[quote=”Peter Finke” post=4062]
The nutritional value of Artemia naupliae vanishes rather rapidly after hatching. It is best immediately after hatching, and nearly to nothing after three days without being fed. This does not mean that “old naupliae” should not be fed to the fishes, but we should be conscious of that. We can bring female licorice gouramies to fertility with fresh Artemia but not with unboostered old naupliae.[/quote]
Peter is very right here. The nauplii may lose more than 1/3 of their nutritional value during the first 24 hours. Instar 1 nauplii only consume the yolksack and start to feed after reaching instar 2. It depends on temperature, it usually takes approximately 8 hours in room temerature before you can start feeding. You can also store them in refrigerator (temperature lower than 10 °C), then the loss would be less than 5% during the first day. When stored refrigerated, they almost do not grow and you can use them very safely for a little more then 24 hours as freshly hatched. When raising the fry I hatch artemia every other day and store it this way. If I have a surplus of the nauplii after the first 24 hours, I put them aside and feed them with chlorella that I have adapted for saline environment.