what to do with brine shrimp

[hcover]

OK, my daughter bought dwarf puffers, and they've been eating brine shrimp at the lfs, so I bought a bag of them. I know I shouldn't just put the whole bag, water and all, in their aquarium. Do I put a spoonful or two in each day? How do I keep the rest?

 

[FroggyFox]

Im assuming you mean you have live brine shrimp in a bag right?? Generally they're not going to live very long at all (a couple of days at the most in that bag) so I would feed quite a bit of them, and ALL of your other fish would LOVE some as a treat so dont let them go to waste. I'm not sure the best way to keep them alive...I'd think probably pouring them into a container of some sort so they dont run out of oxygen in the bag?? They're also not very nutritious so if thats all the puffers are eating you need to start getting them on some real food like frozen bloodworms and....I am not sure. Someone who keeps dp's should be able to help with some more suggestions.

 

[YahooFishKeeper]

orgot to sathey arent really nutritious. mine were fed mostly on bloodworms. i fedblood worms about 4 times a week, and brine shrimp about 1 or 2 times. also if the shrimp arelive... you might be able to just aclimate them and putthem in the tank......? they might be sucked up by the filter though.

 

[hcover]

Yes, they're alive. We moved them from the bag to a little container and we fed a few of them in all of the tanks - guppies loved them, male bettas acted like they didn't know what to do with them, but the females gobbled them up.

We'll divide the rest up among the tanks tomorrow I guess, then get some of the other things mentioned. I have dried bloodworms that I may try too - the bettas like those for a special treat sometimes. bloodworms....ok, that just sounds gross..

 

[YahooFishKeeper]

the freeze dried blood worms need to be soaked first. if not they could expand in the fishes stomach... and... it wont be pretty, and it will be painful.

an alternative would be to use frozen blood worms. that is what i prefer, you might want to check the packages and se which has greater nutritional value.

 

[romeoharvey]

Putting brine shrimp into a container and in the refrigorator should help keep them alive. I once put live brine shrimp into the refrigerator, and one cup I left out. Through the night only the ones in the refrigerator lived.

 

[Lotus]

Most dwarf puffers won't eat freeze dried food. Frozen bloodworms are a good staple for them, and the occasional small live snail is good for them, too.