Homemade Food For Gut Loading Artemia or Raising Marine Fry

Contributed by Mike Noreen

This is the simplest recipe. I've got half a dozen other recipes which are more complex (ie zein coated microparticles, or carrageenan bound microparticles) and a lot more difficult to make/find the ingredients for (basically you need lab chemicals and equipment). As you can see it is very simplistic, but it is said to work well. I've not used it myself.

The size of the food particle is dependent on the sieve through which the 'omelet' is ground. Using very fine sieves one get foods which can be used to feed filterfeeding bivalves, shrimp- or fish-larvae, or other organisms which require very fine food.

However, it should be noted that this isn't an optimal food. It'll carry the fry over until such time they can start to eat live food such as artemia, but it isn't as good as real microplankton can one obtain it.

"EGG CUSTARD"
(Microparticle food primarily intended to gut load artemia,
but also usable for direct rearing of very small fry):

REAGENTS:
• 1 Hens egg
  
• 10g Milk powder
  
• 1g Vitamin premix
  
• 10g Fishmeal (or squimeal)
  
• 10ml Water
  

EQUIPMENT:
• Whisk
  
• 250ml Glass Beaker
  
• Boiling water bath
  
• Sieve (of desired food size)
  

PROCEDURE:
1. Whisk one whole hens egg in a 250ml glass beaker.
   
2. Blend in 10g milk powder, 1g vitamin premix, 10g fish- or squid-meal, and 10ml water.
   
3. Place beaker in a boiling water bath until mixture is set.
   
4. Cool mixture and press (or rub) through a sieve to appropriate particle size.
   
5. Store at 4 degrees centigrade until required, not longer than 24h.
   

NOTES:
1. This mix is guaranteed to cloud your water if you overfeed.
   
2. The 'vitamin premix' spoken of, is a DIY vitamin mix, which is too long and arduous to type in, although if someone really really wanted it, I guess I could type it. I'd however suggest using a standard mineral-vitamin mix instead (ie ground vitamin pills), as some of these substances will be very difficult and expensive to obtain pure.
   
3. One can of course add more stuff to the above recipe. My source, the Frippak infosheet, uses ie brewers yeast and cod liver oil in the more advanced recipes.
   
4. It seems to me that an artemia sieve or nylon stocking would probably produce acceptably sized microparticles.
   
5. Frippak, if they're still in business, sells the more advanced formulated foods packed and ready for use. There's a replacement even for green water, which, it seems to me, would make culturing Brachionus a lot easier. Using replacement foods to raise Brachionus isn't economical for commercial hatcheries, but it might well be to a hobby type breeder.
   

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