Food
Brine Shrimp Eggs
If you are going to raise
quality fish from spawns, you must be able to feed
baby brine shrimp. There is no substitute for raising
dozens, let alone hundreds or thousands of fry. In
nature, only a few of every several thousand fry
live, and there are sufficient protozoa and other
animals for those fry to live. In any kind of
hatchery it is impossible to supply sufficient food
to the fry without using baby brine shrimp.
Unfortunately, the small but critical industry of
supplying the eggs (really, cysts) is full of
charlatans.
 The oldest and largest
company supplying brine shrimp eggs in the United
States is Sanders Brine Shrimp Company, and I have been
doing business with them since shortly after they
were founded, in the early 1950's. (While there were
a few years when I dealt with another supplier, I
went back to Sanders after a year of shortage when I
found I was buying cans containing a grade clearly
less viable, and for considerably more money, than
those purchased just a few months prior.) No other
company has the combination of Sanders' fleet of
boats, processing and laboratory facilities. (Others
principally share one or more facilities and/or
purchase their eggs from independent or contracted
operators.) There are no industry standards for the
terms "Premium", "Grade A", etc.
so those terms mean only what each supplier wants
them to mean. In times of egg shortage, such as when
this was written, suppliers other than Sanders lower
the quality of eggs they sell. If you question this,
purchase a can of Sanders from me and compare them
with what you are using. If you do not find them
clearly superior I will refund your money in exchange
for your unused eggs…no questions asked and no
hard feelings!
As long as
I can get them, I will sell Sanders Premium and Grade
A eggs at a very small markup. My current supply of
Premium has a guaranteed hatch rate of 95% and an
actual hatch rate of 98%+. Grade A has a guaranteed
hatch rate of 85% and an actual hatch rate in the low
90's.
| Brine
Shrimp Eggs, Sanders |
| Premium
Grade, 99% hatch |
| 1 can (1 lb)
|
$35 |
| 3 cans |
$100 |
| 12 cans (case) |
$385 |
| Grade A eggs,
90% hatch |
|
| 1 can (15
oz) |
$30 |
| 3
cans |
$70 |
| 12
cans (case) |
$270 |
| |
|
Decapsulated
Brine Shrimp Eggs
Large hatcheries will always have live brine
shrimp nauplii on hand, but you may like these if you
don't. It's less messy. See the results of my
research on success and economics of this special
food at Feeding Angelfish
Fry.
Flake
Food
As soon as
my fry reach dime size they start to get some amount
of flake food. By the time they are nickel size flake
food is a major part of their diet. When they reach
50-cent size, they prefer flake food to baby brine
shrimp. I feed three kinds of flake food every day.
While it is difficult to be precise, flake food might
be 10% of the diet for dime size fish; 25% for nickel
to quarter size; and 50% for quarter to half-dollar
size.
Some
authors state that mature fish should be fed diets
that are low in protein and fat. I think this is good
advice for fish maintained in a community tank, where
one does not want the fish kept in breeding condition
as that increases their aggressiveness. However,
without exception every book written on breeding fish
(most deal with breeding game or food fish) advises
high protein and fat levels for the breeding stock.
Every fish in my hatchery is either a breeder or is
being raised under conditions to insure it will be a
superior breeder when mature, so my fish are all fed
foods with a high protein and fat level.
Every day I
feed some of each of the flake foods listed below.
The fish will thrive on any one of them, particularly
if you also feed the adults frozen food in addition,
but the variety of ingredients makes two foods better
than one.
To save
space, I will only list the protein and fat contents
of the flake food I use and sell. However, a complete
analysis is available on request.
Sanders
Brine Shrimp Flake
This flake
contains 50% brine shrimp, while most "brine
shrimp flakes" have 10%-20%! Protein, 50%, fat
12%. An outstanding flake that the fish love. To
insure freshness, packed in one-kilo (2.2 pounds)
sealed Mylar bags.
One bag, 1 kg = 2.2
lb
($9.00 a pound) |
$19.80 |
Five bags, each
($7.20 pound). |
$15.85 |
Spirulina
Flake
I have
tried numerous Spirulina flakes offered for sale by
others and have always been disappointed. This flake
is made to my specifications. The principal
ingredients are Fish Meal, Wheat Flour, Spirulina,
Shrimp Meal, Fish Protein Concentrate, and Fish Oil.
41% protein, and 4% fat. An ideal food for Angels,
Discus, Gouramis, Guppies, Corydoras, etc. This flake
is expensive, but well worth it, and still far less
expensive than the $40-$80 a pound charged when
buying in pet stores and aquarium shops.
| 1 pound |
$15.00 |
| 5 pounds |
$67.50 |
Frozen
Foods
Once fish
reach breeding size, about six months for me, I start
feeding a frozen food as well as the three varieties
of flake foods. The only reason I don't start feeding
frozen food at half-dollar size is because it is
relatively expensive and the fish don't need it at
this stage. My routine for breeder size fish is to
first feed flake for the third time, and to then
immediately follow with the frozen food. (I melt the
frozen food in a sieve while I am feeding the flake.)
The fish will eat frozen food even though they are
full of flake food and I believe this over-eating
puts them into breeding condition sooner and keeps
them there longer. I alternate days between the two
types of frozen brine shrimp and frozen bloodworms.
Frozen Adult Brine
Shrimp
Frozen Bloodworms
10%
discount on any combination of twelve or more
packages.
Frozen food
will leave here completely frozen and well packaged.
For most of the year, regular mail will deliver
completely frozen, but in hot weather express mail is
necessary. While I can't guarantee frozen delivery,
no damage will be done as long as the package is
delivered at least half-frozen, and no customer has
ever reported receipt thawed.
Other
Supplies
Sponge Filters
We
make these here, and they are the best on the market.
The three most advertised national brands are Hydro,
Tetra, and Jungle. All suffer from the same failing
of using inexpensive furniture-type sponge material.
This material has a very small pore size that quickly
becomes overloaded. Worse of all, they are almost
impossible to clean without a lot of twisting, which
destroys much of the beneficial bacteria.
Our filters
have 64 cubic inches of sponge material with very
large pores. The slate bottom insures that fry cannot
get stuck underneath and makes the sponges easy to
move when cleaning the tank bottom. Neither fry or
brine shrimp will get caught in the pores, and
cleaning the filters is as easy as holding the
sponges in a bucket and a few twists of the wrist.
The number
of sponge filters necessary in a tank depends on the
air supply, the fish/gallon density and the amount of
uneaten food. For tanks with a high fish/gallon
density, use one per ten gallons. My breeding pairs
are in 20-gallon tanks with a single sponge filter.
| $4.50 each |
25+ $4.00 each |
75+ $3.75 each |
Valves
In-line
valves. I sell and use plastic valves to insert into
PVC Schedule 40 pipe for air and water feed. These
are far superior and much less expensive than either
type of brass valve that is available.
| $0.85 each |
20+ $.80 each |
100+ $.75 each |
Gang
Valves
I have
found the Penn-Plax Lok-Tite® to be the best of the
several brands out there. These are plastic (far
superior to any of brass), and have unique
anti-siphon, anti-kink, and tank mount designs.
| Two-Gang $3.50 |
Three-Gang $5.50 |
Four-Gang $7.00 |
Air
Pumps
I offer two
completely different diaphragm air pumps, each of
which serves a different purpose. Both of these are
far superior in power, performance, and noise level
to what had been the industry standard; the
Dynamaster® two-cylinder piston pump. While I own
and use several Dynamaster® pumps, in recent years
the manufacturing quality and service has left
something to be desired, while the price has
considerably increased. As these fail, I will replace
them with one of the following. If you wish I will be
glad to tell you how I have rated the power and
performance of the three pumps.
TetraTM Luft pump
Made in the USA. This is a gem, with a
single outlet and adjustable airflow. As far as I am
concerned no diaphragm pump is quieter, and nothing
matches it for small size and power. If you want a
pump to feed air into a plastic pipe with valves that
you install, this is the one to use. Because of the
single outlet, two or more can easily be ganged so
that one pipe can be used to serve several aquariums
and you can avoid costly gang valves. Can also be
used to serve several tanks via gang valves. Comes
with a check valve and an airline clamp. I have
several of these in use. $29.50.
Penn-Plax
Silent-Air X6TM
Made in the USA. When this pump was
introduced several years ago it was heavily promoted
and the price was quite high. The price has now come
down, but the pump remains superb. What makes this
pump different is that it has four outlets, run by
four separate diaphragms. Thus, if one goes down the
remaining three will continue to operate. Moreover,
it has a five-year manufacturer's guarantee; which is
unheard of. The only drawback to this pump is that it
requires four input valves (for each pump!) if used
to feed a plastic pipe air system. If used to serve
several tanks, fewer gang valves are required than
for the TetraTM Luft, and that is a
decided advantage. I have two of these in use. $39.95.
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