hatching brine shrimp

[squirt_12]

ok...so well i am going to hatch some brine shrimp. I have everything that i need. the container thing to hatch them in (500ml)[a small one .lol.] eggs, aquarium salt, and ariation.(sp?)
Ok well my questions are these.
1) How do you keep the water in the hatcher warm??
2) If i want to grow the brine shrimp up some what do i feed them??
3) How long do you have to have the light on for the eggs to hatch??

Thanks,
Curtis

[Dave66]

1. room temp is fine
2. green water. They are filter feeders. They need hypersaline water (40 ppm) to survive.
3. Light only when harvesting. They swim toward light.

Dave

[squirt_12]

ok Dave...thanks that makes it ALOT easier than i thought. So i pretty well put them into a container with airiation (sp?) and let them be for 2 days and then put a light by them and harvest them EASY. lol.

Thanks so much Dave.

[squirt_12]

ok...now i know that my batch wont be done for atleast 2 days but...since i don't have a brine shrimp net...can i just use a couple (or one) coffee filter to get the shrimp??? will that work?

[CAF]

One thing with BBS (Baby Brine Shrimp) is you need to feed them to your fish quickly before they lose their nutritional value. Adult Brine have close to no nutritional value, so growing them out, unless you are into Sea Monkeys, is kinda beside the point. Personally I found hatching out BBS to be a pain so I went to Walter worms. They are close to the same size and are easier IMO to deal with. Some people are also concerned about the shells of BBS eggs sticking in fry and killing them. I do not claim that, nor do I say it is not possible, just soemthing else to consider. Good luck.

[CAF]

Yes a coffee filter will work. You can also get a hatcher that goes directly into the tank you will be feeding. I believe it is from Lees.

[squirt_12]

ok thanks soo much but yeah this is the first time that i have tried hatching them so i hope that it all works out as planned. lol.

[Dave66]

One thing with BBS (Baby Brine Shrimp) is you need to feed them to your fish quickly before they lose their nutritional value. Adult Brine have close to no nutritional value, so growing them out, unless you are into Sea Monkeys, is kinda beside the point. Personally I found hatching out BBS to be a pain so I went to Walter worms. They are close to the same size and are easier IMO to deal with. Some people are also concerned about the shells of BBS eggs sticking in fry and killing them. I do not claim that, nor do I say it is not possible, just soemthing else to consider. Good luck.

Actually, adults can be gut loaded 24 hours before feeding to increase nutritional value. Its what I've done for years.

Dave

[CAF]

Actually, adults can be gut loaded 24 hours before feeding to increase nutritional value. Its what I've done for years.

Dave

True, it all depends on what you are feeding... I gut load my Worms as well, however I really think the worms are easier to deal with. However that is just my opinion and quite a few people feel the opposite. ::Shrugs:: up to you which is better for you.

[Dave66]

I feed them enriched algae staple, HUFAs a day before feeding.
What worms do you culture? I do white, Grindals, small redworms and California blacks.

Dave

[CAF]

I feed them enriched algae staple, HUFAs a day before feeding.
What worms do you culture? I do white, Grindals, small redworms and California blacks.

Dave

Walters, Grindals, and sometime red wigglers... I also have scuds, daphnia. I sometimes have Mosquito larvae which is fed to my plant (Aldrovandra vesiculosa) One of the only true aquatic carnivorous plants. Commonly known as the Waterwheel plant.

[squirt_12]

ok well i just have a question....if i have a normal 500ml water bottle almost full of water would i beable to hatch some of the shrimp in that??? The bottle would be standing straight up like normal. Just a question. I don't have one going but i was just wondering if you could do this.

Thanks.

[squirt_12]

ok...my brine shrimp have hatched....now how long do i leave them in there for before i can take them out of the jar?? How long do i lave the air on for?? Also just to make sure...will a coffee filter work to seperate them??? Also will all of my community fish eat them?? Also will some of the eggs that DIDN'T hatch be fine in the tank? or will they hurt the fish??

Thanks.

[CAF]

ok...my brine shrimp have hatched....now how long do i leave them in there for before i can take them out of the jar?? How long do i lave the air on for?? Also just to make sure...will a coffee filter work to seperate them??? Also will all of my community fish eat them?? Also will some of the eggs that DIDN'T hatch be fine in the tank? or will they hurt the fish??

Thanks.

You can use a pipette or coffee filter to pull some out and feed them to your fish. As far as the shells go... ::shrugs:: I do not have an opinion I have heard it go both ways.

[squirt_12]

ok thanks...i was just going to use some extra hose that i have left over form my tank (air hose) would that work?? and well i was oing to syphone them into the coffee filter.

[CAF]

Try this using the equipment you have. Turn off all the lights in the room or move the bottle to a dark room. Turn off your bubbler. Turn on a flashlight and aim it at the top of the bottle. Let it sit that way for a few minutes, and then siphon the shrimp you see swimming toward the light into the coffee filter. Make sure you have a container under it otherwise the salt water will go everywhere (I've done this, so...). Then you can take the coffee filter and rinse it into a bowl of tank water. You can then dump the water (with the BBS in it, not the Salt Water) into whatever tanks need the BBS.

[squirt_12]

ok well how do i get them into the coffee filter? You never said how to do that.
sorry i am new to this.

[CAF]

ok well how do i get them into the coffee filter? You never said how to do that.
sorry i am new to this.


My apologies. Go ahead and siphon them through the airline.

[squirt_12]

ok...well i am going to go and do that right now and i will tell you how it works out. yeah i have quite a few eggs that didn't hatch. first attemtp and i think that i did pretty good. lol.

[CAF]

ok...well i am going to go and do that right now and i will tell you how it works out. yeah i have quite a few eggs that didn't hatch. first attemtp and i think that i did pretty good. lol.

Good luck!

[squirt_12]

P.S.>
How many coffee filters should i use?

[CAF]

P.S.>
How many coffee filters should i use?

just use one.

[squirt_12]

ok so i have like a billion shrimp and my fish LOVE them!!! WOOHOO... I am so doing this again. lol.

[squirt_12]

ok well i got more than i entended on getting so i don't know what to do with all of them... AHHHH. lol

EDIT- How would i freeze them?? What do i need to freeze them?

[squirt_12]

ok...sorry about all of the posts but...ok well if i want to grow my brine shrimp up some...what do i feed them and what kind of environment eg...water temp. (salt [aquarium salt] water or tank water or RO water??), temp., lighting, plants etc....
THanks.

P.S.
How long would it take? for them to be full grown?

[CAF]

Make sure you clean the bottom of the tank so that the dead shrimp dont cuase problems. I have never grown out adults as I generally dont use ABS to feed any of my fish. I wouldn't freeze them as they would lose their nutritional value. Just use a smaller amount of eggs for the next batch and chalk these up to the learning curve. Good Job though!

[squirt_12]

Make sure you clean the bottom of the tank so that the dead shrimp dont cuase problems. I have never grown out adults as I generally dont use ABS to feed any of my fish. I wouldn't freeze them as they would lose their nutritional value. Just use a smaller amount of eggs for the next batch and chalk these up to the learning curve. Good Job though!

What do you mean by "chalk these up to a learning curve"?

O well and its too late because well since i had SO many i just took all of the left overs and froze them. well i thawed one out and when the water got warm the shrimp came back alive. I thought that that was cool. lol.

[CAF]

If you have too many, their nutritional value decays quickly because the shrimp use up their reserves of fat and amino acids in growing. By chalking it up to the learning curve, I was saying, toss them and do a smaller batch next time.

[squirt_12]

yeah i have already started another batch and well i but half as many in there this time. So hopefully that will be better. Thanks.

P.S.
If freezing them takes the nutriants out of them...then why can you buy the ones at the store (the bigger guys) and they are full of nutriants??? I don't get this.

Also what can i feed my little guys? to grow them up a little?

[CAF]

yeah i have already started another batch and well i but half as many in there this time. So hopefully that will be better. Thanks.

P.S.
If freezing them takes the nutriants out of them...then why can you buy the ones at the store (the bigger guys) and they are full of nutriants??? I don't get this.

Also what can i feed my little guys? to grow them up a little?

The ones you get frozen have been "Gut loaded". This means they were fed beneficial food that provides amino acids and other building blocks in addition to their protien value.

The big value in feeding your fry BBS is the amino acids and other fatty acids that the fry can use to grow big and strong. I haven't grown BBS out so as what to feed them... ::shrugs:: I THINK they eat infusoria and other micro organisms...

[squirt_12]

would they eat phytoplankton "green water"????

Thanks for everything.

[CAF]

Sorry Squirt, I really have no clue... You could try looking them up online and see.

[squirt_12]

yeah i looked online and it said that they are filter feeders...and it gave me some recipies that i can use.

P.S.
On my package of eggs it said to use aquarium salt but everywhere else on the sites it says to use sea salt. But like the aquarium salt worked fine. lol.

[CAF]

yeah i looked online and it said that they are filter feeders...and it gave me some recipies that i can use.

P.S.
On my package of eggs it said to use aquarium salt but everywhere else on the sites it says to use sea salt. But like the aquarium salt worked fine. lol.

I've used regular table salt without iodine...

[squirt_12]

OMG....ok well at about 7 o'clock last night i harvested my brine shrimp and made a new batch. Thie time i only use 1/2 a teaspoon and well today at 7 they have already hatched!!!!! AHHHHHHH.....i didn't think that they would hatch this fast seeing as it is fairly cool in my house. But o well my fish will enfoy them. lol.

I think that i am going to grow some of them up...or well try. lol. If it doesn't work well then it's no big deal because there are like 1 million of them. lol. I am so excited!!!!! lol :P

[CAF]

LOL the cysts only take around 24 hours to hatch if given good conditions.

[squirt_12]

yeah i know but like it isn't even warm in my house. lol. Well the hatcher is right next to my tank so that would help wouldn't it?

[CAF]

yeah i know but like it isn't even warm in my house. lol. Well the hatcher is right next to my tank so that would help wouldn't it?
::Chuckles:: I've seen them hatch from 68 degrees on up. They do better the warmer they are, so try even less eggs next time. There is a lot more there than it seems.

[squirt_12]

yeah i think that next time i am only going to use 1/4 of a teaspoon.

[CAF]

yeah i think that next time i am only going to use 1/4 of a teaspoon.
Try an 1/8th you can always move up if there is not enough.

[squirt_12]

ok well i will try that next.

[squirt_12]

OMG so i tried anothe rbatch and this time they only took HALF OF THE DAY to hatch. i am like OMG OMG OMG what am i going to do with all fot them.lol

[CAF]

OMG so i tried anothe rbatch and this time they only took HALF OF THE DAY to hatch. i am like OMG OMG OMG what am i going to do with all fot them.lol
Well you are definately doing it right....I'd keep going smaller until you have just the right amount

[squirt_12]

yeah this time there isn't as many babies...so thats a goos thing. lol.

[CAF]

yeah this time there isn't as many babies...so thats a goos thing. lol.

::nods:: you are getting there. ::smile::

[squirt_12]

sorry...but i sorta lied. i thought that they had hatched BUT....they are just starting to come out of their eggs so they should be ready to harvest at around 7 ish. lol.

[CAF]

sorry...but i sorta lied. i thought that they had hatched BUT....they are just starting to come out of their eggs so they should be ready to harvest at around 7 ish. lol.
LOL some of them might have hatched... You will always have eager beavers and slow goers. I don't think the first ones would hatch quite as fast if they knew they were going to be eaten.

[squirt_12]

LOL some of them might have hatched... You will always have eager beavers and slow goers. I don't think the first ones would hatch quite as fast if they knew they were going to be eaten.
hahahahahahahaha...yeah i know. lol.

[Blue Guppy]

Hi to all,

I am trying to grow BBS to adult stage and am having difficulties in doing so. I would like to follow what some of you suggested by feeding the shrimps 24 hrs before feeding the my fishes. For now I resort to buying them from my local pet shop and would like to learn how to raise ABS on my own so as to save money. My fishes seem to like ABS than Tubifex worms. They go nuts when feasting on them.

Thanks

[Dave66]

Brine shrimp are filter feeders. I feed mine green water (aka floating algae) that I culture in five gallon carboys in my basement. Twenty-four hours before harvesting the shrimp I feed them a HUFA powder to raise their nutrition levels.
If you're interested in culturing green water to feed your shrimp to maturation, PM me and I'll point you in the right direction.

Dave