[Aquatic Meditation]

Hello APC!

I am interested in the idea of setting up a live food source for my aquariums - but I'm honestly not sure where to start.

I've done some research, and keep seeing recommendations for Brine Shrimp, however there are a few things I have read about that largely seem like downsides, but am happy to be corrected:

• It appears that hatching brine shrimp eggs is done "as needed". So there is no ongoing culture to draw from over time, if I understand correctly.
• The hatching process requires specialized materials / equipment.
• The process appears to be fairly messy / odor producing.

I'm looking for something that is more hands off / self sustaining, if possible.
It seems like Daphnia might be a good candidate?

I currently have a few nano tanks that are not in use (somewhere in the 3-5 gallon range on each, if I recall correctly).
I'm happy to repurpose that glass for this project, however I'm not sure if these are even a suitable volume of water for such a project.

If any of you have had experience with a live food culture for your nano fish, your feedback / recommendations are welcome!

 

[mistergreen]

Moina is the easiest daphnia to raise. They're the size of BBS so good for fry.
I have multiple tubs running because one can always crash. I found that cycling the tub with snails creates a stable environment for daphnia. They thrive on stability.
An air stone helps too. Don't bother adding a heater and I feed them a blend of spirulina powder, rice flour, and yeast because it costs too much to feed them purely spirulina powder. And feed in small amounts, only what they can eat a day.

 

[mistergreen]

Oh, grindal worms are great fry and nano fish food too.

 

[Aquatic Meditation]

Thanks for the recommendations, I'll check them out.

 

[Michael]

Microworms are pretty easy.

 

[econtanker]

BBS is very easy if you use this brine shrimp hatchery https://www.amazon.com/Brine-Shrimp-Direct-Hatchery-Dish. Grindal worms are a lot easier, but you must feed them every day or every other day. You tube have some great videos on grindal culture. I used blue scrubbers for my grindal culture bedding. It is very easy to clean and is resusable. If you use a protein and greens powder as food for the grindal worms, it is very quick to feed them.

 

[Aquatic Meditation]

Microworms are pretty easy.

👀 Going to check that out - thanks for the recommendation!

BBS is very easy if you use this brine shrimp hatchery https://www.amazon.com/Brine-Shrimp-Direct-Hatchery-Dish. Grindal worms are a lot easier, but you must feed them every day or every other day. You tube have some great videos on grindal culture. I used blue scrubbers for my grindal culture bedding. It is very easy to clean and is resusable. If you use a protein and greens powder as food for the grindal worms, it is very quick to feed them.

I'll check out the hatchery.
I watched a few videos on hatching brine shrimp, most of which were from breeders or hobbyists with large fish rooms - so I think the size of their brine shrimp operations scared me a little bit.

 

[TropTrea]

Hello APC!

I am interested in the idea of setting up a live food source for my aquariums - but I'm honestly not sure where to start.

I've done some research, and keep seeing recommendations for Brine Shrimp, however there are a few things I have read about that largely seem like downsides, but am happy to be corrected:

• It appears that hatching brine shrimp eggs is done "as needed". So there is no ongoing culture to draw from over time, if I understand correctly.
• The hatching process requires specialized materials / equipment.
• The process appears to be fairly messy / odor producing.

I'm looking for something that is more hands off / self sustaining, if possible.
It seems like Daphnia might be a good candidate?

I currently have a few nano tanks that are not in use (somewhere in the 3-5 gallon range on each, if I recall correctly).
I'm happy to repurpose that glass for this project, however I'm not sure if these are even a suitable volume of water for such a project.

If any of you have had experience with a live food culture for your nano fish, your feedback / recommendations are welcome!

I has constantly been hatching brine shrimp as a first food when I was breeding Bettas.
Specialized equipment
I used 1 gallon fish bowls with an air stone. If you want to call that specialized then yes.
For hatching I used uniodized salt (Sodium chloride) and epson salts in the water.

Smell I never detected any. I was making a fresh batch roughly every other day and I would never have any more than a week old. If you try raising them to adult size then it gets more difficult and you need a much larger tube type tank with considerable air flow to keep the oxygen level up in the system.

Where I had odor issues is when I was raising blood worms and black worms in a refrigerator. You need to change their water at least twice a day to prevent odors.