---

Etymology: salina; salt, refers to the habitat.

Classification: branchiopod, branchiopod crustacean, branchiopodan - aquatic crustaceans typically having a carapace and many pairs of leaflike appendages used for swimming as well as respiration and feeding
Artemia, Chirocephalus, genus Artemia, genus Chirocephalus - fairy shrimp; brine shrimp.

Lifecyle

Artemia are short lived, after the eggs hatch, the nauplii will grow up to become adults in two to three weeks, and after another two weeks their life ends.
The cycle:

-Newly hatched nauplii, these have a single median eye, usually deep orange till blood-red color, with a blueish eye
-Semi adult, two compound eyes start to develop
-12 molts-Adult, 11 pairs of feet

Molts occur every 2-4 days

Artemia as fish food

 

Artemia eggs are usually bought in aquarium stores. There are numerous discussions on the web on how to hatch them, and why they don't hatch sometimes. I will shortly describe my method here:

1) I use the cut off soda bottle as shown in the picture

2) I aerate it mildly, and important, with large bubbles(no stone, somehow they foul up my cultures)

3) I add 1.5 liter of water

4) I add the eggs, just as much as necessary to cover the surface complete

5) I wait 15-30 minutes before adding salt. The eggs are usually very dry, and this makes the eggs wet.

6) I add salt, plain common sea salt from the supermarket(Yes, it does contain natural Iodine, yes, there are chemicals in it to keep the salt loose, Yes, my hatch rates are at 90-100%)

7) I stopped using a heater and light. The eggs hatch in summer in a day, in winter sometimes after three days.

8) After the artemia hatch, I siphon them off (turn off bubbles, wait 15 minutes, all newly hatched brine shrimp are at the bottom just above the egg shells/eggs) and feed them without rinsing.

Did my cultures ever fail? Yes, especially if i forgot the bottle after turning the aeration off. And also every time I bought antique small bottles from aquarium stores.

What I do now is buy a large can from a good source. After I open it, I divide all artemia eggs in black photocanisters. And these I place in the freezer at minus 19 degrees celsius.

Artemia as a pet or study object

Lately sea monkey kits have been for sale in some toy stores. Just add water, and your sea monkeys will hatch and start to swim.

		The Amazing Live Sea-Monkeys® MagiQuarium™ When the lights go off, the fun stays on, without bulbs, batteries or electricity! Sea-Monkeys love the night life and their unique "positively phototaxic" bodies, actually cause them to glow like fireflies! Just expose the MagiQuarium to any light source for a quick "charge" and the habitat will glow in the dark for hours! FEATURES: • Non-toxic • No batteries required • Phosphorescent base and Magnifying Aero-Vent Tank Cover glow for hours after brief exposure to light

 

Growing your own

Artemia can be grown in small quantities by adding yeast to a normal culture. However, it's easier to grow them in the garden. For this purpose you will need a 2m by 2m shallow pond, 10 to 20 cm deep. Fill this with saline water(10 grams seasalt per liter), and throw in a reasonable amount of yeast. As soon as algae start to develop some cysts can be added, or live artemia. These will grow rapidly, and reproduce after a few weeks. The larger artemia are good food for fish, and can be caught with a net. Evaporated water should be replaced with rainwater, or with RO water. Adding tapwater will increase the salinity slowly, and reduce the amount of artemia.

Temperature: 5-30 °C

Feeding: Yeast, algae, infusoria

pH: 6.0-7.5

Sexual dimorphism: See lifecycle

Prices: Artemia are not cheap. Small 50 ml bottles are sold for between 6-8€($8-10), larger cans are relatively cheaper and usually hatch much better.

Additional: Brine shrimp eggs can survive for at least 50 years, but possibly for up to 1000 years.

Picture references: Picture 1: Eric Naus

References: Masters, Charles O.(1975) : Encyclopedia of live foods, T.F.H. publications, Inc, Ltd., The British Crown Colony of Hong Kong.

If you have any comments please mail to aquaworld