy as brine shrimp, at least that is normal to salt water. I raise brine shrimp and mysids for resale, and mysids are a lot more work for 1/1000th the numbers. What ever you decide on however, it should only be a part of your feeding program as variety is much more likely to supply all the needs of your fish. Contrary to what many people think, live brine shrimp are not nutritionless. When first hatched, before the egg sack is used up, the brine are low in protein, but are very high in the fatty acids that our inhabitants need. As the sack is consumed by the shrimp, the fatty acid levels go down rapidly and the protein levels increase so that cultured live brine shrimp produced from Great Salt Lake cysts, have protein levels based on dry weight, in the high 50% range, and wild caught ones can be over 60% protein. While the fatty acid content of adults is low, the brine can be gut loaded with Selco/Selcon type products to restore the levels of fatty acids with adults taking only about 1 hour to gut load. They can also be gut loaded with spirulina which will boost the protein levels even more. The United Nations article for Live Foods for the Aquaculture Industry, edited by the Artemia Reference Centre at the University of Ghent, provides the most complete information on Artemia (brine shrimp) available on the internet. The section on nutrition is found at: NUTRIONAL PROPERTIES OF ONGROWN ARTEMIA The complete article on Artemia can be found at: ARTEMIA The complete article on Live Foods for the Aquaculture Industry can be found at: Manual on the Production and Use of Live Food for Aquaculture __________________ Seahorses. Culture nanno, rotifers and brine shrimp. Current Tank Info: Seahorses

09/07/2006, 11:42 AM	#2
Holmie_D_Klown Premium Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Land O' Lakes, FL Posts: 247	what type of fish?

09/07/2006, 11:56 AM	#3
snake Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Guadalajara, Mexico Posts: 242	In this particular case for a copperband butterfly, but I would like a food that most of the fish wil accept it, actually I keep 2 tangs, a royal gramma, and maroon clownfsh. Thanks

09/15/2006, 07:06 AM	#5
snake Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Guadalajara, Mexico Posts: 242	Very good information rayjay, thanks I will start hatching my brine shrimp to complement my fish's daily diet.