Minnow

I have 5 molly fry, and a possibility of more on the way. I've been looking for ways to supplement my fishes' diets anyways, so I've been thinking about starting up one of those soda-bottle brine shrimp hatcheries. I've never done it before, though, so I have a few questions.

The fry are pretty young. I would guess a week or so, but I'm not sure. They would not be able to eat fully grown brine shrimp. How long will baby brine shrimp stay small enough for fry to eat? I can always feed them to the big fish when they grow too large, but I'd like to know how long I'll have them for.

Also, how long will they live for, and will they reproduce, or do I have to buy more eggs?

I know I can keep them by a source of light/ heat to keep them warm, but will they need aeration?

If I feed them to my fry, would it be 3 meals of brine shrimp a day, or is there some other routine that is best?

Thanks!

fishlover78

yes to the aeration question, you need an air pump, that is vital to the whole soda bottle setup, and all I know is feed the fry the little shrimp, the smallest ones in the bottle, when I had a brine shrimp hatcher for my guppy fry I just kept ordering the eggs, they were too young to reproduce before they were fed to the guppies, hopefully someone can answer your other questions! -fishlover78

Plecolover12

Well, congrats on the fry! I have never used brine shrimp, I only feed my gourami fish flakes(I am getting more fish soon). But I think the smallest type would be good so the fish can eat it. But maybe they can eat off one regular sized brine shrimp. . .
Hope this helps!

-Plecolover12

fishlover78

well I could be wrong but, isn't regular sized brine shrimp kinda big for guppy fry? don't forget plecolover12, they are really really tiny fish when the are fry. they're even small little fish as adults!

Plecolover12

I know, but maybe freeze dried ones? So the babies can eat off it. You know how babies drink milk from their mother? The brine shrimp would be like that.

Lucy

I couldn't find live bbs around here but I found frozen bbs.
Maybe you can try that until you get the hatchery going.

cerianthus

Hatching BS can be bit messy. You can use flakes from the bottom of the container and supplement w/ Fz. Daphnia as they get bigger. It is better than BS (little nutritional value) w/ less salt content. And it is not messy. Cube of Dapnia is way too much for few frys. What I used to do was to dip the cube in the tank and take out right away. Whatever amount that came off may even be too much for few frys.
Make sure to keep up with small partial water changes (5-10%, sometimes daily, test regularly to ensure their safety), siphning out excess food particles using air line tubing. Be careful not to have fry going thru rollercoaster ride. LOL

Minnow

Thanks, everyone! I think I will skip the mess and go with frozen daphnia. If I put in too much for the fry, I can always feed the rest to the other fish in the tank. Thanks for the advice, Cerianthus, I will step up the water changes.

Matt

Cant wait to see pictures

-Matt