When feeding Baby Brine Shrimp...

[FishBazzar]

Hi

I just finished feeding my fry baby brineshrimp for the first time. The fry are in a 10 gallon tank with a sponge filter. Just wondering if next time I should turn off the filter while the fish are feeding so shrimp will not get sucked in and wasted.

By the way....I love the shrimp because the fish love them and they leave no mess

 

[fisherman9844]

IME, you probably don't have to worry about turning a sponge off when feeding BBS. Even if some shrimp get drawn to the sponge, you fry will probably just pick them off the sponge.

 

[Cian McLiam]

I wouldnt bother turning off the filter, a trick I discovered was to switch off the tank lights, the shrimp swim towards the light so if you switch off the light and point a torch down at one area of the tank bottom, both the fry and the shrimp will move to that area, so less drift off around the tank.
There probably is no harm in switching off the filter for 10 mins tho while they feed so depending on the size of the tank, it may help.
I used the trick above to help clean the tank, shinethe torch in one corner and the fry swim to it so you can clean the other side of the tank.

Ken

 

[smb]

Not to go against what others mentioned because they are great ideas, I always turn my filters off no matter what I feed. Just make sure you don't forget to turn them back on in 10 mins or so if you do decide to do this.

 

[fisherman9844]

Smb - any special reason other than the obvious possibility of some food being picked up by the filter? I'm assuming that your comment is not limited to feeding fry but all feeding? TIA!

 

[yhbae]

The tank with sponge filters, I don't bother turn it off. Even the light I leave it on, and I haven't experienced any problems. When I look closely, even the BBS swiming near the filter doesn't really get sucked in that easily, so I don't expect this to be a problem.

But for the tank with HOB filters, you should turn it off... The first time I fed BBS, I didn't and 2 mins later, most of the BBS got sucked into the filter...

 

[Opcn]

Dont wory about the sponge filter and the torch idea is a great one. an eaven cleener option than BBS is to use vinegar eelworms they are a bit smaller but last for up to 4 daysand can wiggle there way throught a sponge filter and back into the rest of the tank.

Opcn

 

[smb]

Smb - any special reason other than the obvious possibility of some food being picked up by the filter?  I'm assuming that your comment is not limited to feeding fry but all feeding?  TIA!

Yea Ron, you are correct. The whole reason is so that my filters don't pick it up. I do that with all foods and all fish...fry, juvies or mature. The fact that someone has a sponge filter with their fry and allows a buildup of food and waste, to me, is nonsense. Fry are so much more succeptable to bad water conditions and even more of a reason to be cleaner than normal.

If you think about it, how often do we take the whole filter off the back of the tank and rinse it all out? If you don't do it at least once a day and preferably after every feeding, then it's the same thing as leaving the food on the gravel, which we all know isn't good.
Just because it's in the filter doesn't mean it's any different than laying on the gravel. Food anywhere in the tank can be deadly.