What to Feed Brine Shrimp: The Complete Guide for Proper Nutrition

Fish owners don’t often think about raising food for their pets because there are so many new and specialized fish foods on the market. But it is possible to do so. While you should have some experience with a saltwater system and be able to think of new ways to do things, it can be fun to raise live food like brine shrimp.

People often raise brine shrimp at home because they are easy to keep a population of, especially if you know how they think and live. These zooplankton are also called artemia, and like shrimp, crabs and lobster, are a kind of crustacean.

You can keep a healthy stock of brine shrimp if you follow these basic rules and add your own knowledge to them. Once you’ve found a system that works, you can sit back and watch another natural scene as your fish chase after and eat their own food.

As an aquarium hobbyist, I often use brine shrimp to feed my fish and invertebrates. These tiny crustaceans are a great source of nutrients and are easy to hatch and raise at home. However, knowing what to feed brine shrimp is critical to keep them healthy and nutritious for your pets. In this comprehensive guide, I’ll share everything you need to know about proper brine shrimp nutrition.

An Overview of Brine Shrimp

Before diving into diet, let’s start with a quick overview of brine shrimp biology and behavior

Brine shrimp, also known as sea monkeys or artemia are small aquatic crustaceans that live in salty waters like salt lakes and marine aquariums.
They have a short lifespan of just a few months. They hatch from dried eggs called cysts and go through several larval stages as they grow.
Brine shrimp are filter feeders. They use their legs to sweep food particles suspended in the water into their mouths.
They are social and typically form large groups in the wild and in captivity.

Natural Diet of Brine Shrimp

In their natural salt lake habitats, brine shrimp feed on a variety of microscopic organisms:

Algae – Phytoplankton and other microalgae are a major part of the brine shrimp diet. Key types include diatoms, dinoflagellates, and cyanobacteria.
Zooplankton – Small aquatic invertebrates like rotifers and copepods are also eaten by brine shrimp.
Detritus – Decaying organic matter is another food source for brine shrimp in the wild.

This diverse diet provides complete nutrition for wild brine shrimp populations. Mimicking it in captivity ensures optimal health.

Supplemental Foods for Captive Brine Shrimp

While natural foods are ideal, cultured brine shrimp often need supplemental feeds to get proper nutrition:

Algae – Spirulina and chlorella powder provide protein, vitamins, and carotenoid pigments.
Yeast – An excellent source of B vitamins, minerals, and protein for growing brine shrimp.
Egg yolk – Provides fatty acids, protein, and other nutrients. However, it clouds the water so use sparingly.
Fish food – High-quality flakes and pellets offer balanced nutrition but should not be the sole diet.
Commercial brine shrimp diet – Specifically formulated feeds that contain algae, vitamins, and other nutrients brine shrimp need.

When to Start Feeding Baby Brine Shrimp

Knowing when to start feeding newly hatched brine shrimp is critical. Here are some guidelines:

Within 12-24 hours after hatching, brine shrimp larvae have a functional digestive system and can begin filter feeding if food particles are present.
Feeding them right away provides nutrition during this critical growth phase. Delaying feeding can lead to starvation.
However, brine shrimp also have an internal yolk reserve that can sustain them for up to 5 days after hatching. So they can survive briefly without food.
If using commercial kits, check if the hatching medium already contains food. Many do, allowing feeding to begin immediately.
When in doubt, it’s safer to start feeding the babies within a day of hatching. Their small size and transparency makes it hard to tell exactly when they emerge.

How Much and How Often to Feed Brine Shrimp

When feeding brine shrimp, moderation is key:

Feed small amounts 1-2 times daily. Excess food can quickly foul the water.
Look for clear water 1-2 hours after feeding. Remaining particles indicate overfeeding.
Alternate feed types for variety. Use spirulina one day, yeast the next, then egg yolk, etc.
Increase food amount as the brine shrimp grow. But overfeeding can still be an issue.
Test water quality frequently. Overfeeding increases ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates.
Perform partial water changes as needed to replenish nutrients and eliminate waste buildup.

Key Considerations for Proper Brine Shrimp Nutrition

Follow these tips for successfully feeding your brine shrimp:

Use a diverse diet to prevent nutritional deficiencies. Relying on just one food risks imbalances.
Adjust feeding amounts and schedules based on shrimp size, density, and water quality. Their needs change as they grow.
Closely monitor water parameters like ammonia, pH, salinity, and temperature. These impact feeding and nutrition.
Maintain excellent aquarium hygiene with frequent partial water changes, gravel vacuuming, and equipment cleaning.
Look for signs of malnutrition like poor growth, lack of egg production, odd swimming, and floaters. Intervene with improved nutrition.
When in doubt, feed a smaller amount. It’s easy to gradually increase quantity later. Overfeeding is harder to correct.

Setting Up a Brine Shrimp Hatchery at Home

Growing your own brine shrimp is rewarding and cost-effective. Here is a quick guide to setting up a basic hatchery:

Supplies Needed

Brine shrimp eggs – Look for unexpired cysts from a reputable source. 2 grams can hatch thousands of shrimp.
Hatching container – A simple plastic 1-2 liter soda bottle works great. Use black for darkness.
Air pump and tubing – Provides constant aeration and circulation. Get an adjustable valve to control flow rate.
Air stone – Releases fine bubbles for oxygenation. A simple air stone works well.
Aquarium salt – Use synthetic sea salt or salt designed for brine shrimp hatching.
Light source – Sunlight or a desk lamp provides light on a 12 hour on/off cycle to mimic natural conditions.

Hatching Step-by-Step

Mix saltwater per package instructions, usually 35 grams of salt per liter of dechlorinated water.
Aerate the saltwater for several hours before starting. Test for a pH of 7.5-8.5.
Add brine shrimp eggs and continue aeration. Target 80°F water temperature.
Within 18-36 hours, most eggs will hatch into tiny brine shrimp larvae.
Begin feeding newly hatched brine shrimp small amounts of powdered spirulina or yeast.
Continue feeding 1-2 times daily as they grow over the next 7-14 days.
Harvest brine shrimp by draining the container through a fine net when they reach ideal size.

Brine Shrimp Benefits for Aquarium Fish and Invertebrates

Here’s an overview of the nutritional and health benefits brine shrimp offer as live fish food:

Excellent source of protein, essential fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals
Promote rapid growth and development, especially in fry and juveniles
Vibrant orange color comes from carotenoids that boost immune health
Gut-loading brine shrimp amplifies their nutritional value
Live movement triggers predator instincts and feeding responses
Low cost and ability to hatch brine shrimp at home makes it sustainable
Great supplemental food to provide variety alongside flakes, pellets, etc.

what to feed brine shrimp

Raising Brine Shrimp: Getting Started

You should begin with a 10-gallon glass tank. A thin sheet of acrylic or formica that is just a bit bigger than the tank should be squished into the bottom of the tank to make a concave surface. Seal the seams around the acrylic with silicone. You want to get rid of any corners that could become dead spots where water can’t flow and where shells and other trash will build up. If you want to get really creative, you can glue a wall in the middle of the tank to make a raceway that will help the water flow.

Setting up a circulation system can be tricky. To grow healthy adult brine shrimp, strong aeration and good water circulation are essential. You will need to figure out how to set up your pump so that water flows continuously through the whole tank. If you use airstones, only use ones that make big bubbles. Small air bubbles will get stuck in brine shrimp’s swim-parts or eat them, which will force them to the surface where they will die.

Lighting, Temperature, and Water Quality

Since brine shrimp are drawn to light, keep the light level low. If you don’t, they will spend a lot of energy trying to stay close to the light source, which lowers the quality of your food. A 60- to 100-watt light will suffice but hatching will require higher light levels (2000 lux constant illumination). Optimal temperature conditions range from about 77 to 86 degrees Fahrenheit, depending on the strain that is cultured. They prefer a salinity between 30-35 ppt and a pH of around 8.

Every week, change about 20% of the water and clean the bottom of the tank every few days to keep the water quality good. To do this, turn off the air and let the tank settle. Shine a flashlight at the surface and wait a moment as the artemia are drawn to it. Siphon off the material on the bottom, consisting mainly of molted shells.

Start out by purchasing a packet of dehydrated brine shrimp cysts at an aquarium or pet shop. If you keep these cysts dry and away from air, they can live for many years. A container in the fridge is a good place to keep them. The cysts contain dormant embryos that will resume their development once they have been placed in water.

Around 77-degree water keeps the cysts open for 15 to 20 hours. After that, the embryo comes out of the shell. In this “umbrella” stage, the embryo hangs beneath the cyst shell, still enclosed in a membrane.

Once it separates from its shell, it becomes a free-swimming young shrimp called a nauplii. It is brownish in color from the yolk it carries to complete its development. These nauplii shed their skin after about 12 hours and start to feed normally, filtering out microalgae and bacteria from the water.

It takes about eight days and 15 molts for nauplii to reach adulthood. Females will make 10 to 11 broods of a few hundred free-swimming nauplii over the course of 50 days if the water is not too salty and there is plenty of food. Adult brine shrimp are about 8 mm long, but they can grow to be 20 mm long in the right conditions.

Throughout their lifecycle, brine shrimp change in quality, a big consideration for the aquarist. When shrimp hatch, they have a lot of fat (about 23 percent of their dry weight), but as they grow, that fat is used up, and by the time they are pre-adults, it has dropped to only 7 percent.

Adult brine, however, are high in protein: about 63 percent compared to 45 percent for the nauplii. So, if you have young fish, which require a high-fat diet for growth, you need to harvest nauplii. On the other hand, adult brine shrimp are better if your tank has a lot of older juveniles and adults that need a high-protein diet to stay healthy and reproduce.

What food to feed brine shrimp

What do brine shrimp eat?

Brine shrimp feed on a variety of natural foods in their natural habitat, including algae, phytoplankton, and microscopic planktonic algae. These foods provide the necessary nutrients for brine shrimp to grow and develop. In captivity, it is important to provide brine shrimp with a similar diet to ensure they receive the necessary nutrients.

Can I eat raw shrimp?

Eating raw shrimp is not recommended. Raw shrimp can contain bacteria that can cause food poisoning. It is also a good source of purines, which can trigger gout attacks. If you want to eat shrimp, cook it thoroughly to reduce the risk of food poisoning and to help prevent gout attacks. Cook shrimp until it is opaque and pink to ensure that it is safe to eat.

Are brine shrimp good for fish?

Among aquarium enthusiasts, brine shrimp are valued as a highly nutritious food source that meets the needs of fish better than commercially manufactured flakes. While you can buy them in pet stores, you can also raise them yourself to ensure a constantly fresh food supply.

Can you feed baby brine shrimp?

It involves a soak in bleach, though, which can pose risks to your tank if you don’t rinse thoroughly. Most aquarists choose to feed baby brine shrimp to their freshwater and saltwater fish. The freshly-hatched Artemia don’t require food from you. Instead, they survive for the first 24 hours on their egg yolk.