My DIY Brine Shrimp Hatchary

My DIY Brine Shrimp Hatchery

I used San Fansisco Bay brand eggs. It says to use one teaspoon of eggs and two tablespoons of salt per Liter (or Quart. Same thing). I did some math, and changed it to fit my needs.


Supplies:

Two bottles, 16.9 oz (or, 1/2 liter and 0.9 oz. I like that extra 0.9 oz. Works perfectly!)

Kitchen Siscors

Airline (soft and rigid), and a check valve

Very small air pump (like this Tetra Whisper 3i)

Aquarium salt

Measuring spoons (tablespoon and 1/2 teaspoon)

A lamp

Two cups of water

and of course, your eggs

Step one:

Cut bottoms off both bottles. Cut off as little as possible. I used creases in the plastic to mark where I wanted to cut

Step two:

Cut center out of one bottle. DO NOT CUT UP THE BOTTLE. This will be used as a stand for the other bottle.

Step three:

Secure the cap, and insert whole bottle into the 1/3 bottle

Step four:

Cut rigid tubing to fit inside the bottle, and hook up air line to pump

Step five:

Spill salt all over your floor, because you are working in a very tight space. Say some bad words, laugh, take a pic, and clean it up. Continue to step six.

Step six:

Add water, and eggs, turn pump on, and let sit for one hour (or as dirrected by package). I had to estimate the amount of eggs, as my fish-only measuring spoons (actually, all of them except a tablespoon I managed to find) are MIA. Be sure the pump does not cause the water to over flow. If this is the case, you may need a simple little control valve, or just to tie a knot in the airline.

Step seven:

After an hour, add salt. One Tablespoon does it for this "recipe." Then, hook up the lamp, and wait until they hatch. Should be 24-36 hours.

I'm just over 10 hours away from when my eggs should hatching. However, I didn't start this until midnight last night, so I'll have to wait till the morning to find out if they hatched or not lol

 

What are you going to be feeding. Well done, good pictures!

 

Nice build..
had a question though I recently got some discus would it be ok if I fed the hatched brine shrimp as I don't get live food where I live.

Yusufm52
sent from tapatalk2

 

What are you going to be feeding. Well done, good pictures!

Anything that eats it Mostly the killies, I think, though.

Nice build..
had a question though I recently got some discus would it be ok if I fed the hatched brine shrimp as I don't get live food where I live.

Yusufm52
sent from tapatalk2

Thank you Unfortunatly, I couldn't answer for sure, but I'd say go ahead and try it. You could also try frozen foods.

 

Nice build..
had a question though I recently got some discus would it be ok if I fed the hatched brine shrimp as I don't get live food where I live.

Yusufm52
sent from tapatalk2

Brine shrimp would be good for baby discus, if they are bigger they aren't going to get much out of a brine shrimp hatchery.

 

Eggs hatched overnight. Lights didn't turn on on the tanks until after I had to leave for work so I had to wait until after work to try them out. They were a HUGE hit, and the 5.5 got a double dose of them, and the 20 long got some too. Still have a bunch left over, so I hooked the pump back up, and I'll feed more tomorrow. This was a good $6

 

Awesome post, I love DIY stuff!

I think I will be trying this method out soon.

 

Thanks Akari.

Great thread! Great step-by-step.

I love that you even included the instruction to spill the salt

Are you following anyone's method? Or was this per the instructions?

(just curious as to your inspiration?)

 

Spilling the salt is the most important step

The hatchery is a combination of a few methods I've seen around the web, and the measurements are by the instructions on the egg package, but halved.

Aquatic, you should definitely try it out. It's super fun, just waiting for the eggs to hatch and watching them move around, even if you don't have anything to feed lol

 

Ooh. Now I want to hatch some brine shrimp. Not that I have anything to feed them to... Oh, wait, I do!

 

Any relatively small fish will take them. My Endlers went nut for them, but the betta in the same tank didn't even try to consider them as food. The Least Killies and the RCS also loved them.

 

I lost my entire small fish tank over the weekend. But there's still BF's betta who might like them and my goddaughter's red-eared sliders. Plus it's an excuse to get more fish sooner rather than later! Thanks.

 

most important step is 5 ofcourse . when I finally get my betta babies I will most certainly try this

 

Great thread Akari.
I bought the hatchery. It's just a square bottom base with tubing attached & an airstone. You add the bottle. Wasn't sucessful the 1st time, they died before I could feed to the fish but going to try again.
One question: Where do I get the little blonde figurine saying a prayer to the shrimp gods (lamp photo) as she definatley seems to be a part of the process. I need all the help I can get

 

That's... That's a guy His name is Edward Elric lol

 

Full Metal Alchemist! Ready Set Go

 

How do you feed? Do you strain them out or just tip them in, water and all?

 

Oops, sorry Ed! I googled him....

 

How do you feed? Do you strain them out or just tip them in, water and all?

There is a special net for brine shrimp. It is called a brine shrimp net ;D

 

That's... That's a guy His name is Edward Elric lol

He's short.

Very nice guide!

 

Nice guide. Please show us your result. I would like to try it too.

 

Full Metal Alchemist! Ready Set Go

I think you mean Ready, *Steady*, Go. I have the sound track from the show on my iPod lol

How do you feed? Do you strain them out or just tip them in, water and all?

I used the rigid tubing to suck them out and feed them. You just turn the pump off, aI'm the light at the bottom of the bottle, and once the water in cap turns orange, you take the tubing, cover the top hole with your finger, stick it all the way down to the bottom, and lift your finger. After its all filled up, put your finger back, and drop it into the tank. But I Primed the water they were in, as I don't trust my tap water.

Oops, sorry Ed! I googled him....

FMA is a good show, you should watch it

He's short.

Very nice guide!

He's not short, he's fun sized

Thank you!

Nice guide. Please show us your result. I would like to try it too.

I don't have and pics of the hatched product, but they as really small, triangle shaped, twitchy things lol Give it a try, it's really fun!

 

Yeah, I don't watch it very much. I also don't have the theme song added to my music collection, lol. The last time I watched FMA I could hardly fallow it. Their dad was going to let the world die or something and every country was trying to kill every other country.

 

Yeah, I don't watch it very much. I also don't have the theme song added to my music collection, lol. The last time I watched FMA I could hardly fallow it. Their dad was going to let the world die or something and every country was trying to kill every other country.

That was the movie! LOL You have to finish the series first.

 

And then there's the new series that more accurately follows the manga. You think that's bad and then you watch FLCL and everything else in the world makes sense. >.>; Though I'm totally going to justify this by knowledge of FMA and Ed being short as being necessary to the success of the project!

 

And then there's the new series that more accurately follows the manga. You think that's bad and then you watch FLCL and everything else in the world makes sense. >.>; Though I'm totally going to justify this by knowledge of FMA and Ed being short as being necessary to the success of the project!

FLCL is freakin weird! I've seen all of them several times. Still weird lol

Akari, how do your threads turn in to anime discussions?

 

Akari, how do your threads turn in to anime discussions?

Because someone- yes, it was me- asked about the little blonde 'girl' in the photo! I'm clueless on the anime characters but when it comes to Looney Tunes..........

 

Akari, how do your threads turn in to anime discussions?

Disney magic

 

can you put the extra in fridge and use for later? How long can you store in fridge?

 

I know they last about 24 hours in the hatchery after hatching, so they would probably last 12-24 more hours in the fridge. You can feed them certain things, and they will actually grow, but I'm not sure what you would do that with.