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Supplimenting Live BBS with Vitamins



Several weeks ago there was a question on the killifish list
about supplementing freshly hatched BBS with vitamins,
calcium, etc.  I wrote David Kawahigashi at San Francisco
Bay Brand on this subject and here is his reply:

Dear Bill,

Supplementing nutritional components, such as vitamins or
calcium, into live brine shrimp has been practiced by
aquaculture hatcheries for around 10 years.  This
bio-enrichment or bioencapsulation of brine shrimp nauplii
(instar 2 or adults) began using emulsified fish oils containing
high HUFA's or highly unsaturated fatty acids for marine
finfish and crustacean larvae.  This 'breakthrough' enabled the
culture of many other new marine species to be developed
(flounder, sea bass, tuna, ornamental marine sp.).  Today,
there are at least a dozen different Artemia enrichment
formulas on the market, however, I only know of one brand
(Selcon) that is sold in aquarium stores.  

Although we do not market any enrichment formula, we do
enrich and freeze live adult Artemia with a HUFA formula and
Spirulina algae for the aquaculture and aquarium markets. 
However, almost all of the sales for these two enriched
products go to the aquaculture market due to the
"unawareness" of the benefits of bioenrichment in the
aquarium trade.  

I am now working on bioenriching Haematococcus algae
(super high astaxanthin for color enhancement) and some
anti-bacterials into our live Artemia for product development. 
Because Artemia are non-selective and continuous
filter-feeders, pretty much anything can be taken into
the gut of a live Artemia, as long as the particle size is
between 5-50 microns.  Vitamin supplements must be in a
non-soluble form as Artemia cannot "drink" soluble
components.  

I hope this sheds some light on this interesting subject.  You
may share this info to other colleagues if you wish and I'll be
happy to answer any other questions.

Thanks for your interest!

David Kawahigashi
SF Bay Brand
baybrand at best_com