Hatching Brine Shrimp??

HI All!!

Not really sure where to post this : so I'll post it here.

heard that people have been hatching there own brineshrimp but I no nothing about brineshrimp!!

could anyone tell me how to do this ??? do I need special equipment ??? do I start with hatched brineshrimp or with eggs ???

my LFS charges quite a lot for brineshrimp so this would hopefully be a lot cheaper for me...

thanks in advance!!

Tylee

 

Wow I'll be glad to help you, let me get some pics of my hatchery. It's really easy, it cost me 8$ for setup which included some eggs and now costs me 5$ a bottle which lasts me a long time. Of to get my camera.

 

You can also use a 2L soda bottle.
Cut the top of the bottle off right below where it starts to curve. Fill the bottle with dechlorinated water and about 1 tsp uniodized salt. Invert the part you cut off and pusk down into the soda bottle (sort of like a funnel). then insert a piece of tubing down into the hole all the way to the bottom. Attach the other end of the tubing to an air pump. If the tube floats weight it down with a rock or a piece of aquarium safe lead. After the salt disolves add approx 1/2 tsp brine shrimp eggs. Locate it near a light source and you should have shrimp in 24hrs.
I draw shrimp our with a turkey baster and strain through a coffee filter then rinse the coffee filter gently with dechlorinated water. Then dip the filter into my fry tanks to rinse the shrimp of into the water. Most fry are sensitive to salt so be sure and rinse.
Carol

 

O the a DIY way, do you have any pics Butterfly, IN the link I posted a picture where you can buy a setup like that too, just don't know how it worked and never tried it, seems a bit complicated :-\

 

Heres some pics

Add water, salt and brine shrimp eggs. I usually use a tube with a bubbler on the end this was just to show you what I meant Mine usually sits under a table lamp to hatch and as a light source.
Use a soda bottle the same way with a coffee filter to strain and rinse shrimp before feeding.
Carol

 

Thanks, maybe in my free time I'll try that.

 

Thanks ATM and Butterfly!

Great stuff!! I'll be off tomorrow to get some eggs. I found that one of my platys had fry when I woke up this morning so hopefully I'll have some baby brine shrimp to feed them soon!! ;D

 

Livebearer fry such as mollys can live and grow just fine on crushed flakes right from birth on. Most egglayers fry require brine shrimp.
Carol

 

Would a 1.5 liter work as well? I got a 1.5 liter bottle instead of a 2 liter bottle because I heard that it's better if its more narrow.

 

It would probably work just more easy to knock over (I'm clumsy).
Carol

 

Good Idea!

 

Carol,

I got the packets with the brine shrimp eggs and it already has the salt included in the pack, I don't need to add anymore salt to it do I ?  Also where do you place the eggs at,in the bottom or top part of the soda bottle ??

I'm guessing the bottom section where the air tube goes.

BTW that's a great idea.

Thanks

John

 

I hatched mine with a
liter botte,
air pump +air stone
Sour cream container
salt
eggs

It's super easy

 

just dump the package with the salt and eggs in the bottom then fill with warm dechlorinated water, invert the top and put it in, then put the bubbler through the hole and you are set to go.
Carol

 

just dump the package with the salt and eggs in the bottom then fill with warm dechlorinated water, invert the top and put it in, then put the bubbler through the hole and you are set to go.
Carol

Carol, Thanks for the info.. I just received one of those shrimp hatcheries last week and your way is much easier. The one I bought is a little black box with what looks like a medice bottle on the top of it with a little whole. It's so confusing,the instructions state tap water nothing about removing the chlorine and chlorimines. The egg pack says to keep the water at 80 degrees with a PH of 8.0(lol). I could'nt get the waters Ph to 8.0 even if I used 3 boxes of baking soda.

John

 

That's the one I have, it's really rather easy. Don't worry about the ph or temperature, I just wrap mine in a small wash cloth. Simply dump the packet in, fill the thing up with water, mix it up then fill the bottle up and put it on and wrap a cloth around it. In 24-48 hours you will have shrimp and just take the bottle and dump it in the tank, the salt stays in the black box, refil bottle and do it again. With Roses it might be easier and better hatch rate I don't know since I haven't done it yet since this is working will for me.

 

Thanks ATM .. It sure got me confused reading the box and then the packet of eggs. Well I did it last night and I'll just see how it goes with the black box,lol, sounds like I'm in an airplane searching for wreckage.

John

 

LOL took me a little while to figure it out but I don't do everything they say.

 

ATM how does the salt stay in the black box if your dumping shrimp and water? I' think I'm confused
Carol

 

LOL took me a little while to figure it out but I don't do everything they say.

LOL I hear ya. Well I tried it and had no problems at all. Thanks again ATM

ATM how does the salt stay in the black box if your dumping shrimp and water? I' think I'm confused
Carol

Carol according to the black box,lol, the salt water is heavier and will stay in the bottom. It does'nt quite make sense. EX: I can't stay afloat when I swim. But when my wife and I went to the Bahama's for our honeymoon, I floated with ease and darn near fell asleep in the ocean til my wife woke me up. Talk about sunburnt, I could'nt wear a shirt for 2 days,lol.

So how the salt water stays in the bottom of the box gots me confused as the top little bottle is filled with, aquarium water,that's what I used. And the brine shrimp just came up to the top in search of light. Mine hatched in no time,actually did it that night and by noon the following day they were there. Must have something to do with gravity.

John

 

I was just wondering because the salt disolves in the water and makes a solution. that's why I always rinsed my shrimp before feeding them. Just curious
Carol

 

Yup ewolfe is right, the salt is heavy and the bottle isn't filled with salt so the salt doens't rise up.

 

I was just wondering because the salt disolves in the water and makes a solution. that's why I always rinsed my shrimp before feeding them. Just curious
Carol

Carol,

You must have a lot of fun rinsing those little buggers. I had to get a magnifying glass to see them.

John

 

Really John, I can see mine ???

 

I just lay a light by the bottle and they will all go over to the light then I use a turkey baster to slurp them up and then squeeze them out into the coffee filter then run dechlorinated water over them and rinse the filter in which ever tank I want the shrimp in
a
Carol

 

I'm a little sceptical of the whole salt stays on bottum thing. While it is true that salt water is much denser than fresh water it still sould not cause the salt to sit on the bottum like that. The salt ions will diffuse over short distances so the solution should be bassically homogenious. Salt gradients will form over several meters like in an ocean, but near shore it's fairly well mixed by waves and currents and the such.

Sorry for being the synic (I'm a physics Major).

I'dd rince the shrimp.

Kiyo

 

I'm thinking of hatching brine shrimp because I think my bettas would enjoy chasing down some live food as a treat and I know moderate amounts would be nutritious for them.

I'm concerned about buying either live or frozen brine shrimp from the pet stores because of possible introduction of mercury from harvested wild-caught shrimp, parasites or other nasties. Am I being overly paranoid? Would hatching my own be perfectly safe?

Here's why I became concerned about mercury:



What do you think of this guy's DYI advice? It looks pretty good to me:



I'd plan to rinse them using a coffee filter (as he suggested) using treated water or tank water immediately before feeding.

Also, can I freeze the unused ones for later use? If so, how?

I used to hatch my own brine shrimp when I had a saltwater tank, but that was quite a few years ago. For all practical purposes -- since best fish-keeping practices have evolved -- I'm a newbie at hatching them. I can't remember why I went to the trouble even back then to hatch my own rather than simply buying them, but it probably had to do with worry about introducing parasites, viruses and/or bacteria.

I apologize if my questions have been previously answered, but spent some time searching and didn't come up with the answers I seek. Thanks for any advice you can offer!

 

gm Pamd!!

Ive been using the frozen brine shrimp & bloodworms for years and haven't had an issue...hopefully I wont!! but the hatchery sounds very interesting if you have the time and means to do it....and I would say yes you could freeze the leftovers as I freeze the left over fresh shrimp that I buy for my guys...goodluck and let us know what you do!! id be interested to see how much detail and money it takes to do this

 

I tried the pop bottle method and I to find it easier to just use a large jar. I also filter thru a coffee filter ...then I rinse to get the salty water off and swish the rinse filter into the tank to get the shrimp into the tank. My gups go nuts for these. If you are planning on feeding them to the betta I think they need to be grown on a bit as my betta don't even notice the newly hatched shrimp.... unless I put a glob of them on a wooden pick I have then they grab at the pink blob which breaks apart and they miss a lot of them that disperse and then they don't notice them as they are so small. I have a batch now that is about 1 week old...lol I can acually see them with out the magnifying glass now. I have to completely change the water on them every 4-5 days or they start to smell. I am feeding them disolved yeast and crushed disolved algae wafers and they seem to be thriving on them.

Edit: I just took these pix of the baby brine shrimp that I have...they are appox 1 week old and pretty tiny still but much bigger than they were when hatched

 

Thanks for the replies!

Shawnie, it would take almost no $$, at least for me. I already have an almost perfect-shaped clean jar and all the other stuff from the DYI guy's instructions. All I'd need is brine shrimp eggs, a bit of salt, and some patience. (That's the hard part, lol.) I remember hatching them used to be a bit messy, but worth it to see the salties going with gusto for the live shrimp, and I felt my home-hatched ones were perfectly safe. Not so sure any more.

Fishies-for-me, thanks for sharing your experience. I'll probably go your route, and try to raise the shrimp beyond baby brine shrimp before feeding. That's what I did before. However, I hope I don't get attached to any of them. I could do that with any living creature, even if raised for a week for feeding. I'll be a big girl and try not to get too squeamish, though!

 

Thanks for the replies!
Fishies-for-me, thanks for sharing your experience. I'll probably go your route, and try to raise the shrimp beyond baby brine shrimp before feeding. That's what I did before. However, I hope I don't get attached to any of them. I could do that with any living creature, even if raised for a week for feeding. I'll be a big girl and try not to get too squeamish, though!

Yeah I have to keep telling myself...there only brine shrimp...there only brine shrimp...lol but I still feel bad every time I feed some to the fish. I could never have a pet where I had to feed live food all the time. certain fish...snakes..lizards. My 18 yr old son was at a friends house where they have a monitor lizard. He was feeding it a mouse one day while he was there ...he said Mom it was horrible. It was a live mouse ( or rat I can't remember) and the lizard grabbed it and kept smashing it against the glass side of the tank. He said I felt so bad for the food ...it was so scared. I could never do that!!!

 

I found those black boxes they sell to work pretty good. I just use 1 tbsp of aquarium salt, 1/8 to 1/4 tsp of eggs (depending on how much bbs I want) and barely warm treated tap water. I run an airstone all the time in the box, except when collecting the shrimp.

I use a lamp right over the hatchery to bring the bbs up into the collection container, filled with treated tap water.

 

I have one of those Black Boxs to hatch the shrimp in but no eggs. Does anyone know where to get Brine Shrimp Eggs?

 

kens fish

Buy the decapsulated eggs.
They are a bit more expensive but are usable within minutes, vs hours on the shrimp you have to hatch.

 

I feel really dumb but what are decapsulated eggs and where can I get some?

 

Most lfs store have them.

I found those black boxes they sell to work pretty good. I just use 1 tbsp of aquarium salt, 1/8 to 1/4 tsp of eggs (depending on how much bbs I want) and barely warm treated tap water. I run an airstone all the time in the box, except when collecting the shrimp.

I use a lamp right over the hatchery to bring the bbs up into the collection container, filled with treated tap water.

That is exactly what we do here too... I was using a huge cleaned jar with the air stone too, but I broke it when doing the fish room.

 

I finally found Brine Shrimp eggs at Petsplus. I do not have any LFSs around here. I have Petsplus, Petsmart, and Petco. I have one LFS around 30 minutes away and it was a mess. The tanks were dirty and the fish looked sick. In fact the whole store looked dirty. Anyway, now that I have the eggs I have a couple of questions. I have the Black Box to hatch them in but the instructions say to keep the Temp around 80 to 82 degrees. How do you do that? I can't put a heater in there. Also, how do you get an air stone in there? There is no holes for one.

 

I am currently trying to hatch my own brine shrimp. I have a 2 gallon tank with airstone, heater set at 80 degrees and pouch of eggs. I have had the tank and eggs in there for a few days now and not sure what to be looking for. I need some help please...

 

Welcome to fishlore!

Turn off the airstone and turn off the light in the room. Let everything settle for about 15 minutes, then take a flashlight and shine it into the tank and you should see tiny little squiggly things moving around. They are attracted to light, so leave the flashlight on against the tank and you can syphon them with a medicine dropper with a piece of airline tubing attached to the end. ~Chris

 

I've never heard of doing it in a tank. Most people myself included use a 2 litter bottle with the bottom cut out of it. Fill with very warm water. Now add about 3/4 tbls. of aquarium salt and about 1/4 - 1/2 tbls. eggs.This will give you a large batch of shrimp. Cut that amount down if you don't need that many. Place it in something to hold it upright. Place the airstone down in it all the way to the cap which is now the bottom. I don't use a heater but some people do. I found they hatch in 24 hrs. without it. Just leave it alone for the 24 hrs. with bubbler running. after that unplug the airstone. Leave it settle for a few minutes. When you come back to it you should see an orange layer settled on the bottom. These are your shrimp. Using a turkey baster suck them up being careful not to mix it up again or suck up any unhatched eggs that also will settle at the bottom under the tiny baby shrimp. On top of your water will be the egg shells that hatched. Be careful not to mix them into the shrimp water. Now what I do next to make sure I'm not feeding shells to my fry is put what you get out with the baster into a small glass and add water to it and let that settle again. You will see that you have picked up some egg shells. Now using your baster suck up only the shrimp and feed to your fry. I think I remembered everything. LOL Good luck.