Incubate || Sanitation || Harvest || Feeding || Storage || BBS Sieves

Welcome to our guide to Feeding Angelfish Fry. This section is part of our step by step guide to Hatching Baby Brine Shrimp. This page will cover the task of feeding Angelfish fry BBS and discuss when to start feeding them. We also discuss alternative foods that may be fed to older fry. If you are not familiar with hatching BBS we suggest you read our entire Guide to Hatching Baby Brine Shrimp. We start our guide by explaining how to Incubate Brine Shrimp Eggs. Add a few fine points about the Sanitation of the hatchery and Harvesting the BBS. Next we offer suggestions for BBS Cold Storage. Followed by a page on Recharging BBS Hatcheries to extend the hatchery life.

Freshly hatched Baby Brine Shrimp are the staple diet of free swimming Angelfish fry. Most hobbyist have found it difficult to raise fry from newly free swimming to the juvenile stage of development without feeding BBS. Most Angelfish breeders who obtain some level of success at raising a spawn of Angelfish to adulthood are also successful at hatching Baby Brine Shrimp consistently.

Start feeding only after all fry become free swimming. As Angelfish fry began their development from eggs, into larvae (wigglers), and finally free swimming fry they receive their nourishment from their yoke sacks. Allow the fry time to absorb the remainder of their yoke sacks before starting to feed them. Fry are more at risk from feeding too early than too late. Free swimming is characterized as when most of the Angelfish fry began to form into groups called schools. Several schools of fry may form in your tank. The schools will hover about one inch off the tank bottom. Don't rush to feed them the moment they become free swimming. Angelfish fry will first feed and survive on infusoria the microscopic organisms found naturally in any healthy aquarium. It is possible for fry to live several days on infusoria alone. The best results are obtained by feeding fry freshly hatched baby brine shrimp within 24 hours of the fry actually swimming in a school.

It's important to try to have freshly hatched BBS ready to feed newly free swimming Angelfish fry. Timing BBS to hatch when they are their most nutritious and needed is easy to accomplish. Simply wait until wigglers are just about to become free swimmers. When the first few fry start breaking loose and darting in a random, uncoordinated manner start the BBS hatching process. Within 24 hours, most if not all will be freely swimming around in a coordinated and purposeful fashion in schools. Your BBS should be ready to feed soon afterwards.

Here at the Angelfish Micro Hatchery we suggest you be prepared to feed your fry a diet of only BBS for the first two or three weeks. Angelfish fry should be fed about every 8 hours or 3 times a day. We don't recommend replacing Artemia Salina Nauplii (BBS) with anything including egg yoke or any Artemia Replacement Diet aka ARD during this time. Start introducing Alternative Foods to fry slowly after about three weeks of age. We also suggest continuing to feed BBS and only supplementing their diet with alternative foods until fry reach the juvenile stage or about 6 weeks of age. Gradually allow flake food to become the staple of their diet.

Feeding Baby Brine Shrimp

 

	Before feeding the BBS that you have harvested they must be prepared by rinsing. Rinsing removes salty hatching media and some bacteria. This is important. Feed well rinsed Baby Brine Shrimp  and as little or none of the hatching media if possible. Doing so will allow you to provide your fry a clean, safe, and nutritious food.
	Remove any cyst that  may have attached to any tools to prevent adding cysts to your tanks. If you use a turkey baster or siphon wipe away empty brine shrimp cyst with a paper towel. This will help to avoid the labor of removing Artemia cyst from your tanks later.
	Tank water is often readily available and is an acceptable choice for rinse water. It can be used  when feeding fish from  the same tank from which it is removed.
	Fill and then allow the rinse water to  partially drain from the sieve several times. Fill the sieve with rinse water again then quickly empty the harvested and freshly rinsed BBS into a small container of water or collect them with a turkey baster. The  BBS are now ready to fed to your fish.
	If you are feeding directly from a turkey baster gently allow the BBS to escape into the tank. Don't blast them into the tank. Gently release them in measured amounts. Feeding live BBS produces the best results. Don't overfeed. Although BBS may live for several hours in fresh water don't feed more than your fish will eat in ten minutes. Remove any excess food from the tank bottom after thirty minutes.
	If feeding from a cup either freshly harvested or reserve BBS from cold storage pour small amounts into your tanks at a time. Avoid dumping and running. Feed a little, then watch and wait a few minutes before adding more. Don't overfeed. Remove any excess food from the tank bottom after thirty minutes.
	Angelfish fry that are being raised by their parents may be fed BBS by simply adding them with a baster or from a cup. Add a few drops at a time. Don't overfeed. Remove any excess food from the tank bottom after thirty minutes.

Decaps | Fine Flake

Here at the Angelfish Micro Hatchery we don't recondmend any alternative feed to replace BBS the first two or three weeks of fry life. Alternative Foods are feeds are used to supplement a diet with BBS as it's staple. About two or three weeks after Angelfish fry have been eating freshly hatched Baby Brine Shrimp their digestive system will have matured and their size should have increased enough to allow them to accept alternative foods. The visual clue to look for is the development of the Dorsal, Anal and Ventral finage. After the fin development has taken place start introducing new foods. The two alternative foods we recommend are freeze dried decapsulated brine shrimp and finely sized flake food.

Decapsulated Brine Shrimp Cysts are often referred to as simply Decaps. They are processed from Artemia cysts that have not broken diapause or their dormant state and will never hatch. The decapsulation procedure consists of chemically removing or oxidizing the outer chorion or shell with a hypochloride solution. All that remains following decapsulation is the bright orange embryo surrounded by a thin hatching membrane. The decapsulated cysts are neutralized and are completely digestible by Angelfish.

Decaps can be fed directly to older Angelfish fry without the necessity and downtime of hatching. They have a higher energy and nutritional value than live brine shrimp nauplii. However, it has been noted that they are not as easily digested as freshly hatched BBS. Since these cyst are non-hatching, energy is not consumed in the hatching process and lipids, amino acids, and enzymes are left intact and are very rich. Do not over feed Decapsulated Brine Shrimp Cysts.

Simply rehydrate the decapsulated brine shrimp eggs in water and feed directly to your baby Angelfish. We reccomend rehydrating Decaps when first introducing them as a new food to  Angelfish fry. Add rehydrated cyst a few drops at a time with an eye dropper to prevent over feeding. Decaps are a good first step towards feeding dried foods. Once fry growth reaches the juvenile stage rehydrating is not nessesery.

Fine Flake food is produced from regular size flake food reduced to a near powder size partical. Flake sized can be reduced by crushing or running it through a fine mesh kitchen strainer. Small amounts of finely sized flake food can be introduced to older Angelfish fry about 3 weeks old. Feed only a little flake food at first prior to a regular feeding of BBS. Allow the fry enough time to discover and consume the flake food. Then feed the BBS. Gradually increase the amount of flake food over time.

We have created a gallery of images of Brine Shrimp hatcheries from pictures that have been submitted or collected by us from all over the internet. You will see many examples of BBS hatcheries including popular versions sold in local pet stores in actual use.  Click on the links below to see our introduction to Baby Brine Shrimp, view the AMH Gallery of BBS Hatcheries or continue on to the next section of the AMH BBS Hatching Guide.