# Sea Monkey?



## Sorafish (Sep 15, 2011)

I've been contemplating things that start with M...Sorry, Depp moment.

So, I'm thinking of raising some baby shrimp for my guppy fry to eat. The first thing that comes to mind are 'sea monkeys'. What are these little guys, exactly, and would buying, say, one of those little kits from walmart be ok for raising them? Or do they need something bigger?
I remember having one of these as a child, and I THINK they bred like crazy till mom stopped feeding them...but I'm not sure. SO, my questions are:
Sea Monkeys: 
What are they?
Are they safe to feed to your fish?
What is the minimal I can keep them and still have them be safe to feed to fry?
And will they keep breeding?


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## bmlbytes (Aug 1, 2009)

*What are they?* Brine shrimp
*Are they safe to feed to your fish?* Yes
*What is the minimal I can keep them and still have them be safe to feed to fry?* I'm not sure I understand this question. If you had 1 shrimp it would be edible. 
*And will they keep breeding?* They will if you give them proper water conditions and a large enough tank. The adult brine shrimp will be too large for newborn fry though.

You can buy brine shrimp eggs from many local pet stores. They sell them in a tube or a bag. With these you are more likely to get many brine shrimp and be able to keep a stable colony of them.









Another trick you can do is boil a chicken egg. De-shell it, remove the egg white and put the egg yolk in a bowl. Mix in a small amount of water and mush it up to get a sort of paste. Feeding a very small amount of this will work well as food for baby fish.


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## Sorafish (Sep 15, 2011)

I've done the egg trick before. I also got a recipe that makes the egg into a powder instead of a paste. I was hoping the shrimp would be better for the babies, and maybe some adult shrimp for the adults.
The question about the minimal, was pertaining as to what conditions can they be kept in, a fish bowl, a 10 gallon with a filter, that kinda thing. The little 1 cup container that they sell with sea monkey's gets kinda disgusting pretty fast, so I wasn't sure if I would want to feed them to my fish as they may be unhealthy.
Do you have any tips for keeping brine shrimp then? Any particular things that they like, what they eat? I'd really like to keep some of the adults and have them breed more shrimp for feedings. Thank you for the help.


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