Frozen Brine Shrimp vs. Live Baby Brine Shrimp

[umfalcon]

Hello everyone,

I currently include frozen brine shrimp in the rotation of foods I feed my fish. However I am about to start feeding live baby brine shrimp since everyone raves about how good of a food they are, and because I am getting more into breeding my fish. My question is: does any empirical evidence exist proving that live baby brine shrimp constitutes a  superior food to frozen brine shrimp? So far, most of the information I have found seems to present anecdotal evidence. Just curious what everyone on the forum thought. 

[Daniel]

It is definitely a little more attractive because it wiggles.

This isn't empirical evidence, but they way I think of it is it is the difference between frozen food from the store and fresh food from the garden. I don't know if one is better than the other, but I know which one I prefer if given a choice. I know I could pick out the fresh food from the garden in a blind taste test.

[Maggie]

I think they love the chase. Also, it allows you to observe shy or fast fish while they eat because they tend to ignore everything else, and they don't stop looking for them for quite a while!

[gardenman]

Nutritionally they should be similar, but there are other pros and cons. To some extent the decision between live and frozen depends on what you're feeding. If you're feeding mid-water fish or top level fish, live baby brine is better. The live shrimp swim and stay in the water column longer. If you're feeding corys, plecos, or loaches/bottom dwellers, frozen brine will be better as it'll sink to the fish. (Live baby brine will eventually sink also, but it has to die first.) Commercially produced live baby brine may be more nutritious than home-raised as commercial producers are more bottom line oriented. They want to maximize production so as soon as the baby brine are hatched they're likely gathered, harvested and frozen as quickly after hatching as possible, giving the live baby brine less time to use up their food reserves, resulting in more food for the fish eating them. A home aquarist may let the baby brine linger a bit longer after hatching and every second the baby brine shrimp is alive it's consuming nutrients that could go to the fish instead. Most hobbyists don't feed their baby brine shrimp, so the shrimp are consuming whatever food reserves they have at hatching and not gaining more. Commercial producers may be feeding their baby brine to create adult brine shrimp for production down the road which could result in increased nutrition for the shrimp and ultimately the fish that eat them. Is there a drastic difference? Probably not. 

[devind0446]

I just started feeding frozen brine shrimp to my neon tetras and betta and they absolutely love it. I've never seen them act this way for a food before so I think any brine shrimp probably does the trick even though I've never used live baby brine.