HOW LONG BRINE SHRIMP, MICROWORMS AND VINEGAR EELS LIVE IN A FISH TANK

 
Since estimates vary for how long live foods survive in a fish tank I decided to find out for myself. Being careful to avoid physical trauma and thermal shock, I added a small number of each live food to a large volume of treated and aged water (taken from my betta jars) and observed them to see how long it took for half of them to die. Here are the results:

Adult brine shrimp: 50 percent dead at 48 hours - used healthy shrimp freshly fed spirulina.

Baby brine shrimp: 50 percent dead at 20 hours - however, the babies had hatched 12 hours before they were introduced to the tank. Collecting them immediately after hatching might help them to live longer.

Microworms: 50 percent dead at 52 hours.

Vinegar eels: 50 percent dead at 24 hours

Considering the enormous osmotic shock the adult brine shrimp experience in going from brine to fresh water, it's amazing they survive so long.

 
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