Artemia kits

[fr499y]

Or is that doing right?

[mikeyboy123]

My microworm cultures smell a bit when you take the lid off but I've never noticed anything otherwise. They smell yeasty initially, turning to vinegary after a while. Not really offensive and not something to worry about IMO. I use oatmeal.

[mikeyboy123]

Two Budgerigars, then around £70.

Oh, didn't know that. You living and working over there or resident?

Getting a bit late now, but a bucket of water in the garden and collect Mosquito larvae. The same can be done with Daphnia but your better of doing this indoors, the Mosquito larvae prey on the eggs and small Daphnia. Small aquarium or bucket, tank water and feed with yeast powder. Although don't give too much Daphnia to your fish unless they're constipated.

As for Brine Shrimp, the Hobby Artemia breeder hatchery is supposed to be very good.

Link: Hobby - Artemia Brine Shrimp Eggs Breeder Hatchery

I can recommend the Hobby product. Been using it for a while. You don't get a massive yield but sounds like the OP doesn't need that. The Hobby product is very easy to use and is really good at keeping the cysts from the BBS. You do need to use separate eggs and salt though, not the premixed stuff.

With good quality eggs you can have the first hatchlings in as little as 24 hours, harvest them for two or three days and then start again, so you can have an almost constant supply if you want.

[Martinspuddle]

What am I doing wrong?

My Walter worm cultures to me don't smell bad but if I open the pot in the same room as Mrs. Puddle she says they do, a yeasty vinegary smell and doesn't like it.

Don't think your doing anything wrong @Vale!, it's just I probably run the cultures a little longer than I should.

[Vale!]

... what would be the easiest live food to breed for the fish ... also being the least messy!)?

Casting around for something vaguely useful to do this morning before the cricket started, I spied something that might be of interest ...

Maybe middle or late March, in my outside containers I noticed a few brave Daphnia who had made it through the Winter. I collected some, put them in a cut-down milk carton and plonked it on top of a tank.

Beyond adding food, topping up with water, harvesting some occasionally and moving the carton when I wanted to open the tank, I haven't disturbed them until today. The milk carton had grown a bunch of algae on its sides and bottom:



So I thought I'd investigate and have a look at what was actually in there, having your question still in mind. I think I got most of them out :



A bit closer:



So a few thousand I guess.

I cleaned out the carton to reset it. By doing so I lost its coating of algae and with it the micro-organisms that inhabited it and that provided a 'background' source of food for the Daphnia. To correct this I've added some boiled wheat grains:



These are some peculiar kind of wheat (health food shop on my way into Tesco!) but any similar grain will do. Once boiled it very quickly becomes infested with bacteria which Daphnia eat. I'll supplement this with the usual suspects of suspended algae, rice milk, yeast, flour, spirulina powder etc. It definitely doesn't smell - which is why I'm flagging this up to you!

Anyway it's now back on top of the tank:



I might as well keep it going, I suppose ; it's very convenient - especially when it's hosing it down outside!

[YnotFish]

So, I finally got the Hobby Artemia kit, with a packet of pre-mixed salt and eggs with a wee dash of spirulina.



After the second attempt (I don't think I added enough salt the first time), there is life!

Will they get bigger, or should I feed them to the fish immediately?

[Vale!]

Artemia are reckoned to be of greatest nutritional benefit to fish when they first hatch and it's their yolk sacs that provide that benefit (newly-hatched Artemia haven't developed mouths or anuses, so they don't have an awful lot of choice in the matter!).

As they grow they no longer have yolk sacs but can feed, so they're gut-loaded (with whatever you're feeding them) before presenting them to fish.

Irrespective of gut-loaded status, adult Artemia's movements trigger the hunting instinct in fish, which is natural and health-promoting.

[YnotFish]

Irrespective of gut-loaded status, adult Artemia's movements trigger the hunting instinct in fish, which is natural and health-promoting.

So, I should get them to adult size, before feeding them to the fish?
How long does that take, and what do I feed them on?

[Vale!]

If your fish will take them newly-hatched, then that's champion, especially when your target fish are fry. Bigger fish may not be particularly bothered with them until they (the Artemia) develop further, so growing-on will make them more attractive.

Artemia take about a week to ten days to reach their adult form (I'm relying on memory, so do check!) and can live for some months. So maybe you'd establish a regime whereby you hatch a bunch of eggs, feed some of them to fry/fish for a couple or three days before moving the remainder to a jar for growing-on, then start a new batch of Artemia eggs in your now-empty hatchery. Rinse and repeat?

They're filter-feeders, so anything that's small enough for them to deal with is fine, and a variety of same is preferable - though I think lots of people use just yeast with good results. Your Spirulina powder will work, as will anything I mentioned upthread in connection with (I think) Daphnia.

[YnotFish]

The Endlers and Rummy Noses love them
The Betta in the nano tank is not quite sure what to do with them though