Some fish hatchlings require live food to survive. There are two critters most often cultured to do that. There are Moina, the smallest of the water fleas, and Artemia, the brine shrimp. Both are simple to culture, but the conditions need to be kept right, especially for water fleas.

I was unable to keep a culture of moina going once my town switched over to chloramines. Even folks with well water may have problems due to contaminants in the water. I now use a Kold-Sterile water filter and that has taken care of the problem. I grow moina because they can be cultured intensively. The buggers grow fast and need daily attention.



Most people seeing their aquarium do this would freak out and so what ever it took to get rid of it. Not me. This is music to my eyes and aquaponics at it's most basic level. This tank went green about 3 months back and I've been encouraging it ever since. This is the perfect food source for moina, and if you have a salt water variety of algae, as I do, you have the perfect food for brine shrimp as well.

To keep the fresh water algae blooming, I give it lots of light from daylight bulbs 16 hours a day. As I remove green water to feed the moina, I replace it with used fish water. I keep it aerated and in motion and heated to about 80F. That is it. I keep apple snails in the tank to eat any algae that drops to the bottom.

For more on moina check:
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/FA024

To grow moina I put a start of the little critters in a 1 gallon jar, half full of green water, with an open bubbler. Do not use an air stone as the tiny bubbles get into the shells and float them to the surface. They can't get the bubble out and die. When I see the water start to change color, I add more green water. Once the jar gets full I harvest 1/2 and start adding more water. That is all there is to it.

Artemea are even simpler. Set up a 10 gallon tank with an open bubler. Mix up salt water using used aquarium water. About 15 ppt salinity is good. Add a start of marine algae. Once you see the culture start to bloom, add about 1/8 teaspoon of brine shrimp eggs. That is all there is to it. Keep the tank topped off with aged fish water and check the salinity about once a month. In a month you can start harvesting a good supply of brine shrimp whenever you want. Now & then vacuum the bottom and add a little salt, but that is really all there is to do.

Here are some pics:






Once the brine shrimp are adults you'll see mating, then females with eggs, then live babbies jumping about. The culture is self sustaining and they never exhouse the food supply.