Harvesting Brine Shrimps

[Green Baron]

How do you harvest your brine shrimps (BS). I followed the instructions -add half a liter of tap water to the hatchery and waited for 5 minutes but I only see 2 layers -one thin layer of BS egg shells floating on top and BBS swimming in the bottom. The BBS don't seem to congregate at the bottom ?!

Is it because I hatch too little BBS ? I only add 1/3 teaspoon of BS eggs as I have very few fishes.

[PohSan]

Hi Gan,

I made a same hatchery as what Timebomb demonstrated. However, I do not add tap water to the hatchery. Instead, I simply close the valve and waits for 5 minutes for the egg shells to float to the top. Then I release the valve to let the water flow slowly in the a bottle. Egg shells will stick to the wall of the hatchery and what I get will be pure BBS.

Regards,
Ong Poh San

[FC]

I started marine fish tank a month ago. Do you think I can hatch the brine shrimp eggs in the tank?

I am thinking of placing the eggs in the little floating quarrantine tank. The hatched brine shrimps would then swin through the vent holes of the floating qurrantine tank. Will this work? And will the shell float or sink after hatching?

Thanks.

[Green Baron]

Then I release the valve to let the water flow slowly in the a bottle. Egg shells will stick to the wall of the hatchery and what I get will be pure BBS.

By "pure BBS" do you mean BBS without egg shells but in saline solution ? I am doing the same thing but I am wondering if I were to introduce the BBS in saline solution into my aquariums everyday, will I end up with too much salt in my aquariums ?

[keehoe]

Brine shrimp egg shell is deadly to fry and make your tank real messy with shell sticking on the wall of the tank. Unless you use the decap brineshrimp "egg" that has no shell.

[shortman]

I started marine fish tank a month ago. Do you think I can hatch the brine shrimp eggs in the tank?

Don't think it work but if the shrimp hatch you can keep them in the reef tank. The shell will stick to the side wall of the tank.

[whuntley]

The shells are a dirty nuisance, but I have not found them particularly harmful to most babies. They wipe off the glass, easily.

Empty shells and unwetted eggs float. I usually bubble the eggs for a minute or so in fresh (very low tds or RO) water to get them wetted so they mostly all sink. Then I add salty water (1T/L NaCl + 1/4t Baking Soda to keep pH high). This emulates the natural rain action, washing cysts back into the salty lake or pond.

With premium eggs this gives me 100% hatch in about 18-22 hours, so I can do one hatch per day and have a constant supply. When I siphon from the neck of the inverted plastic soda bottle, there are essentially no unhatched eggs. The cyst shells are all floating.

I siphon the bbs into a handkerchief or permanent coffee filter over a large jug, and rinse the orange mass by dipping them into a small plastic glass of clean tap water several times. This removes both the salt, and a lot of nasty bacteria that always populates the warm hatchery after 24 hours. I never, ever use them without a bacteria-removal rinse.

If the salt water in the jug smells OK and isn't too cloudy or colored, I may reuse it up to three or four times. I always rinse the hatchery in hot tap water and scrub the inside with my hand to rid it of any slime film, before starting the next hatch. This may be why I can reuse the salt water.

I use ordinary iodized table salt, normally, but avoid the premium brands that use silicates for free-running agent. Sodium ferrocyanide (aka "Yellow Prussiate of Soda") is less harnful to fish and, particularly filter feeders. Silica gell is where all the truly stupid myths about "iodized salt" got started. Rock salt and kosher salt are OK, but take too long to dissolve for something one does every day. Iodides are no more harmful than chlorides (iodine and chlorine are different and poison). Silicates clog gills and digestive tracks as they are like insoluble powdered glass.

HTH

Wright

[PohSan]

By "pure BBS" do you mean BBS without egg shells but in saline solution ? ... will I end up with too much salt in my aquariums ?

Yes, and after harvesting the BBS, I will poured the solution into a plastic coffee filter and rinsed with tapwater to remove any residue saline solution.

Regards,
Ong Poh San

[FC]

My purpose of hatching brine shrimp in the marine tank is to feed the fishes naturally. Given the water is well oxygenated by protein skimmer, do you think the eggs will hatch in the tank?

If yes, I will place the eggs in the floating quarrantine tank (placed in the marine tank) to capture the egg shell, the hatch shrimps will swim through the vent holes. Perfect?

[PohSan]

My purpose of hatching brine shrimp in the marine tank is to feed the fishes naturally. Given the water is well oxygenated by protein skimmer, do you think the eggs will hatch in the tank?

I have not try before but I believe that the egg will hatch. What about installing a automatic food feeder on top of your floating quarantine tank to dispense brine shimp eggs daily? This way, you marine fish will have live food even when you are away from Singapore.

Regards,
Ong Poh San

[keehoe]

Yup i agree, keeping brine shrimp egg in that condition would last long and the hatch rate will reduce fast. Wow, this is a good idea. But only for salt water tank.

I have a feeling that hatching brine shrimp is at its best when the salinity is half of the normal sea water. Any one done any test on this?

I tried to adjust to normal sea water salinity when hatching brine shrimp from my 0.65 - 0.8 spoon to 2 spoon (measure with meter to easure 1.020 salinity) the result of using 2 sea water salinity yield a lot of dead BBS.

Anyone else in the west experiencing change of tap water PH? Now the water near clement is slightly alkaline.

[stormhawk]

Freddy, I suggest you do the hatching outside of the tank in a separate hatchery. There is however, a commercially available hatchery meant for such applications. Refer to link below.

Tominaga Hatch'N'Feeder BBS Hatchery

I have heard of some bad results using this product in freshwater tanks. It is possible however that it would work much better in a marine tank. Rather expensive, about $40+ if I recall correctly. I found several sets at one of the Clementi shops.

Wright, thank you again for that very informative bit on BBS hatching. I skipped the step on rehydrating the eggs. What I did was to let them float about in the hatchery for about 5-10 minutes or so before I started the aeration. I also give the hatchery water a good vigorous stir for a few seconds when the aeration begins. That makes sure that the eggs remain suspended in the water column. I do get a good hatch by doing that and using marine salt, but I never get a full hatch most of the time. I think I'll do the rehydrating step the next time I hatch some BBS. :wink:

Hi Kee Hoe, I've never done a test on whether they'll hatch better at that salinity. I do the same as what I learnt from Ronnie. We use two (Chinese soup spoon) scoops of marine salt per 1.5 litre hatchery. I think its two spoons to a litre of water. It works well so far.

Nope have not experienced any changes in pH either. I'm located at Bukit Batok and the pH I get from the mains is slight alkaline at 7.4. So far no problems. :wink: What I worry about though is the presence of chloramines in the water but that's another topic that has already been discussed in detail in Killies Arena. :wink: