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News & Reviews Article
| Title |
Product Review - Feeding Artemia |
| Author |
Ralph Cabage
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| Last Updated |
2009-12-08
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| Abstract |
There are many different types of foods for fry (baby fish) on the market today. Phytoplankton, rotifers, ciliates, and artemia are among the preferred types. Artemia is the most popular of this group due to its convenience and availability.
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Feeding Artemia (Brine Shrimp)
There are many different types of foods for fry (baby fish) on the market today. Phytoplankton, rotifers, ciliates, and artemia are among the preferred types. Artemia is the most popular of this group due to its convenience and availability. These tiny branchiopod crustaceans form dormant embryos called cysts, popularly known as brine shrimp eggs. These cysts are available in large numbers, year-round, along the shorelines of hypersaline lakes.
After harvesting the cysts, they have a remarkable shelf-life and can be stored for years before they are opened and hatched as a ready-made, live food source. Soaking the brine shrimp eggs overnight in saltwater releases wiggling nauplii, usable directly as a live food source for fry. The sheer simplicity of maintaining and hatching artemia makes it the most convenient live food used by aquarists. Artemia are nonspecific feeders and will ingest a wide variety of foods. This eliminates the need for feeding your food supply! With their high levels of highly unsaturated fatty acids (HUFA), Artemia meets the nutritional needs of fry equaling many copepod species. Also, Artemia provides many of the specific nutrients required by their predators, since the Artemia feed on floating particles. This bio-encapsulation of particles has a major impact on fry survival, growth, success of metamorphosis, and quality of mature fish. With further developments in bio-encapsulation of vitamins, vaccines, and nutrients, Artemia is quickly becoming a vital factor in successful fish breeding.
In order to hatch artemia at their optimal levels, several parameters are taken into consideration. First, you�ll need a hatching container. The best container to use, believe it or not, is a transparent 2 liter soda bottle. This will allow you to easily monitor the hatching mix. Second, intense aeration is needed, because it has been reported that increased hatching results from increased oxygen levels. It�s important not to allow excess foaming on the water surface, since many hydrating cysts could be carried out of the container by the bubbles. Third, proper
temperatures must be maintained. Optimal hatching occurs between 25-28�C (77-82.4�F). Temperatures below 77�F cause the cysts to hatch slower and temperatures above 82.4�F cause the cyst metabolism to stop. Fourth, illumination is vital to initiate embryonic development. Approximately 2000 Lux at the water surface should suffice. Fifth, salinity must remain near 1.030, and sixth, pH should range between 8 to 8.5.
There a two notable companies that offer hatchery kits designed to make this process easier for the aquarist. The San Francisco Bay is one of the best locations to cultivate and harvest brine shrimp. The San Francisco Bay Brand Company harvests artemia from the bay, plus they offer hatchery kits. Their Hatchery Kit includes a cone base that screws into a 2 liter bottle, three .61 oz packets of eggs mixed with salt, and 3 feet of airline tubing. All you will need is a 2 liter soda bottle and a small air pump. An Educational Brine Shrimp Kit is another good hatching kit from San Francisco Bay. This kit is designed to force the hatching brine shrimp to ascend from a darker container to a clear collecting cup exposed to the light. The brine shrimp rise to �bathe� in the light and are easily harvested for feeding.
The second company offering a hatchery kit is Oscar Enterprises. Their Hatch-N-Feeder attaches to the interior of your tank. Powered by an air pump, sold separately, the Hatch-N-Feeder releases brine shrimp once they mature. The brine shrimp eggs are deposited into the hatching chamber, after 18 to 24 hours they hatch, and then when they are mature swim out of the system through a perforated partition. The only equipment needed with this kit is an air pump, brine shrimp eggs, and salt (salt is required only if it is used in a freshwater tank). The benefit of this system is that the aquarist will rarely need to closely monitor the system, and the brine shrimp naturaly harvest themselves. The Hatch-N-Feeder is made of clear plastic, so it uses the tank�s lighting to provide illumination. Once the kit is operating, the aquarist will only need to refill with more eggs.
Brine shrimp feeding is not only a great food source, but it is also great entertainment. Many aquarists using alternative foods will use hatchery kits for the sheer pleasure of watching natural processes like hatching and larval development. If proper nutrition and variety of diet is the aquarist�s objective, Artemia should make the top of their list.
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