Freshwater

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Part II: Fish and How to Care for Them
Figure 10-1:
Brine
shrimp look
different
and are
smaller than
the kind you
get in
restaurants.
If you want to raise your own live food, you can buy a kit at your local pet
store and hatch brine shrimp from dried eggs. These shrimp are usually fed
to marine fish, but freshwater fish appreciate them as a treat.
The only problem with hatching your own brine shrimp is the awful smell.
Try raising them in a garage or basement — otherwise, your family and
neighbors may move away without leaving a forwarding address.
One other important point about brine shrimp: Even though your aquatic
pets are in a captive environment, they still enjoy hunting live food. Survival
is an important instinct that cannot be removed by the presence of four glass
walls or by birth in a hatchery. Providing live foods keeps your fish more
healthy and active, too. Think about it: If you had to chase down your own
pig to snag a few pork chops for Saturday’s barbecue, you’d probably work
up a little bit of an appetite.
But along with the good comes the bad, as the old saying goes. Live foods
have a higher risk of transmitting disease into the tank than manufactured
products do. Live brine shrimp at your local fish shop are pretty safe; however,
if you go out to a river or pond to collect live food, you run the risk of
introducing disease.