Frozen Brine Shrimp

by Dave
(Melbourne Australia )

Hi,
Can I feed goldfish fry on frozen brine shrimp or do they have to be live?

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Grant's Reply


Hi Dave

The only frozen brine shrimp I have ever seen are the adult shrimps, not the nauplii.

Having said that, I would still only feed newly hatched brine shrimp for a number of reasons.

1. The number one reason is it is live food, which can't be beaten for nutritional value

2. They can be fed to Goldfish fry as soon as the fry become free swimming

3. They live in fresh water for several hours, especially if a handful of un-iodised salt is added to the fry aquarium. This allows the fry to browse over a longer period of time, which is the natural way for them to feed

4. Brine shrimp nauplii don't pollute the water as quickly as dry, frozen or liquid fry foods do. In fact, if there is any excess shrimp left after several hours, they are easily siphoned off the bottom of the fry tank.

It is an inconvenience having to set up a hatchery, but that is more than offset by having the convenience of a reliable food source when fry are most vulnerable to poor feeding.

The other point is you only need the brine shrimp nauplii for a few weeks when other larger foods are more appropriate.

The only disadvantages of brine shrimp are that a hatchery has to be made or purchased, the eggs have to be heated to 26-28C, and they are relatively expensive to purchase.

None of these disadvantages would stop me using newly hatched brine shrimp because of the reasons above.