do bs eat algae?

[ReeferKimberly]

i have left a bbs hatchery of mine untouched for three weeks (i was lazy in cleaning it out). the light above it is always on w/a 60 watt house lightbulb. i don't watch the temp or try and feed them. i usually collect all the live bbs and clean it out every three days. but this one i left is now covered with algae, has green water, and also about 70 almost adult sized brine shrimp. what kept them alive? i kept the light on for heat and have a bubbler but no food whatsoever. all they would have to eat would be eachother or algae...
if i clean it out a bit and maintain the heat and air will they breed?? and stay alive as food? i'm puzzled over this little self-sustaining environment and it strikies me as odd that all thee leftover brine shrimp would make it to adulthood in there...
kim :-*

[Ralph]

Green water is a vital link in the food chain. There is a site on the web that sells the stuff, $3 per bag. You may be sitting on a gold mine.
My son raised 30 zebra danios on mostly green water for the first three weeks or so. If you raise daphnia or something similar, that's what you'll be feeding them.
I've never drank the stuff myself, but it must be good.

[ReeferKimberly]

hey sweet! maybe i can get em to breed and never buy any ever again! (yeah right) but hey i'm havnig fun with my experiment so far, and i just fed the first green-water fed sub-adults to some growing betta fry and they love em, not too big and not too small...thanks
kim :-*

[brewmaster15]

Hi Kim,
Brine shrimp are filter feeders. They eat algae , and detritus, and anything else they can fit in thru their filters.

-al