How to keep store bought live brine

[LiorM]

Hi all, 

Trying to get a shy pea puffer to eat,  I got her some live brine from my LFS.

I realize they only last for a few days, what do you think is the best way to keep them,  in the refrigerator or outside at room temp?

should I close the lid if keeping outside?

should I add a bubbler?

 

Thanks!

[aquachris]

Can be a lot of work to keep brine shrimp alive. What about hatching baby brine?  You can also look into blackworms you can keep them for a few weeks in the fridge. 

[Guppysnail]

On 7/19/2021 at 8:52 PM, aquachris said:

Can be a lot of work to keep brine shrimp alive. What about hatching baby brine?  You can also look into blackworms you can keep them for a few weeks in the fridge. 

I read somewhere live blackworms (i think it was a post here) will populate or maybe it was just survive in substrate allowing your little one to hunt at leisure and true natural behavior simulation. 

[Maggie]

I had trouble keeping them alive more than a day. Someone suggested keeping them in the fridge, but they seemed to go into shock when with the temp difference when fed to the fish - maybe acclimating them would help. The LFS I bought them from said to keep them on the counter with an open top to allow O2 exchange, so I tried that. Still, half of them were dead by the next day (possibly too warm). But since they were only $1.50 a cup (mostly water of course), and it was recommended to me to be a special treat only, I wasn't too worried about the loss, and haven't bought any recently. Maybe try a styrofoam cooler that's kept just cool but not cold, and with the lid off the cup of shrimp for gas exchange. Good luck!

[gardenman]

I always kept live brine shrimp in the fridge and they'd last about a week or so for me. The same with live bloodworms. Now that was about thirty years or so ago when I had sources for them. These days they're just not available locally. The live bloodworms I'd take out and rinse with fresh water every few days. I had marine tanks then also so changing the water every few days for the brine shrimp was also easy.

[AnimalNerd98]

I keep live brine shrimp outside in a 5 gallon bucket with lots of brackish algae growing on the sides. I don’t use a bubbler. 

I got my pea puffer eating by offering live snails, and transitioning to frozen bloodworms and frozen adult brine shrimp. How long have you had it? Mine took 2-3 days to settle in before she started eating. 

[Dancing Matt]

I mostly just hatch baby brine but for longer storage I would expect you would want the same perimeters: Clean water (this would look different depending on brine shrimp stocking vs. water volume), oxygen, food (if you want them to last longer), and survivable temperatures (I hatch mine at room temperature). Cory has a good brine shrimp pond thread, you could look into doing a mini one if you wanted, which it sounds like what AnimalNerd98 is doing.

 

[Hobbit]

I can keep my baby brine in the fridge for about 48 hours if I give them a tiny sprinkle of spirulina powder and if I keep the lid loose so they have gas exchange.