Ongrowing Artemia: A Simple Guide
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Want to give your fish the gourmet dining experience they deserve without breaking the bank? Look no further than brine shrimp (Artemia)! These tiny crustaceans are not only incredibly nutritious but also ridiculously easy to culture. Seriously, they’re so hardy, they make cockroaches look like delicate orchids.
If you’re keen to ditch the expensive store-bought food and cultivate your own sustainable, wriggling feast, this guide is your ticket to Artemia aquaculture.
Why Culture Brine Shrimp?
Live food is a game-changer. It boosts fish health, intensifies their colours, and triggers their natural hunting instincts. Brine shrimp, in particular, are awesome because:
✔ Protein Powerhouses: Packed with protein for optimal growth.
✔ Easy on the Gut (and a Gut-Cleaning Powerhouse): Their soft bodies make digestion a breeze, but get this – the exoskeleton, that’s where the magic really happens. The exoskeleton of the live Artemia provides essential roughage, acting like a tiny scrub brush for your fish’s intestines. It helps purge and clean the gut and delivers vital nutrients and minerals, including…
✔ Chitin! The Unsung Hero: This polysaccharide, found in the Artemia’s exoskeleton, isn’t just inert filler. Chitin can act as a prebiotic, promoting beneficial bacteria in the gut and even boosting the immune system. Think of it as a tiny dose of awesome with every bite. Unhatched cysts also break down biologically in the culture, further contributing to the nutrient cycle.
✔ Gut-Loadable Goodness: You can enrich them with extra nutrients before feeding time. Think of it as giving your fish a vitamin-packed, delicious surprise.
✔ Sustainable & Cheap as Chips: A thriving culture is a renewable and seriously low-cost food source.
✔ Practically Bulletproof: Artemia laugh in the face of water conditions that would wipe out other aquatic life. Any tougher, and they’d be forged from titanium. Just remember, while they’re tough (obviously they’ll survive swimming in a saltwater toilet), to get the best out of them, just put a sponge filter in with aeration. Simples, yeah?
Setting Up Your Brine Shrimp Dream House
Forget fancy setups – we’re going for simple and effective.
1. Choose Your Crib
A basic plastic tub, a spare aquarium (38–76 litres is a sweet spot for continuous production), or even a humble bucket will do the trick.
2. Water Works
Artemia are adaptable little dudes, but they have their preferences:
|
Parameter
|
Ideal Range
|
Tolerable Upper Limit
|
|---|---|---|
|
Salinity
|
25–35 ppt (SG 1.018–1.025)
|
Up to 50 ppt (SG 1.035)
|
|
Temperature
|
25–28°C (77–82°F)
|
15–33°C (59–91°F)
|
|
pH
|
7.5–8.5
|
6.5–9.5
|
|
Ammonia
|
<0.5 ppm
|
Up to 5 ppm
|
|
Nitrite
|
0 ppm
|
Up to 5 ppm
|
|
Nitrate
|
<50 ppm
|
200+ ppm
|
|
Oxygen
|
Moderate aeration
|
Low oxygen tolerant
|
✅ Seriously, these guys are tanks. They can handle water that would send other aquatic critters belly-up.
3. Repurpose Your Wastewater – Waste Not, Want Not!
Instead of dumping your old reef tank water, give it a second life!
- Siphon off some water during your regular water change.
- Pour it into your Artemia crib.
- Top up with a bit of extra salt mix if needed to hit that salinity sweet spot.
- Chuck in a sponge filter for gentle aeration and a bit of filtration. No need for anything elaborate.
This is a win-win: you reduce waste and provide a stable, nutrient-rich environment for your shrimp buddies.
Hatching Hustle: Double-Dipping for Maximum Shrimpiness
Got smaller fish that need tiny morsels? Hatching is your game! But here’s the secret sauce: don’t throw anything away!
Whether you go super low-tech with a coke bottle or splurge on a purpose-built hatchery, the principle is the same:
- Hatch your Artemia eggs (cysts) as usual.
- Once the little guys are swimming, pour the whole shebang – hatched nauplii, unhatched cysts, and all – into your Artemia grow-out tank. Adjust the salinity if needed.
Why, you ask?
- ✔ Circular Economy, Baby! You’re double-dipping on the hatch. Holy reduction of carbon footprint, Batman!
- ✔ Decomposition is Your Friend: Don’t sweat the unhatched cysts. They’ll decompose and add to the nutrient soup.
- ✔ Strain If You Want, or Don’t: Feel like straining? Go for it (use purpose-built strainers with specific mesh sizes). But honestly, going low-tech is just as good.
- ✔ Easy, Fun, and Cheap: Setting up and maintaining a hatchery costs next to nothing.
- ✔ Baby Brine Shrimp Users, Rejoice! If you’re already feeding baby brine shrimp, this is a natural extension.
Feeding Frenzy (or Lazy Grazing)
Brine shrimp are filter-feeding grazers. They’ll happily munch on whatever’s floating around, but here’s how to give them a gourmet boost:
✔ Otohime Fish Food: If you’re gonna feed ’em something, feed ’em the best. https://www.btaqua.com.au/products/otohime-fish-food-premium-japanese-feed-for-marine-freshwater-species
✔ Natural Algae Bloom: Let some algae grow naturally in the culture. Indirect sunlight is your friend here.
✔ Home-Grown Goodness: Culture your own green algae (like Nannochloropsis) for a steady supply of grub.
✔ Gut-Loading Power-Up: Before feeding the Artemia to your fish, enrich them with:
- ✔ Selcon (from American Marine): A top-notch enrichment formula. Grab some here: https://www.btaqua.com.au/products/selcon-hufa-enrichment
- ✔ Algae Paste: Boosts those essential fatty acids and proteins.
- ✔ Live Phytoplankton: Adds omega-3s and other vital nutrients.
If you’re feeling particularly chill, just let algae accumulate naturally and supplement only before feeding. Easy peasy.
Brine Shrimp Boot Camp: Life Cycle & Breeding
Artemia are prolific breeders in saltwater. Keep things stable, and you’ll have a self-sustaining colony in no time. They’re fun to grow!
✔ Life Cycle Lowdown:
- Eggs/Cysts: Hatch in 24–36 hours at 25–28°C (77–82°F).
- Nauplii (Hatchlings): Start chowing down after a day.
- Juveniles & Adults: Reach breeding age in 8–12 days.
✔ Pro Tips for a Thriving Culture:
- Keep salinity stable (25–35 ppt).
- Let the adults lay eggs before you go on a harvesting spree.
- A 12-hour light cycle helps stimulate reproduction.
If it crashes, who cares? It’s quick to start again with a quick clean, water change, and a new batch of Artemia.
Harvesting & Feeding Time
Time to reap the rewards of your minimal effort!
- Kill the aeration and let the shrimp settle.
- Grab a fine mesh net and scoop ’em out.
- Rinse with clean saltwater to remove any gunk.
- If you’re gut-loading, soak them in Selcon for 30–60 minutes.
Your fish will go absolutely bonkers for this nutritious live treat!
How Tough ARE Brine Shrimp, Anyway?
Let’s just say they’re not winning any awards for being delicate. They can survive in:
- ✔ Low-oxygen environments: They’re not fans of pristine, highly oxygenated water.
- ✔ Questionable water conditions: Ammonia spikes? No problem.
- ✔ Crazy salinity swings: They’ll tolerate anything from SG 1.010 to 1.035.
Unless you’re actively trying to commit Artemia-cide, they’ll probably survive. Neglect is practically a virtue in this game!
Final Thoughts – Just Dive In! (And Why Aren’t Aquaculture Hatcheries Already Doing This?)
If you’re after a ridiculously low-maintenance, self-sustaining, and cost-effective live food source, starting a brine shrimp culture is a no-brainer. Use your old tank water, toss in a sponge filter, and let nature do its thing.
Say goodbye to those overpriced bags of frozen food and hello to a perpetual supply of wriggling deliciousness!
And before you ask yourself, why aren’t aquaculture hatcheries already doing this? The answer? I don’t know. Maybe they’re just stuck in their ways, or maybe they’re secretly in cahoots with Big Fish Food. Whatever the reason, you’re now in the know – so get out there and start your own Artemia empire!