Maggie Posted March 28, 2021 Share Posted March 28, 2021 Hello! I stopped at the LFS to get more java moss today, and the person in front of me was buying live adult brine shrimp (in fish bags). I've never seen them before and was kind of shocked at how big they are! I'd love to buy this special treat occasionally for my fish, but how small of a fish can eat them, and can extras survive in the fridge for a day or two after? I only got a quick glimpse and to ask what they were - the store was too busy for small talk, but I could go back for some on a less busy day. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenman Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 Live brine shrimp used to be a staple food in fish stores when I was younger. (As were live bloodworms, live tubifex worms, and more.) I could keep them alive in the fridge for a week or even longer. The cool temperature in a refrigerator largely causes them to hibernate and they last about a week. San Francisco Bay Brand used to make brine shrimp keeping tanks for stores. The shrimp would be swirling around in the tank and there was a faucet and the store staff would put a container under the faucet and drain out a container of brine shrimp for you and bag them up. (I just did an image search for those tanks and came up blank. It's been a while since I saw one.) It used to be very, very common in many, many local Mom and Pop fish stores. You used to be able to get just about anything you wanted and these days it's not so easy. (At least around here.) The old Martin's Aquarium in Jenkintown, PA, and later in their second location in Cherry Hill, NJ would have small bags of live brine shrimp or bloodworms at the checkouts (along with some leftover livebearers) and you could claim a bag of whichever you wanted with any purchase over a certain amount. They also sold larger bags with many more in it, but you could get small bags free with a purchase. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biotope Biologist Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 There is a mom and pop store that has those San Fran Bay tanks, still in West Palm beach! They also had diatoms, fairy shrimp, and FFA (free floating algae). Also most live foods will stay dormant in the fridge for up to a week or two as @gardenman said. They are a great treat for your fish. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maggie Posted March 29, 2021 Author Share Posted March 29, 2021 @gardenman and @Biotope Biologist thank you! This is also a mom-and-pop store that's been around a very long time - House of Tropicals, near Baltimore MD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenman Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 If you find yourself bored and have 27+ minutes to kill sometime, San Francisco Bay Brand has an old film titled "The Story of the Brine Shrimp" on YouTube that's somewhat interesting in it shows how brine shrimp and the brine shrimp eggs are collected and processed. The video quality is what those of us who went to school in the 60s and 70s are familiar with and will not be confused with modern video quality. Suffice to say you don't need a 4K HDTV to view the film. It is interesting though if you've ever wondered how brine shrimp and their eggs are collected. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maggie Posted March 29, 2021 Author Share Posted March 29, 2021 @gardenmanthanks! I always enjoy learning in this hobby. And trust me I know all about quality of video in the 60s and 70s. 😬 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenman Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 It's pretty interesting stuff. The video quality took me back to my school days, but the information is still pretty solid. I did learn that in the right conditions adult brine shrimp give live birth to baby brine shrimp. I'm kind of intrigued if the egg cases are then reabsorbed by the mother brine shrimp or ejected with the live baby. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 And speaking of cool video, the forum's very own @Aubrey recently posted this video of an adult brine shrimp, which is soo cool that it deserves a reposting: 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koi Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 My 1 month old guppy fry are able to live adult brine. They won’t eat it whole but they tear them apart. You can also freeze them in an ice cube tray before they go bad as well. Unfortunately for me, my family will murder me for putting stinky ice cubes in the freezer so I usually feed in the same day or store in a bucket of ice outside. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aubrey Posted March 30, 2021 Share Posted March 30, 2021 I still have some adult brine shrimp living in a jar. I consider it my "Could I do Salt Water?" experiment. I feed them a light dusting of sera micron every other day and top off evaporation with tap water. I've only done one partial water change with the hatching ratio of salt to water volume. I haven't done much research on what salinity is best or anything on how to determine salinity. It's also not something I'm super strict about since I hatch baby brine shrimp every week and have plenty of chances to do it over if it goes wrong. I guess they're happy because I've witnessed some breeding behavior. Sorry that its blurry/out of focus but I caught some clasping. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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