[center][b][size=14pt]Culturing Branchinella thailandensis[/size][/b][/center]
[center]A Shrimp from the Orient
by
BigC[/center]
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[center][i][b]Adult Thai Fairy Shrimp[/b][/i][/center]
[center]This lengthy editorial was constructed by myself due to the sheer lack of non technical reference material available to the hobbyist regarding this interesting subject matter. I've scoured the internet for hours on end for relevant data that I could use and I only managed to find somewhat sketchy articles of which only just brushed on the topic. So as an endeavour to try and help other aquarists and folks interested in home aqua-culturing such creatures I have managed to put together something based solely on my personal experience. I hope you enjoy what I have managed to unearth.
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This being a new venture for me and for anyone that knows me will impart that I like to culture live foods at home if possible, in an effort to give my fish a different and diverse dietary range to satisfy their everyday bodily needs. Borne out of the simplistic idea that brine shrimp need brine water, a salty mix within a specific gravity range to thrive and grow and we are predominately using freshwater as a medium for our fish which is an alien environment for Artemia to survive much longer than an hour or so. Subsequently Artemia do not live very long in freshwater tanks or fry tubs, leading to the fouling of the water which could, if left, lead to disease with resultant fish and fry losses. Thai Fairy Shrimp on the other hand would possibly fill this gap. offering me a high protein, low fat food source that would stick around longer in a freshwater environment giving fish and fry a longer time to catch and consume this fresh food source before ending up as a useless mush on the aquarium floor.
Lots of aquarists would like to give this type of food source a go, but shy away from attempts to home culture this small Crustacea species due to the fear of being duped by unscrupulous Thai vendors sending unreliable cysts through the lengthy postal delivery system. So this little article is set out with a two fold agenda, firstly to catalogue my attempts at culturing and sustaining the shrimp to subsequent populations and secondly to dispel the fear of ordering cysts from the Far East.
I'm not a fool... so realistically I would not be able to produce shrimp cysts in such numbers as to be in a position to distribute large quantities around the country. (I don't have a lake in my back yard) what I am aiming for here is to produce enough shrimp and cysts with a little effort to be able to have a self sustainable food source for both fish and fry feeding. The initial program will be primarily to grow the shrimp to adulthood and collect the cysts, this would be the number one priority. To forget about feeding anything to the fish initially until I have enough cysts to sustain future generations.
An adult of 35mm would be of no use to myself as I only keep and breed small Killifish species so for food purposes I would be only using perhaps the 1st, 2nd and 3rd instars.
[center]As I stated earlier this is a new venture for me, a step into uncharted waters as it were. I will catalogue all my successes and failures pictorially within this thread in my usual manner, so lets now see where this will take us. [/center]
[i][b]What are Fairy Shrimp?[/b][/i]
There are many species of fairy shrimp catalogued geographically around our planet, some small, some huge, but for the subject of this particular article I will be concentrating on a relatively small species from Thailand.[b]Branchinella thailandensis.[/b]
According to published literature Branchinella thailandensis have been found in the northeastern part of Thailand since 2002. This species can potentially serve as live feed for fish and crustaceans in aquaculture because of its high nutritional value; 64.94% protein, 5.07% fat, 17.96%. carbohydrate, 8.49% ash, providing an alternative to artemia (56.4% protein, 11% fat, 12.1%. carbohydrate and 17.4% ash)
(Figures given suggest that they are of a much higher nutritional value than our other most common freshwater food resource, Daphnia).
[center][b]Order[/b] Anostraca [b] Class[/b] Branchiopoda[b] Sub-phylum[/b] Crustacea[b] Phylum[/b] Arthropoda[/center]
The shrimp have adapted to living in shallow vernal pools, prone to drying out on occasion as the seasons predict. The female lays hard cased eggs (similar to Artemia cysts) that will lie dormant in the dry substrate until the pool floods once again. From cyst to adult they go through several [acronym='Development stages or moults'][color="#FF0000"]instars[/color][/acronym]. Culminating in mating and subsequent egg laying. The lifecycle of the fairy shrimp takes roughly about 6-8 weeks depending on temperature and food resources. Expect the adults reach a size of between 25 to 35mm in this short time-frame. Fairy Shrimp are filter feeders and can comsume wide range of food within the water column such as bacteria, protozoa, algae, rotifer and organic matter. As normal with this family of crustacean they are very sensitive to adverse changes in water conditions and chemicals.
[i][b]Acquisition of Cysts;[/b][/i]
[center]I initially acquired the cysts from a "Buy Now" auction on Ebay from a vendor (with 100% creditable feedback) from Thailand. Reportedly I would receive 60,000 cysts for my money. The transaction went really well with much dialogue between myself and the vendor. The packet arrived after about 7 days in transit. It contained 3 capsules of shrimp eggs sealed in a foil bag. (See pics below)[/center]
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[center][i][b]The actual packaging for the fairy shrimp cysts from Thailand[/b][/i][/center]
Although the vendor states in his literature that he cannot be responsible for hatching rates etc, I figure I should have enough cysts and hopefully subsequent shrimp to get me to the next stage. Which ultimately would be to raise as many shrimp as possible to adulthood and collect the eggs they produce.
[i][b]Aquaculturing;[/b][/i]
As with all my articles, the findings therein this particular study is purely gathered from my own experiences on the subject matter. Many aquarists may find different methods in order to gain equal or higher success rates or yields. I call upon those people to make comments and offer positive suggestions surrounding this material so as others may share and educate themselves by reading these editorials.
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[*][b]The Container;[/b]
The first containers, like everything else are just standard jars and tubs rather than specialist dedicated vessels specifically designed for the job in hand. Initially I set up the cultures almost identical to my internal culturing of Daphnia pulex, in fact everything is essentially the same or similar. Later as the shrimp grow on towards adulthood I will move them into a proper all glass aquarium with a view to collecting the eggs.
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[center][i][b]The containers I utilise for culturing Fairy Shrimp.[/b][/i][/center]
When first setting up all of the vessels they have to be sterilised with a very mild bleach solution after which they were thoroughly rinsed with fresh water and meticulousness dried out. If you are attempting to culture these crustaceans sometime in the future don't be tempted to use other chemical washing-up liquids to clean your containers as the residue they leave behind will kill the shrimp.
[*][b]The Water;[/b]
The water I use for the shrimp is nothing fancy, just rainwater in a clean sterile container with the pH adjusted to 7.6. by means of Bicarbonate of Soda. The temperature is kept at around 22'C. Added to the set-up is a small tub of Aragonite sand to help keep the pH up.
[*][b]The Cysts;[/b]
You can differentiate Branchinella thailandensis cysts from other fairy shrimp in the region just by observing the shape of their eggs casings. Thai fairy shrimp cysts are spherical with many irregular six sided indentations or dimples around its circumference. (see pic below)
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[b][center][b]Branchinella thailandensis cysts under 200x magnification.[/b]([i]Artemia insert[/i])[/center]
You can see just by looking at the egg casings that they also differ from Artemia cysts ([i]see insert[/i]) in that the casing is rough, heavily dimpled and not as smooth and uniform as the Brineshrimp cyst.
[*][b]Hatching;[/b]
Now we come to the first step on our journey, the initial hatching of the first batch of cysts. I have used a whole capsule of eggs for this initial wetting. It is known from literature that all eggs must sink to the bottom in order for them to hatch. Floating eggs wont hatch by all accounts. You can use some coffee filter papers laid on top of the floating cysts to get them to absorb more water and help them to submerge. Any cysts that still manage to float you can re-dry (see later in thread) and hatch at a later stage for more shrimp
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[center][i][b](i)The hatching jar. (ii) All viable eggs must sink!!![/b][/i][/center]
The cysts will immediately begin to absorb water, and will eventually sink to the bottom of the jar. The baby shrimp will not hatch straight away until they are convinced that the water body is permanent. This will take about 24 to 48 hours, sometimes longer, depending on conditions. After the allotted time the nauplii will hatch and begin swimming with jerky movements as they propel themselves through the water column. The do not need to be fed until the second day. They are very small and a small (20x) lens or eye loupe will help you to see them much better. They are "photo-tropic" so if you shine a beam of light through the jar they will congregate near the light source and will be more visible. Unlike brineshrimp vigorous agitation of the water is not required to trigger fairy shrimp to hatch.
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[center][color=red]Part 2[/color] - http://www.killiclubdefrance.org/forum/index.php?topic=5239.0[/center]