I went the lazy route - bought
brine shrimp from a
LFS. I did a couple of bad things.
1. I didn't know how much to put in, so I dump all of them in, 1 oz of shrimp. I think most of them died from being in the freshwater too long.
2. I _definite_ overfed my fish. All of them have swollen up like they're about to give birth. Now, I'm super worried about their health. I hope they don't die on me.
So, my questions are:
1. Are store bought brine shrimp as good as home hatched? Obviously, I have no idea when these were hatched so their nutritional value is debatable. But, my fish still ate them up like they've been starving for days.
2. How much am I supposed to feed? When I brought home the brine shrimp, they were in salt water. I bought 1 oz of brine shrimp, netted out of hatchery, in about 2 cups of salt water. What's the best way to have done this?
3. How long would the brine shrimp live in the salt water, if I were to dole out a small amount at a time? Do I have days or hours to use them up? Would I need to put them in the fridge or room temperature is fine?
4. With any luck, my fish would survive this orgy of excess food. What sort of health problems should I keep an eye out? I've read that swim bladder disease is an issue with overfed fish.