Live BBS easy!

[SlickNick]

Hello everyone I just wanted to share an easy way to hatch live bbs! I saw a video on YouTube about a week ago and had to give it a shot! I picked up some brine shrimp eggs. First I started with a decent size glass bowl. Add 1qt or 4 cups of tap water I did it a tiny bit warm maybe 78 degrees not exact though. Do not add water conditioner. Next step add 1tbsp of salt. Dissolve the salt into the water then add a scoop of brine shrimp eggs! Now sit back and wait about 24hours! I fed my 3 tanks at 24 hours and the bowl is still sitting here with a ton more in it! It’s been about 35 hours since dumping the eggs in and there are soooo many! Hoping they survive til morning so I can get another feeding out of them! Just wanted to share this it’s very simple and perfect if you’re not feeding bbs to a million aquariums! I’ll post a pic all the things kid water in the bowl are live bbs it’s really impressive how many hatched doing it this way!

 

[BigManAquatics]

Might have to try this sometime soon! Maybe the incoming platy fry will enjoy!

 

[SlickNick]

Might have to try this sometime soon! Maybe the incoming platy fry will enjoy!

Absolutely worth a shot! Your platy fry will have an excellent start

 

[Flyfisha]

Separating the brine shrimp from their poop filled salt water and egg cases is one of the most important things. A strainer is a must. You can use coffee papers to separate at a pinch.

 

[SlickNick]

Separating the brine shrimp from their poop filled salt water and egg cases is one of the most important things. A strainer is a must. You can use coffee papers to separate at a pinch.

I sucked them up into a pipette and then used a coffee filter! That was my only issue when sticking the pipette in to suck out the brine shrimp the floating egg shells at the top of the water would stick to the outside of the pipette it was kind of annoying but easy to deal with

 

[Flyfisha]

Ziss makes a nice sieve . Far more important than a hatchery when feeding multiple times per day. There are other sieves on the market but the Ziss model in the 0.13 size is what I use.

It’s possible to keep the brine alive for a week or more with an air stone however they have the highest protein content in the first 48 hours before the consume their egg sack.

When you have accidentally hatched to many for one day you can freeze them in the refrigerator if everyone in the house is happy with the idea.

 

[SlickNick]

Very great tips flyfisha! I am going to get a sieve it’ll make things so much easier! And good to know they are best eaten within 48 hours! I was able to feed again this morning at about 41 hours I’m impressed they are all still alive with no air stone but I also don’t know much about these things either

 

[ProudPapa]

Separating the brine shrimp from their poop filled salt water and egg cases is one of the most important things. A strainer is a must. You can use coffee papers to separate at a pinch.

For those of us who aren't familiar with the process, would you please clarify? After the brine shrimp hatch out it sounds like we pour the contents through a filter into another container. However, I don't know what the filter does. I assume it catches the brine shrimp, and we discard what passes through?

 

[Flyfisha]

Hi all,
JettsPapa my routine is very similar to what most videos suggest?
I have 3 two litre plastic bottles that have air lines.
Apart from feeding I choose to do two jobs each day.

In the morning I pour the oldest ( 36 hours) bottle into a Ziss bottle that has a nice tap on the bottom. That old bottle gets a rinse and is filled with unconditioned cold tap water and 3 teaspoons of rock salt.

In the evening I add a small measure of eggs to the water that has now come up the fish room temperature. At this time the Ziss bottle is empty and gets a rinse.

A few times each day I feed baby fish.
To do this I remove the air line a few minutes before pouring into a sieve . Coffee paper filters are a basic sieve but not as good as buying a Ziss sieve.

To answer your question.
Yes the sieve removes the salt water that also has brine shrimp poop in it.

As you can see in the snapshot I really only have two bottles of brine shrimp on the go at any one time with the third bottle just being cold water that is coming up to temperature.
Its not easy to explain my routine sorry.
A simple clothes peg helps me keep track of which is the youngest bottle. Given my wife is also involved in the routine of feeding and filling the clothes peg helps a lot.

 

[Linda1234]

I use this dish from shrimp direct that is pretty neat and problem free. The way it works is that it uses light to get the shrimp to swim to the top above a strainer (and the eggs get left behind); you then lift the strainer out with the shrimp in it and dip it into your tank and fresh clean egg free shrimp. It is great for feeding frys but too small if you want to feed lots of adults in multiple tanks. I mostly just use it when breeding cichild and feeding the frys.