Hatching brine shrimp eggs

[CJO]

Here's a few things that may help- I'm guessing that your kit includes salt in the pouch with the eggs, which is why it says add fresh water (be sure it is dechlorinated).
-Also, cysts do not have to be kept refrigerated, they do fine in a pretty big range of temperatures.
-You want to add enough air so that the bubbles keep the eggs from settling. I've never bothered with a heater. They hatch quicker if they are at 80 degrees (around 2 days), but should hatch in around 3 days at 70 degrees.
-The bbs are most nutritious immediately after they hatch. They are also fairly nutritious if you keep them feeding on phytoplankton.

CJ

 

[Viva'sReef]

There are a couple threads on RC I was just reading on the subject of feeding bbs to sps about a week ago. There is even YouTube study videos showing sps polyps ingesting bbs.

Let me see if I can dig up that thread. I think the thread was titled "sps love fishpoop" with some facts about why sps do NOT actually consume detritus

 

[Viva'sReef]

Here it is....
Poo? Really. POO?! Where did this theory start? I'm calling Shenanigans! - Reef Central Online Community

 

[swannyson7]

Here's a few things that may help- I'm guessing that your kit includes salt in the pouch with the eggs, which is why it says add fresh water (be sure it is dechlorinated).
-Also, cysts do not have to be kept refrigerated, they do fine in a pretty big range of temperatures.
-You want to add enough air so that the bubbles keep the eggs from settling. I've never bothered with a heater. They hatch quicker if they are at 80 degrees (around 2 days), but should hatch in around 3 days at 70 degrees.
-The bbs are most nutritious immediately after they hatch. They are also fairly nutritious if you keep them feeding on phytoplankton.

CJ

I assumed that they had salt in them and that's why it called for the RO water instead. I have well water, so only trace amount of chlorine. I'm just wondering if the eggs are too old. Who knows how long they were sitting on the shelf before I bought them. I'll try another batch in the AM without the heater to see if I have any luck.

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[swannyson7]

There are a couple threads on RC I was just reading on the subject of feeding bbs to sps about a week ago. There is even YouTube study videos showing sps polyps ingesting bbs.

Let me see if I can dig up that thread. I think the thread was titled "sps love fishpoop" with some facts about why sps do NOT actually consume detritus

I don't have enough signal at work to stream video, but I'll be sure to check it out in the morning. Kind if surprising to me that the brine could be beneficial to SPS. I'd think that it would be way too big for sps.

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[swannyson7]

There is even YouTube study videos showing sps polyps ingesting bbs.

DO you have a link to any of these videos? Searching YouTube for SPS brine gave me nothing but a couple videos of feeding fish and LPS. There was even a video by Kraylen that he posted up on here last year... watching that was part of the reason I decided to try hatching the brine in the first place!

 

[Viva'sReef]

Found the video after some searching....Adult brine would be too large, but newly hatched baby brine is just the right size.

Stylophora Eating Baby Brine in HD

 

[Viva'sReef]

Also here is a very in depth article....great read

How corals feed

 

[swannyson7]

Found the video after some searching....Adult brine would be too large, but newly hatched baby brine is just the right size.

Stylophora Eating Baby Brine in HD

Also here is a very in depth article....great read

How corals feed

That's an amazing video, I can't even imagine how they zoomed in like that. I wonder if other types of SPS would feed on them as well, or if it's just stuff like stylos, pocillipora, etc. Thanks for the link, I'll be sure to check it out!

 

[CJO]

I assumed that they had salt in them and that's why it called for the RO water instead. I have well water, so only trace amount of chlorine. I'm just wondering if the eggs are too old. Who knows how long they were sitting on the shelf before I bought them. I'll try another batch in the AM without the heater to see if I have any luck.

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The issue could also be your heater. To heat the water, it has to get pretty hot and may be frying whatever eggs or bbs come in contact with it.

CJ

 

[swannyson7]

RIght now I have the last batch going without a heater. I put the bottle on an eggcrate platform in my fuge, so hopefully the surrounding water will keep it warm for a faster hatch. If this doesn't do it, then I blame the eggs. Either way, I'm going to order some from the site that Viva posted and give them a try

 

[Viva'sReef]

That's an amazing video, I can't even imagine how they zoomed in like that. I wonder if other types of SPS would feed on them as well, or if it's just stuff like stylos, pocillipora, etc. Thanks for the link, I'll be sure to check it out!

While I am no scientist LOL...I would imagine that any SPS that displays some sort of polyp extension would readily take the bbs. Millies, and Montis, also come to mind.

 

[Viva'sReef]

RIght now I have the last batch going without a heater. I put the bottle on an eggcrate platform in my fuge, so hopefully the surrounding water will keep it warm for a faster hatch. If this doesn't do it, then I blame the eggs. Either way, I'm going to order some from the site that Viva posted and give them a try

If you do order, be sure to order the Decapsulated Brine eggs. It's just much easier to deal with.

 

[swannyson7]

If you do order, be sure to order the Decapsulated Brine eggs. It's just much easier to deal with.

What's the difference? Will I not have to suck out the shells or something?

 

[Viva'sReef]

I may be steering you in the wrong direction now LOL...The decaped eggs do not hatch, I just feed them straight to the SPS.

After going back to page 1 of this thread I just realized your wanting this for LPS. So just get the regular premium eggs, and hatch those out. Yes you will have to seperate they shells from the live brine

 

[Viva'sReef]

They do have a new product though....shell free "hatchable" eggs. After bouncing back and forth I am confusing myself now LOL.

They are called EZ hatch
Shell Free E-Z Egg

 

[swannyson7]

I may be steering you in the wrong direction now LOL...The decaped eggs do not hatch, I just feed them straight to the SPS.

After going back to page 1 of this thread I just realized your wanting this for LPS. So just get the regular premium eggs, and hatch those out. Yes you will have to seperate they shells from the live brine

I said I wanted it for LPS, because I had no idea that it could be used to feed SPS. I might grab both to cover all my bases. So with the decaped eggs, you just mix them with water and target feed them upcurrent from SPS? Do the eggs have much in the way of nutrients, or do you enrich them prior to feeding?

 

[Viva'sReef]

The decapsulated eggs have MORE nutrients than hatched.

From the site

Decapsulated brine shrimp eggs have a higher energy value than live brine shrimp since the energy consumed in the hatching process is conserved. Lipids and amino acids are left intact. Simply rehydrate the decapsulated brine shrimp eggs for a few minutes in fresh water and feed

 

[swannyson7]

I just put in order at Brineshrimp direct for 8oz of premium birne eggs and 8 oz of the decapsulated eggs. Thanks for the link and all the help!

 

[Reggie]

Here's Marc Levenson's (melev) how-to: Melev's Reef - Hatch & Harvest Baby Brine Shrimp