Artemia

Artemia2,
originally uploaded by Hongyee.

Just a stupid photo of Artemia salina, the brine shrimp. It's an amazing animal, actually. Think it's found almost everywhere, from the Dead Sea to the almost fresh-water inland lakes. Also, they give birth to live young normally, but when salinity starts dropping, they form eggs ("cysts") which can withstand drying and heat for a few years.

Bought a huge packet of this stuff for my fish, actually it's to entice the flame angels to start eating prepared foods. First I fed chopped shrimp to the other fish so they won't snatch the Artemia away, then I added these little things. The flames initially were apprehensive, but are now eating with gusto.

Next I soaked the Artemia in shrimp juice. They are non-selective filter feeders, so I finely chop shrimp and swirl them in water to get some murky "juice". Hopefully the flames will get used to the taste of shrimp then.

Right now they are going crazy over this stuff! But still not touching the chopped shrimp, nor the chopped mussels.