Hatching brine shrimp?????

Question

How?

Answer 1

The real name for brine shrimp is artemia. The most complicated part in hatching artemia is knowing the aquarium salt and water ratio. I bred a lot of fish in the past such as discus, angels, and oscars and they consume a lot of brine shrimp. Now this is what you need: brine shrimp eggs(you can find it on ebay...cheap) or pet store, aquarium salt, day old tap water at room temperature, small airstone, pump, 1 gallon pickle jar, and a brine shrimp net. When you have everything, fill the pickle jar with water almost up to the rim, add exactly ten teaspoon of sea salt, one teaspoon of artemia eggs, put the airstone in the jar hooked up the pump, and hang the jar inside the tank if you want a greater hatching ratio. Artemia will hatch faster and easier if the water is kept warm. In two 2-3 days the jar water will be like a orange colour. Its best if you feed the fry live brine shrimp or you can freeze them in small cubic trays. Brine shrimp can live up to 4 days after hatching with air supply. After hatching, take the jar out of the tank along with the airstone and let water settle for 20-30 minutes or when all the egg shells/eggs are floating and the artemia are at the bottom. If you have problems in getting the artemia to the bottom, add a small light as they are attracted to light. Now use a clean air pump tubing and siphon the live artemia out into the artemia net and give it a quick rinse under the tap to wash off the salt.


ps. The best way to store unused fresh artemia eggs is by freezing them in its original package/glass tube. I've used artemia eggs that have been sitting in the freezer after 4yrs w/ good hatching ratio....85%

Answer 2

I can tell you the procedure I follow every night with my hatchery, and what some other folks do as well.

I'm cheap, I use a 2 liter bottle for hatching in, and built a box with a dimmer to contain the light, and heat. The dimmer adjusts the temperature, you can see the setup here; http://www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=136880&hl=

You can just as easily use a desk lamp, or other lamp in an enclosed area to keep the temperature at 80F. I imagine a deep drawer from a discarded dressed would work good, a cardboard box would probably be a bad idea due to being more flammable. I've seen people run hatcheries with a 2-liter bottle, and a gooseneck desk lamp on the corner of a table. Anything that provides light 24/7, and a constant temperature of 80F will do.

I used to run my hatchery off of a small air pump; it's hooked into my centralized system now. You do want plenty of aeration; this keeps the artemia cysts suspended in the brine solution.

You can see from the pics in the link how much water I fill with, about 1 1/2 liters. I don't add any dechlorinator, just cold tap water. I add 2 tablespoons of non-iodized salt; I've been using livestock salt, $3 for a 50-pound bag. I told you I was cheap. I also add about 3/4 teaspoon of baking soda, and since doing a little experimenting, 3 drops of chlorine bleach. I've seen breeders add a drop or two of acriflavin instead of bleach; the idea behind either of these is to keep bacteria levels down. The baking soda increases hardness; some folks will use Epsom salt instead.

So, after adding salt, baking soda, bleach and eggs I give the hatchery a good stir, and ignore it until the next night. The next night I pull the hose out of the hatchery, put the hatchery on the table, and shine a bright light on the bottom, this makes the bbs settle to the bottom. I then get what is left from the previous evening hatch out of the fridge, and get my bbs cup, which is nothing more than a large deep plastic cup with a paper coffee filter rubber banded to the top. I take my turkey baster (every aquarist should have a turkey baster) and take the previous hatch out of the old sour cream container I use to store bbs. I have a 1" square hole cut in the top; this lets a little fresh air in during storage. The stored bbs goes into the filter/cup gizmo, and drains while the hatchery is settling. After about 3 minutes I pour a little fresh water into the filter to rinse. A few minutes later I take the baster, and add some of the fresh bbs from the hatchery to the now empty & rinsed out sour cream container. To get past the shells floating at the top, without mixing them in, rub your nose a couple of times with you finger. Touch the surface of the bbs hatchery. Oil from your skin reduces surface tension, and the shells all go to the edge.

Now I add a little more water to the filter, and walk around feeding the older bbs to older fry. Once this is done, I take some of the freshly hatched bbs, and add them to the filter. I go through the same rinsing procedure before feeding these to younger fry. The sour cream container goes in the fridge, the hatchery, hose, and top go to the utility sink for a good rinse and refill, and it starts over again.

This procedure takes about 10 minutes; I try to multitask through it. Many people will get two batches going, one in the morning, and one in the evening. I hate mornings, and don't need this extra 10 minutes of work when I could be sucking down coffee; one batch daily being refrigerated has worked fine for years.

Answer 3

Create a brine,keep it warm,circulate the water,(air stone) no chlorine,no table salt(no iodine).

Answer 4

Sea Monkeys!