Unlike Artemia, mysid shrimp are a naturally occurring food for many marine species. They are highly attractive to the predatory nature of even the most finicky carnivorous fish. Our mysid shrimp are primarily of the species Americamysis bahia but may vary depending on season. Our collectors capture the mysid shrimp in the remote coastal waters of Florida’s estuaries and barrier islands. The shrimp are carefully transported to our laboratory facilities in St. Augustine, Florida for observation and stabilization. They are then shipped within 48 hours of capture to safeguard their nutritional integrity. Throughout this process, great care is given to these shrimp to ensure that your Sea Dragons, Sea Horses, Cuttlefish, Tropical Squid, and other marine fish get the best meal we can provide. We ship our shrimp at 20 parts per thousand salinity and they will arrive at your address hungry for small particulate food or live, newly-hatched brine shrimp (Artemia), in need of a water change, and a little TLC.
We always recommend a list of things to help with the health of the mysid shrimp. First thing upon receipt, the water quality needs to be rapidly improved via a water change. This is important due to the huge amount of ammonia waste from the large number of individuals packed into the small volume of shipping water. It must be done as gently as possible, with the right temperature and salinity. Next is to get them fed because they will be very hungry. We use freshly hatched Artemia nauplii. With one bag of mysids, you will need about 6 ml of dense Artemia to feed them twice a day. Less than 1 tsp of cysts should yield enough. Some other high-quality particulate foods may be used but will foul the water quickly if too much is used. We have been using Zeigler Dry Larval Diet AP 100 size #4 and #5 (available from Pentair Aquatic Eco-systems) when necessary. The Artemia are alive so they can swim around for a while until they get eaten, whereas the particulate food instantly starts to dissolve and discolor the water. Mysid shrimp like to be spread out, so make sure you have a tank large enough for them not to be cramped. We keep them in shallow tanks with lots of surface area rather than in deep tanks. A single bag of mysids fits in a 28 quart underbed plastic storage bin with 4 to 5 gallons of seawater (4 to 5 inches of depth) with strong aeration. Our holding tanks are not filtered so we change 85% of the water daily. During the winter months, some of our customers can keep the shrimp alive for up to a month. Unfortunately, in the summer months, keeping them healthy for 4 or 5 days is probably the best you will get.
