# Brine shrimp culture tank, help me get this right.



## FuzzAz (Oct 22, 2007)

I am trying to get a brine shrimp culture going, more for the heck if it than for anything else, but I intend to feed them to my fish. My question is about filters, I read alot of websites about DIY culture tanks and some suggest a sponge filter, so I got one and put it in there and its not working so well for me. I feed dried sparuluina powder that I pre mix with water but it seams that the filter just sucks up all the food. I can tell because the water is green when I add the food, but not so green after say an hour. Are the people who say to use a filter crazy or am I missing the point. 

Also how much food should I be feeding these guys? I have been mixing 1/4 teaspoon with 20ml. of water and then with the mixture, I feed 1ml. several times a day (4-ish), I honestly have no idea how much I am suppose to feed them, the various websites just say to keep the water cloudy. doesnt really give me a good idea of how much. my culture tank is a 2.5 quart pickle jar with a sponge filter in the center. for my initial stocking density I shoot for about 5,000 per 2.5 quarts....roughly. I premix salt water in a 3 quart jug with 100grams of marine salt, that should come out to 35ppt. I added a heater to my last culture, one website said 86 degrees F but I think that was too hot because they were all abruptly wiped out after I did that, I think ill try 80 for the next one. these are great salt lake eggs from BSD.


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## herefishy (Dec 14, 2006)

Are you intending to raise these guys to adulthood or are you going to feed the baby brine shrimp to your fish? Big difference here. 

You are feeding WAAAYYY to much food. A few pinches at a time are all that you would need, I would think


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## FuzzAz (Oct 22, 2007)

I want to grow brine shrimp to adulthood, at this point I can successfully hatch the eggs and transfer them from the hatchery to the culture tank. from that point I havent had much success. My last culture lasted about a week and I didnt see much size chance.

my primary goal at this point is to acheve a culture that will reproduce on their own, so I will theoretically never need to add any new brine shrimp. Then I want to see at what rate I can remove the adults and still maintain a reproducing culture. The adults I remove I intend to feed to the fish.

I thought I was feeding a pinch, I work better with numbers. Is there a formula that says if you have X brine shrimp you need Y mg. of food or somthing? I understand it could be more complacated than a simple formula, but I need some idea on the range to obtain a starting point. should I try 10mg per feeding? before I was doing 80mg.


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