Here in Great Yarovoye Lake crustacean Artemia does not have any rivals – it is the single representative of animal plankton and it takes part in formation of therapeutic mud which is used at the resorts, also it produces diapause eggs, a part of which we collect and use for the preparation of valuable living fodder for the aquaculture all over the world.

The population of Artemia crustaceans, their size, amount of their generations, amount of the produced eggs depend on abiotic factors and concentration of phytoplankton. In Great Yarovoye Lake Artemia eats green, blue-green and diatomaceous algae. This phytoplankton provides Artemia with all the necessary nutrients which are needed for the further development and successful reproduction.

In a season, starting from April to September, from 2 to 4 new generations of Artemia may appear, and usually first two and sometimes even three generations are viviparous. They give birth to the living nauplii. It is connected with the stable abiotic factors in this period. At the end of the season almost all the females lay eggs and their amount in the egg sac can be different depending on the environmental conditions.

Every year in our research work we detect several regularities. Population balance can be maintained by Artemia salina itself. If there is a high amount of food and environmental conditions favorable for the development crustaceans can mature quickly, give birth to a new generation, and every crustacean should have a sufficient amount of phytoplankton.

Otherwise, if there is not enough food crustacean may delay the start of its reproduction. In this case the female lays the eggs adapting to the environment and giving life only to that quantity of newborns which can get enough food and continue reproduction.

If we translate it into the human language - what is the point in having a child if we cannot support him/her?

Crustacean Artemia dies if the temperature drops below 5°C, but the cysts stay in the lake and mature, fall into the diapause and during the next season they produce a new generation.

At the same time the eggs that we have collected from the lake in the same temperature conditions, are kept in out thermal storehouses, after maturation they are prepared for the drying stage.

Detailed information concerning the temperature activation can be found in the chapter “Production”

Nowadays there are a lot of offers on the market. Artemia cysts are collected from numerous lakes all over the world and they are available for usage. And we have already explained why Siberian Artemia deserves special attention. But we would like to tell the aquarians something else about the Artemia cysts from our lake.

We have checked the hatching level of the dry cysts which were collected from Great Yarovoye Lake and dried after their maturation 3 years ago. During the laboratory experiment we got the same hatching level as when the whole batch was just taken from the drying room. We were not surprised, as we thought that is an ordinary thing. Accidentally on the Internet we found recommendations for the aquarians not to use Artemia cysts one year after the date of manufacture. It seems that not all the cysts from the market have high hatching level for a long period of time. And we decided to find out the reason.

Experimentally we froze Artemia cysts with the temperature below -20 degrees centigrade and we detected that the maturation process was much quicker and the hatching level increased. But when we checked the hatching level of the same cysts with the same temperature conditions 6 months later, we found out that it was 10% lower. It is easy to predict what may happen to them in a year or two. We cannot be 100% sure but maybe it is just one of the reasons why the amount of nauplii decreases after the incubation.

So once again we were convinced that we were doing it the right way. Natural regimen of temperature activation (from 0 to +5 degrees centigrade) in our thermo storehouses promotes stable hatching level of the ready-made dry product. It means we are sure that even three years after the date of manufacture you have the product of the same quality as when you bought it.

While choosing living fodder for your fish for commercial or non-commercial use, ask the shop assistant what lake all those cysts were collected from. We are only responsible for the quality of the product which was produced by the Arsal team from Great Yarovoye Lake.

We have never grown fish but our clients told us what main difficulties you face while growing fractional fish from the roe corn. You need to create environmental conditions which are close to natural, your manufacturing entities have to be on the high seas, as you need to get the product which is attractive for the customer. Literally you have to “nurse” the fish juveniles if you need to grow trout, dorado or sea bass which may win the market with their gastronomic qualities.

You know better than us that while going from the embryonic stage to the larval stage during the 3rd or 4th day after the incubation fish lacks nutrients in its yolk sac and the larva starts eating food from the outside. That is a stressful moment for the larva. During this stage it is important to provide it with valuable nutrition – animal plankton – natural living fodder, as you need to keep the minimum larvae death rate and the necessary amount of amino acids, lipids, vitamins which are essential for the further growth and development. Detailed information concerning nutritive value of Artemia nauplii you may find here.

Nigerian researchers from the Zoology Department at the University of Ilorin (research article ISSN 2250-0480 Vol 2/Issue 2/Apr-Jun 2012) found out that usage of Artemia as a starting food may increase survival potential and stimulate growth of fish during their larval stage comparing to the usage of combined feed. It is very important especially if we take into consideration all the resources which were used in order to grow a fish shoal. Only after a fish juvenile matures and gets Siberian immunity from the crustacean Artemia, we may gradually introduce combined feed into its diet.

Neither you nor we try to interfere with the natural living cycle of the animals and accelerate the processes which have to take place during the stage of forming their organisms. Diapause of the cysts which are collected from Great Yarovoye Lake by the Arsal team is held in natural temperature regimen and maintains a regular hatching level in the course of time. We also provide our clients with technical and informational support to ensure they get the certain amount of nauplii during the incubation which is announced while signing the contract.

We are open to any collaboration and we would like to show you our amazing lake and production process when you visit us.