DIY Fish And Coral Foods With BRS And Brine Shrimp - Top FAQs
How do I make coral food?
Reef Chili alone has a ton of variety and works well all by itself. You can easily boost the mix by adding any combo of the BRS Freeze-Dried Foods. Just mix equal parts of each together, then mix a portion with some tank water before feeding. You can also add a variety of fresh/frozen foods to that dry mix, chop it up in a food processor to the appropriate size and make your own frozen food. Using a mixed DIY frozen food like this feeds your entire tank in most cases, including the fish!
Check out the video and blog post below or download the Frozen Reef Chili Recipe to take with you while shopping for ingredients.
Watch Video: DIY Reef Chili: Make your own saltwater fish food! How to make frozen fish and coral foods. | BRStv
Download: Frozen Reef Chili Recipe
How do I feed my fish when I am on vacation?
- Don't feed your fish: Most fish will survive just fine without food for up to 3 days. That said, there are a few select species who need to be fed multiple times per day and won't fair well without daily feeding; this includes Anthias, Chromis, and some Butterflyfish.
- Rely on a trusted and trained friend or family member: This is a popular choice but sometimes leads to horror stories if the said trustee is not well trained or informed. Proportioning the food is not a bad idea and supply a feeding ring or defroster to help eliminate food waste.
- Use an automatic fish feeder: The Eheim Everyday Feeder or Neptune System AFS for Apex users are the best options for auto-feeders. These devices will automatically deliver flake or pellet food to your aquarium on a daily basis, even multiple times per day depending on your settings.
Are Brine Shrimp healthy for saltwater fish?
Brine Shrimp vs Mysis Shrimp
Let's start by understanding the difference because they are often confused. Mysis Shrimp are nutritionally whole or balanced and provide your fish with plenty of protein, a little fat, and some vitamins and minerals. Brine Shrimp, on the other hand, is like a bag of chips or a handful of french fries. They taste great but really don't provide all that much nutrition by themselves.
The best way to use Brine Shrimp is to hatch it yourself and feed the live baby brine (artemia) right away because they still have a yolk sack attached. Alternatively, you can raise those live baby brine in a separate container or tank and load them up with nutritious Spirulina Powder. This is called "gut-loading" which essentially means the Brine Shrimp have full bellies of nutritious food before being fed to your fish.
**Pro Tip: Hatching Brine Shrimp is super easy, fun, and can even be educational for your kids or family members. Raising them takes daily attention but the fruits are worth the labor. Feeding live brine is also a blast, the fish love to chase them down in your tank.
How do you hatch & raise Brine Shrimp?
How to hatch Brine Shrimp
- Buy the Brine Shrimp Hatchery Kit w/ eggs.
- Fill the hatchery with saltwater as directed.
- Place the white divider into the hatchery.
- Using the included measuring spoon, add two scoops to the outer ring of the hatchery.
- Add the lid, close it up, and ensure the sieve is properly in place.
- Store in a warm location (+/-70° F) with a light source pointed at the center of the hatchery.
Wait 24 hours before checking the shrimpery for your hatch. The baby brine hatch pretty quickly then navigate through the hatchery rings into the sieve following the light source. Colder temperatures can result in lower hatch rates if any at all. Harvest the brine by removing the sieve and placing your babies into a separate container for direct feeding or to raise them into adulthood. You can harvest multiple times in the first 48 hours.
How to raise and "gut-load" Brine Shrimp
This process involves raising the brine for 2-3 weeks into adulthood. It will take a few weeks and the shrimp can be kept in a small tank with a sponge filter. You need to feed the shrimp regularly using Spirulina Powder or Live Phytoplankton which will then deliver more nutrition to your fish.
- Fill the tank with clean saltwater and engage the sponge filter
- Add baby brine
- On day #3, add just enough Spirulina powder or live phytoplankton* to stain the water a very light green color DO NOT OVERFEED
- When the water clears up, add some more food to create a very light green stain again. DO NOT OVERFEED
- Harvest after 2-3 weeks, be sure the brine are well fed just before feeding to your fish
*Using Spirulina powder can fowl the water quickly so you have to be very delicate with how much you're feeding. Live Phytoplankton on the other hand can stay alive in the tank, so long as you provide a sufficient light source the plankton can even grow and reproduce creating a somewhat self-sustaining culture. The #1 point of failure is overfeeding and allowing the water to fowl using powder foods. Water changes are difficult if not next to impossible as you have no way of removing water without removing the suspended brine.
Can I feed freeze-dried shrimp and krill?
Yes, but you do want to re-hydrate the shrimp before feeding. Soak the food in saltwater for 1-2 hours before feeding, otherwise, it just floats. It's best to add some additional nutrients too by using a food soak like Selcon, Brightwell Aquatics AminoMega, and Vitamin M.
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