Brine Shrimp Harvesting Idea

HI everyone! I came up with a less labor intensive way to harvest brine shrimp and wanted to get your thoughts on it. My idea is to use an intact bottle as the hatchery or (alternately) pour the contents of the hatchery into an intact bottle at harvest time. Hatching the brine shrimp will proceed as normal, but when it is time to harvest I will pour the hatchery water into the intact bottle (if the hatchery is not itself an intact bottle) and add some aquarium water until the water reaches the top of the bottle. I will wait several minutes, and by the time I actually harvest the brine shrimp the egg shells will mostly or entirely be congregated in the narrow bottle top; thus, I can remove the egg shells with a turkey baster or syringe and pour the rest of the bottle (with the bbs) through a brine shrimp net to harvest.

How would this work? Thanks

 

My DIY hatchery is an "in tact" bottle.
When I am ready to harvest, I turn off the air and shine a light at the bottom. All the egg shells rise to the top as you described. And all the BBS congregates at the bottom where the light is.
I then use a straw to get all the BBS from the bottom...by placing my finger over the top end of the straw, and then put the other end of the straw to the bottom of the bottle where the BBS are, release my finger and the BBS go right up into the straw. Then I put my finger back over the top of the straw to keep the BBS in the straw and then drop the BBS into a small glass bowl of tank water. I do that a few times.

The bowl of tank water becomes a mix of salt and freshwater due to the water that came into the bowl with the BBS. But it is mostly diluted by the freshwater. Then I shine a light on the clear glass bowl they are in so they all congregate to one place in a big orange cloud. Then I use a medicine dropper to suck up however many I need for the feeding. They stay alive in that bowl for at least another 12 hours believe it or not. So I can use what is in that bowl to do a few more feedings while I am waiting for the next round of eggs to hatch.

I definitely do not do it the way most people do. But I just thought I would share my process. Some people rinse the BBS and all that jazz. To get off any salt or whatever. Not me. My BBS go directly from the bowl that has some saltwater in it and into the tank for the babies to eat. (angelfish babies for the record) The saltwater was already diluted by the freshwater already in the bowl. And the amount of water that ends up in the medicine dropper with the BBS is very small. Not enough to make any impact on the 5-10 gallon tanks the babies are in.

 

That is quite an intriguing method...I will have to try it. In my prior experiences with hatching brine shrimp, some of the brine shrimp stay swimming in the water column even after 10 minutes, so I would like to see if your method with the light changes that.

 

That is quite an intriguing method...I will have to try it. In my prior experiences with hatching brine shrimp, some of the brine shrimp stay swimming in the water column even after 10 minutes, so I would like to see if your method with the light changes that.

Ya. Definitely use a flashlight. The are drawn to the light.

 

HI everyone! Just an update...I tried harvesting the brine shrimp as I described, and it did not work well...brine shrimp egg shells just do not want to go in a turkey baster Going to try the aforementioned light method.