Gonna start a seahorse tank! Holy babies everywhere!

All I know is my frozen stuff goes bad long before i use it all and its nowhere near a pound. Understandably, some of my methods are lacking in frozen food care, but I would think a years supply would be excessive.

But what do I know i chickened out of seahorse care

 

lol, I just don't really know what a pound of brine shrimp eggs really consists of. I'm guessing its, as you've found WAY too much before it goes bad, but I only have premade decapsulated brine shrimp eggs, and don't have a reference yet.

 

I buy premium grade cysts from Brine Shrimp Direct in one pound cans and keep it in the refrigerator.
You can store them in a freezer as well, but it's best to remove some from the freezer so they get to fridge temperature for a bit or it takes longer for the hatch out for some reason.
If you only hatch out 1g per day(very roughly about 1/4 teaspoon), the can is going to last 454 days.
If you are going to BUY decapped cysts, then I don't think you should get more than you can use in a couple of months. That being said, Dan Underwood of seahorsesource.com says his are good for up to 5 months.
http://www.seahorsesource.com/cgi-bin/shop/detail.cgi?id=SSI509
Decapping your own is a PITA for some, but it is definitely cheaper.

 

yeah rayjay, I'm debating if I want to decap myself or not, it is alot cheaper in the long run, but these guys don't fly threw food that much, so hmmm

1 more thing, how do you enrich the shrimp after 18 hours? I put mine in a third container with lower bubbles and a little bit of artemia food, or should i get the selce? They don't seem to be doing great this way.

TIA

 

Artemia eat anything that is appropriately sized so to them they have no idea what is good or not.
I don't know what artemia food you are talking about but anything I've seen labeled as such wasn't worth the money.
I don't like Selco/Selcon emulsions as they don't store long, and, they are basically only fatty acids. I want a balanced profile.
You could use a bit of Selco with spirulina and blend them with water in a blender for at least 2 minutes, storing the result in a bottle in the refrigerator.
Then just add a very small amount to the bbs culture.
Enrichment can only begin when they reach the second instar stage, which depends on what temperature you are at and the quality of the decapped cysts.
It takes two 12 hour stages with new water and new enrichment for each stage to get maximum benefit.
Adding too much enrichment can kill off the bbs so go lightly and more frequent for best results.
I don't back off on air flow except for juveniles or adult brine where too high can blow them apart.
For me, I want a balanced enrichment so I like to use Dan's Feed from seahorsesource.com, and blend it for two minutes in water, and again, use sparingly, especially until you know how much works best for the density of the cultures you are growing.

 

Awesome thanks, I'll buy some better stuff.

HAve you ever tried to raise them in an aquarium so you have a constant supply?

 

I've been culturing brine shrimp for probably 15 yrs, and probably about 12 years doing it on a large scale, even selling through two local stores.
I started with pop bottle hatchers and progressed to gallon jars and from that to 5g inverted water bottles with the bottom cut out.
I ended up switching to 26g Rubbermaid garbage pails sitting on a slant to aid in recirculation of suspended foods.
Raising Brine Shrimp

 

thanks thatsa great read and seems like alot of water, I think i'll stick to the mini version of that, but it gives me some great steps to do and look for!

 

Got the new Eco ready! Gonna transfer the horses over to that and use this for the new tank!

 

You need a 12 step program.. ; ) lol