Raise Brine Shrimp Indoors to Adults, easy and almost free 

Very interesting. I raised brine shrimp to adults back in the 70s and used plain Morton Salt (non-iodized) and used a cheap flotation hydrometer to get the right salinity. I fed them boiled egg yolks pressed through a sieve and it worked just fine. Now in my late 70s I've gone back to fishkeeping and am trying to learn the advances that have been made in the Hobby. I'll try it the way David outlines in this page, already have the GSL eggs and spirulina powder and am awaiting delivery of sea salt. Have bred Angels and Rams back in the 70s... I'm currently trying to breed Red Melon Discus and feed them as much live food as possible!

I've scraped the eggs that gather at the top of the hatching container and placed them into a separate container just to see and they are definitely not just empty shell casings. I've actually found that they continue to hatch over time. Had a container sitting with all these eggs for over two weeks now and they're still hatching. There is no aeration in this container and it's below 70°F.

All great information, thank you so much! I figured there had to be a way to allow them to grow and get some reproduction going so you don't have to keep starting with purchased eggs. Quite an operation you have going there. Thumbs UP of course!

Hey, that was helpful! I've been throwing the "slop" out after a run, but now, I'm gonna re-use it using your method! Thanks!

This is really fascinating. I'd never have guessed you could raise them this easily. I'll have to give it a shot! Nice video.

Nice setup, David...I did something similar with my brine shrimp rearing efforts, I took a 10 gallon tank, added lift tubes in each corner to create a mild circular flow made from thin-walled clear PVC tubing that had a 90 degree bend at the top, and used kosher salt mixed with a teaspoon of Epsom salts and crushed coral in the bottom of the tank (about a handful). The water for growout was 40ppt of salt, so much more saline than regular saltwater. Kept it going for 6 months that way! Good Job!

Spirulina is a type of algae. Extremely rich in nutritional components. Used as a supplement by many people. Not as expensive as chlorella algae but almost as good.

It definitely is! I thought just hatching baby brine shrimp would be enough for my fish, but the frozen shrimp is what they really go crazy over. I'm getting supplies today, thanks to your video. Appreciate it Dave!

I used to do this as well when I was breading Angelfish. The newly hatched eggs make perfect live food for angel fry they grow big fast feeding them brines.

I'll attempt to selectively breed them to live in freshwater, and then dry land. My great (x53) grandchild will give you an update 😜

I have a couple of comments basically the same. I have an airline (no airstone, it clogs too quickly) for the containers inside the house. I don't use an airline outside. I let the breeze do the water movement, plus the containers are too far away to get air to them. An airline outdoors would most likely increase the growth and survival of the brine shrimp if you wanted to try it.

Thanks for sharing. I am educating myself so I can make a hatchery, and also raise some. I have fry, and gobies. The fry need the baby shrimp, and the gobies need the adult, so this is great!!! Thanks

RIP uncountable shrimps. We will always remember you in our fishes tummy

Hi Dave, I want to thank you for passing on your knowledge, I've watched several of your videos they are great. I raise Killies and have no LFS that sells adult brine shrimp, I want them to help condition my breeders. I was having difficulty getting the shrimp past the first week or so. I think the brand of spirulina I purchased may have been too large for the young shrimp after they absorbed the yolk sack. I purchased a liquid phyto plankton (not live) for feeding reef filter feeders that seemed to help get them past the first week and onto the spirulina. Also it took about 3 solid weeks to establish algae on the sides and bottom of the container, I think this really helps shrimp growth. Just wanted to pass this info on to help others.

I have a betta that wont eat anything but live food like mosquito larvae, this is a great inspiration thanks

MUST READ MR. RAMSEY: You mention your basement is cold thus stunting shrimp growth. I have ideas for you to run through cost-benefit analysis. For starters, consider placing the air pumps in a heated room that is upstairs and near a heat source, and then running the air line(s) to the basement tubs. I imagine all the air lines could be run together through the floor (shortest route) via an HVAC vent perhaps. Could go a bit further by braiding the length of the air lines together (like braided wire). The braiding will serve heat retention by eliminating surface area, and ensure the tubs will be the same temperature. Insulating the length of the braided air lines with pipe insulators will better conserve the heated air now being pumped through them. Or, leave the lines separate so each tub has different temperatures and thus different growth rates.Your tubs are now heated. The other idea would be to plumb a 1/4" hot water line into the hot water supply. A the end of this new hot water line, where your tubs will be, tree the line off so that each tub will have its own line. Complete by running each respective line inside and lengthwise along the bottom of its tub and capping off. Desired water temperature can be obtained by gently adjusting the amount of line submersion in each tub. However, each line could be looped back into the cold water supply as well. Using an old radiator from an old air conditioner, refrigerator, or similar in each tub in this loop system would be ideal further honoring your shrimp and fish. Considering you have electric near the tubs, the heating element from an old stove or dryer could be used in lieu of a hot water line. Using heating elements over hot water radiant heating is not as legendary and thus serves lesser achievement. If god-like shrimp mastery is sought, epic achievement can be had through the utilization of rabbits. That's right, rabbits, nature's fuzzy little furnaces. The basement floor area with a drain is perfect. Using free saw dust from your local mill as litter would be beneficial. Spread a one inch layer of sawdust on the floor, and sweep it up just before becoming saturated for an outside compost pile. Rabbits can also be trained to use litter boxes to keep things neater and more organized. Saw dust infused rabbit excrement would be an excellent compost for a vibrant garden and in turn creating feed for the rabbits. Organic Rabbit Compost Tea could be marketed to bring in steady revenue to cover start up cost before making potentially unlimited income. Being that a rabbit puts off 8-40 btu/hr you will need 100 six month old rabbits (to ensure sexual maturity) comprised of 2 males and 98 females. This will bring up the temp in the basement for optimal brine shrimp conditions during winter. Once set up, turn the lights low and loop Fly Me to The Moon by Sinatra. Being that rabbits have robust reproductive rates, 2 rabbits can easily turn into 1000 by year's end, so we'll base approximations from this fact. At the end of the first month you would have 750 rabbits. Such a historic endeavor requires a solid plan at this juncture. At the end of the first year as few as 50,000 rabbits can be had. If each rabbit were to be sold at $1, that would be $49,900 (minus the 100 starter rabbits). However, if these rabbits were kept another year for a larger investment return, one could expect to yield $250,000. This takes into account not every female rabbit will give birth every month and for litter mortality rate. Feeding a family of four one rabbit each per day would not affect this projected monetary figure. If not sold for $1 each, a high grade organic small dog food could be produced marketed. If 1 rabbit, at 1lb lean meat, were used per 40lb bag of dog food to comprise required protein content per serving (454g per bag = 15g/day for 30 days). If each bag sold for $30, projected annual profit would be approximately $1,500,000. But how in the world could 50,000 rabbits be housed in this operation? Funny you ask. If 8c.f. per rabbit is used, five tiers of stacked cages in ten 50ftx100ftx10ft pole barns all comprising just one acre is the answer. At 5000 fuzzy furnaces, the avg winter temp inside a northern operation would hover around a tolerable 40F. +20F if the pole barns are insulated. In a slightly larger pole barn a multi-tiered hydroponics system could be utilized feeding both the rabbits and your family in return. Your stellar self sustaining way of life can take you from frugal brine shrimp master to millionaire rabbit master. But why stop there. Spread your wings and fly, David Ramsey.

Great video Dave! I may just raise some up to feed my bettas some meager foods.I never gone past 3 days past hatching. This is a great video.

Very cool! I am trying to replicate this so I have brine shrimp for my pea puffers.

Once again Dave-THANK YOU for taking the time to show us. I'll let you know how it goes in my fish room!

I am using a very fine powdered spirulina. A little stirring with my finger or other object will mix it in the water. Even if you leave it floating, it will slowly get wet and get into the water column.

and here i am watching this to see if i can grow shrimp to feed MYSELF and not FISH! hahahaha

Glad I ran across this video. So simple!

hey guys who ever stumbles upon this comment, this technique is 100%, i'm 2 weeks in and the brine shrimp are getting big 3-4mm. all i feed mine is ''artemia fluid'' by JBL, and use 12hrs light to save money 15w. i think the only thing is that dont overcrowd the tub with one small spoon of brine shrimp. feed 3/4 of the batch and raise 1/4

This is one of my favorite brine shrimp videos :) Ty for your details from start to finish! I love the idea and will so something similar with two spare 5 gallon tanks I have.

Nice video mate :) Planning to cultivate some for seahorses's breeding lol, thanks for the valuable info. shared with us!

Hi David - Thank You for sharing your way of growing Brine Shrimps. I used to do it too - but my yeld was verry low. Out of plentifull of little brine shirmps after 48 hours I transwerred water without eggs (using big 200ml syringe) to bigger containet ant then changed 20% water every week. It took me always 4-5 weeks to grow them and out of full batch I usually eneded up with around 20-30 shrimp. It was pointles to me to grow them for more than a month just for one feeding. I kept mine in 3 liter jar - so maybe I didnt have enough water volume to grow them succesfully? I feed them spirulina powder every 2 days and my jar was lod with lots of natural alge in it

I won honorable mention in the 4th grade science fair for the "Life Cycle of a Brine Shrimp" My set up was nothing like this.

The water is green from algae growing. Algae grows using nutrients in the water and light. The light I use is just a regualr flourescent light that is turned on all the time and is within 6 inches of the water. David

you have them spawning and carrying eggs in there as well

You can make up a new batch of water just like you would use to hatch brine shrimp and add that. Just be sure the temperature is the same or close. David

Correction! David, you said, “ 3 days”, for maturing adults, I think you meant 3 weeks. Brine shrimp grow fast but not that fast. Still it looks like it is well worth the effort. Thanks.

Very classy setup.

Take a shot eveytime he says "just a little bit of spiurlina"

Thank you for the video. I am inspired to grow them myself. I love your narration BTW :)

I don't do water changes, I start a new tub avery 3-5 weeks. Add spirulina directly. I just sprinkle the powder. Artificlal light inside. Flourescent light over the tub turned on all the time. 24 hours a day.

sounds good now. The shrimp will tell you how you are doing in a few days.

there breeding in there in that last shot well done

Mine will have females with egg clusters. I would assume the eggs eventually would get released but I don't know if they will then hatch or not, or how long it takes for those eggs to hatch.

So would I, but I would need a much bigger water container! David

I think as a kid I got the sea monkeys kit and I was pleased that they look like this and not like the picture (yes I know they are called brine shrimp)

These things just appeared in my amano shrimp nursery. Must have come in from the fresh Cornish seawater! They're bloody massive as well!

You may have to add a little more salt to ocean water. I believe they are in a higher salt percentage. Add a teaspoon of salt per gallon of ocean water and see how that does.

I add the left over brine shrimp water every day until I have 3-4" of water in the container. I never add tap water, it isn't salty and would kill the shimp.

thanks for following up and showing time progression!

This is an excellent video and has been very helpful. Thank you for sharing.

awesome vid , i want to do this so bad

Thanks! Very handy and simple way to do it.

Thanks! Easy & (in retrospect) obvious... which means that naturally we didn't think of using a generic plastic tub. I was trying to overcomplicate it... left over brine shrimp from feedings and no heater/complicated filtration? THANKS!

David, I see that in plastic container is a little bit green algae before you put nauplii inside. Please let me know did you do it and, please, how you do feeding. I hear that you are talking about it aut I don't speak English very well yet and have a problem to understand everything correctly. I will really appreciate your answer.

This is great. Can you make a video of your fishroom and some of the fish you are breeding. Thanks

I think you could just move a few of the adult brine shrimp to another container and avoid having to hatch new eggs. I've seen people use yeast dissolved in water to feed them.. it should work if you can't get spirulina powder. Just use a very small amount...

Can a 'normal' house bulb be used? Would they grow faster with warmer water? If so the bulb will help grow the Algae & help keep the water warm, what you think?

have you ever tried to grow a larger shrimp for feed? like ghost shrimp or bait store type "crayfish"? would love to see a video about something like that

Honestly, adding a nice sized air stone or even keeping cycled lava rock in the tub or adding sponge to the end of the air hose would help keep the quality of water better for the shrimp

thank you sir. your video is very useful armature fish breeders like me.....

Hi David. I have tried to hatch bbs and then put them in a big jar with salt water, give them food (spirulina powder) and also attach airline for oxigen, but none survive beyond the 3rd day.. I put them outside my house (I'm in Malaysia, the temperature is 26c to 30c). I have also tried in another jar with the hatched bbs, without airline, food provided also. This jar is put in my house with constant temperature in a room. But still can't live beyond 3rd day. Please may I know what have you done differently to keep them survived.

I use salt water and it worked perfectly for me

I hatch a lot of brine shrimp so I buy the big bags of road salt or pool salt.

i bought some shrimp to eat with shell still on. When I was shelling them, many of them had lots of eggs, some pink-orange and some had black spots - can I hatch any of them? if so how?

New sub I liked your video :) Looks like a cool setup Thanks for sharing :)

Thanks for the very good informational video.

Love it ! Thank you for sharing some of your wisdom . Aloha and Mahalo

Looks doable. Thank you for the info.

Very informative. ...just a little unclear about how you go from the little bit of water they where hatch in, to the 4 inches water in the tub.

I use plain rock salt or water conditioner salt. On a per gallon basis, 6-8 teaspoons per gallon

Hi. Great video. Let me ask you about water/salt ratio. Yo use same ratio to hatch as to grow? Thanks

Hi David great vids. I had follow your journey recently. I've started my own culture, but I'm having trouble to keep my bbs alive to adulthood. Been feeding them spirulina and sustain them with air pump. But around the 3-4th day they died. Any idea on how i can improve?

Nice video. Do you do water change in the process of raising them? Thanks

I know I get adults dragging around eggs cases. I just don't leave it going long enough to see if it will hatch out the eggs and raise up the fry.

1st of all, a stable PH cycled salinity saltwater. 2nd, only top up evaporated with fresh water or top up additional saltwater as in the video. 3rd, food is quite a problem either it is too much or too little. Food need to be a very very small particles which is able to dissolved as bbs is considered tiny enough. At the end of the day, it is not only the bbs that lives in the tank or bottle, we need to have good bacteria to clean up the water. When the water is clear, the bacteria is there assisting bbs. If the water is dirty or cloudy, it means the water unable to solve the food poisoning and watching bbs die in future as poison needs to take time to kill. Food Poison basically is the same food not able match with the water reaction. Moving water with airstone is to get the food reachable and mixing the food, while intensity of the light is the activeness of the bbs, while adding freshwater algae (not the green freshwater) to collect the dust of the food that bbs like to scratch. Try to maintain the first generation of bbs until giving birth or old, or probably you can see the largest size of bbs.

I use regular salt and regular out of the tap fresh drinking water.

How long do brine shrimp take to grow? Mine hatched a few days ago but they don't seem to be growing any bigger. They are just tiny specks. I have been feeding them powdered flake food.

Daivd Ramsey I just hatch some brine shrimp using your method. I fed some to my baby African cichlid then I drain the remaining water to a 19 quart tub, I added one gallon of water then added another tablespoon of salt. Its been three days later and the shrimp are basically dead. I read the comments under this video and I seen 1/2 cup of salt. so do I need to sparkle some salt on the side of the tub like in the video and the water? Then add the baby brine shrimp to these water? I like the fact your using table salt instead of marine salt.

I never do water changes during the 3 weeks. I am just too lazy. Without adding nutrients the water is going to be all used up in 3 weeks or so. I just start a new tub. David

+David Ramsey I've followed your guidelines and so far is third day and I do see less brine shrimp than what I initially put in, but my question is, on your video you mentioned "is 3 days later " you meant 3 weeks for all that algae on the bottomto generate plus the brine shrimp growth or 3 weeks and a half for that ? am confused

David, in cultures without forced aeration, what to do to survive more nauplii? Because in my culture most of the time much of the nauplii die and a few left over. Was feeding with milk, now I'm with spirulina.

Trying after seeing this video, hope I get it right... Thanks for sharing...

nice video! thanks for explaining how to raise them

I have a question and I hope you don't think me ignorant. I remember when I was a kid we used to get sea monkeys which to my understanding was brine shrimp. I remember putting the brine shrimp in a 10 gallon tank. My question is if they are the same why do we have to hatch them in this manner.

I love your video! I am using a 5 gallon bucket from HomeDepot to raise my baby brine shrimp in. I have aeration from an air pump and I have lighting on it (one lightbulb with 13 W, 120 VAC, 60 Hz, 900 lumens) But I have a few questions. Is 13 Watts enough lighting to raise the brine shrimps?How many watts does the lighting have to be? Does your water get dirty after the 3 weeks, and if so do you recommend doing water changes? (I know you mentioned that you didn't do any water changes in your video, I just wanted your opinion on it.) I feed my baby brine shrimps spirulina powder too but I have a small 8oz water bottle, filled half with water and put spirulina powder in it and shook the bottle. Is that ok to feed the baby brine shrimps or should I just throw some of the powder in the bucket?

Hello I'm using another method of letting culture sunbathing. Grab a few hours of morning sun and very little afternoon sun, a shadow. The nauplii are 4 days old. I'm crumbling spirulina powder just like you said. Am I doing right now?

Ok David.. Am finally gonna do this!! (Been watching these for a long time..) Any tips on getting your marine algae started?? I want my tub to be somewhat cycled and growing green stuff like yours, so they don't all die, the first few rounds. .. Will be doing the outdoor tubs like you did years ago.

curious: can they crawl out of the water? I had a shrimp that decided to go on an adventure (not a brine shrimp)...

my brine shrimp don't seem to grow and die after only a few days. Any tips?

It is okay to add spyrulina directly? Artificial lighting and binding? You make partial changes? I apreciatte your attention, Felipe.

Hello from the UK. I was visiting a park near me & it has a big pond with fish, Shrimp & crabs, it's fed by the nearby Sea, I was thinking of taking some shrimp out, putting them in a large transparent plastic container in my garden, putting a heat bulb above them & a light bulb for the night do they constantly have light to build up the Algae & also, of course a pump for the bubbles, do you think that would work ? Don't they eat the Algae? Isn't that their food? I didn't catch the name of the food you gave them. Thanks

Dave..I have used your technique to raise brine shrimp outdoors with great sucess..Thanks. Want to try your indoor method. I hatch brine shrimp everyday using koser salt and I also decapsulate my eggs. I usually use a salt concentration of around 1.21 to 1.23 SG. Do you see any problems with my salt concentration or decapsulating the eggs? Thanks again for all of your helpfull techniques.

Dave, quick question: I purchased a 19 qt holding tank, and transferred the hatched brine shrimp into that. The water seems quite murky, and lots of white and brown chunks. I turned the aeration off to look for live shrimp swimming around, and I don't see too many. Should I discard the water and try a fresh new batch?

yes, roughly 6-8 teaspoons of salt to the gallon of fresh water.

Thank you for the clear and easy to follow video! We have an unused little 3 gallon tank with light and filter - is that something we could use to keep a little herd of shrimps? We spoil our fish and were thinking of ways we could maintain a live food source for them as a treat :)

Dave, awesome video! My local foster and smith salesman told me to use my aquarium water, vs tap water with salt added. What do you recommend?

Apparently brine shrimp are pretty useful when it comes to testing for plant extract potency. There's a test called the Brine Shrimp Lethality Assay that is used in drug research. Scientists here: mind posting your thoughts on this?

I'm definitely trying this!! hey I subbed✌️🐟✌️

spirulina floats on the top, It will absorb water and sink. You can always stir it up some. It should go into solution easily if you have some air line pumping some air into the water. Sure , some will die, probably getting eaten by the bigger ones.

Thanks for the reply. But you meant sprinkle spirulina how to distribute a little bit? Because I add and dust is floating ... there nauplii usually feed? It's normal some nauplii die? The salinity is ideal for them.

Can you pm how did you raised them step by step and what equiment i will need.Please answer as soon as you can cause I'm interested to raise Brine Shrimp.Thank you :)

David, Thank you for video. I will try do it on this way.

Can i grind the spirulina tablets to make it spirulina powder will they eat it?

Can the hatchery and grow out aquarium be all in 1? I would like to hatch the eggs in the same container as the adults are in? Thank you

Hi how often are you feed them to eat a day , en how long you gona make water change? Wating for your reply thank