Brine shrimp is probably one of the most nutritious foods you can give your guppies(especially newly hatched baby brine shrimp). Here are the steps I use to grow brine shrimp:
1) I bought a clear plastic shoe container, then painted about 3/4 of the length of the container black on the outside. I then let the paint settle in for about 3 days.
2) Then I used aquarium glue to glue in a plastic divider. Naturally, I placed the diveder in between the clear and painted side.
*Note* There should be at least a half-inch gap on the bottom of the container. This allows a pathway that the brine shrimp can travel through. Wait as long as the glue container says for the glue to dry (usually a few days). *Note*
4) After everything has dried, rinse out the container.
5) Obtain, if you haven't already, some brine shrimp eggs. I recommend brine shrimp eggs by San Francisco Bay.
6) After placing the "brine-shrimp hatchery" in a desired spot (usually a place with little light), I filled it with two liters of water (Please note that the amount of water can vary due to your desire or the size of the shoe-box). Next you will need to place in 1 tablespoon of NON-IODIZED salt per a liter of water (You may use ocean-salt or salt made specifically for brine shrimp. However, regular non-iodized table salt works well for me). Following the addition of salt, I place in a "pinch" of baking-soda (Around 1/8 of a teaspoon). You should adjust how big your pinch should be depending on the amount of water being used.
7) Wait until the mixture of water, salt, and baking soda is dissolved. Stirring the mixture will decrease the time. However, if you stir you should wait a half-hour or so to let the water calm down.
8) After the water has settled, add in the amount of brine shrimp eggs desired to the black portion of the shoe-box.
9) Depending on the temperature of the water, the hatching rate of brine shrimp will vary from 1-5 days. A higher water temperature will make the eggs hatch quicker. At about 70 degrees F. ROOM temperature, my brine shrimp eggs hatched in about 2-3 days.
9) During your period of waiting, I would recommend that you purchase a small eye dropper. This will be used to suck up the baby brine shrimp. After the brine-shrimp has hatched, they will naturally swim to the clear side because they are attracted by light. You can even attract them to a corner of the shoe-box with a flashlight. Just turn on a flashlight and place it at the desired location you wish to collect the brine-shrimp. Within minutes you will notice that they will start to travel toward the flashlight. In about 7 minutes there will be a gathering of brine shrimp against the side where the flashlight is. From there, you can use your eye dropper and suck them out. Some people place them in a brine shrimp net and rinse them under tap water. However, I feed them directly to my guppies. Since they like water that's a little bit alkaline, the brineshrimp water will only increase alkalinity of the water slightly, which is what they like. However, when feeding brine-shrimp to fishes that prefer acidic water, you should rinse them with water.
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