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Your live brine shrimp have been tank cultured in filtered salt water pumped from an on site aquifer. The shrimp are fed an enriched diet to ensure you are providing your fish the highest quality food possible. Brine shrimp are also “living capsules”. For a boost of extra nutrition, you can gut load them with an enrichment of your choice one hour before feeding them to your fish. They are harvested just before they reach maturity which is the proper age to hold up well in shipping and ultimately, in your store. Since they are warm water shrimp, they do not require refrigeration. Room temperature is what we recommend which conveniently allows you to display the shrimp in any area of your shop so customers can see them.
The shrimp require little care. It is recommended that a one box = pint/pound/two cups/16 ounces, be set up in a 20 to 30 gallon aquarium. Aerating the tank mildly with an air stone and/or using a sponge filter have attained best success. The fresh water used for mixing your salt should be first treated with a water conditioner (de chlorinator) to remove all toxic chemicals. Any prepared salt mixture or a non-iodized salt like pool salt can be used for reaching the proper salinity level. We recommend not using R/O water for your shrimp. Some customers have tried using reverse osmosis water with little success. The process of R/O strips the pH out of the water and even after buffering back up, success has been sketchy. We suggest using de chlorinated tap water then proceed with adding the salt. Mix the salt and treated fresh water until a specific gravity reading of 1.026 – 1.028 or salt content of 36 – 38ppt is attained. Your pH should read 8.2 throughout the tanking of your shrimp. When you are ready to transfer the shrimp into the aquarium or holding vat, you MUST DRAIN ALL packing water off the shrimp first. A 20 – 30% water change is recommended every other day or as needed. When you need to do a water change, you can place a net in the tank and insert the siphon hose inside the net. This method will save a lot of accidental siphoning off of your remaining stock.
When you are finished with your current stock of brine shrimp, be sure to clean and rinse out your holding tank. We recommend sterilizing your holding tank and all materials used in the tank with a fresh water and chlorine bleach mixture about every month or so. We suggest to use 1 cup of unscented liquid bleach to every 5 gallons of fresh water for proper sterilization. Let the tank, airline, air stones and any other materials used sit in the solution for approximately 2 hours and scrub it clean (sponge filter and net approx. 30 minutes). Then rinse the materials real good and let them air dry. Once rinsed thoroughly, the chlorine dissipates quickly so you should be able to use the materials safely after they have dried.
Should your customers ask for instructions on caring for the shrimp at home, it is suggested that for small quantities, they put the shrimp in a small, shallow container that has plenty of surface area thereby not requiring aeration. They can be kept on the counter top or refrigerator until used up. For larger quantities, an air stone should be used.
Lastly, it is important for you to know that our brine shrimp are highly nutritious when you receive them. We raise our seahorses exclusively on our live brine shrimp! You should enrich them if holding for a few days or longer. Contact us for enrichment.
