Hatching brine shrimp eggs

[swannyson7]

I recently bought one of those brine shrimp hatchery kits that uses a 2 liter soda bottle and an air pump. The directions say to add 1 liter of fresh water and to maintain a temp of 80 degrees. It also says to provide them with light and to turn on the air pump. I followed the directions, using a small 50 watt heater to hold the temp, and put them about 2 feet below a PC bulb, but the eggs don't hatch after 48 hours. I've tried twice...once with the air pump running at almost full bore and then once with it barely oxygenating the water. The eggs are San Francisco Bay brand and I don't see an expiration date on them. Has anyone ever used one of these kits? Is it possible that the eggs are bad, or am I doing something wrong? I've only got one more packet of eggs left and I don't want to waste them.

 

[snoopie]

I know u have to use like 1 teaspoon of salt like food salt and just a pinch of baking soda. That's what I so when I hatch mine. Never fails. Also I never ran a light while hatching or a heater. Just pulled salt water from main display turn pump on add 1 teaspoon of salt and a pinch of baking soda walk away for two days. Then feed them to tank.

Sent from my EVO.

 

[snoopie]

Forgot to say I run my pump tee off my ozone pump so its getting half air

Sent from my EVO.

 

[swannyson7]

So you use saltwater? It says to put it in freshwater on the package. How did you maintain the temp? Is it not really necessary to keep it at 80?

 

[swannyson7]

Also, how much do you restrict the air pump? Do i run it full bore, or just enough to aerate the water a bit? Should the eggs constantly be swirling around or is it ok if they settle in the neck of the bottle?

 

[iamwrasseman]

i have used the same kit many times and it works great . the thing that you need to understand is that they are very small when the hatch and dont grow very fast .make sure that you declorinate the water first .and after three days you will have babies . the tough thing to do is collecting them and heres how . turn off the air pump and get a led penlight ,turn on the light and aim it at the bottle up in the middle of the water coloum and be sure that the light is right up against the bottle so there is a small beam .you will have to prop it on something to get it to stay there for ten minutes and do this in the dark so the penlight is the only light sorce. the live baby brine will be attracted to the light and you will see a "small cloud " of them in the beam of light . then very slowly and carefully use a turkey baster or babies ear wax cleaner to suck them up .put them in you tank that you desire to feed and thats it . they will die off within a week at the most unless you feed them and thats another complicated story . what are you using them for ?

 

[swannyson7]

i have used the same kit many times and it works great . the thing that you need to understand is that they are very small when the hatch and dont grow very fast .make sure that you declorinate the water first .and after three days you will have babies . the tough thing to do is collecting them and heres how . turn off the air pump and get a led penlight ,turn on the light and aim it at the bottle up in the middle of the water coloum and be sure that the light is right up against the bottle so there is a small beam .you will have to prop it on something to get it to stay there for ten minutes and do this in the dark so the penlight is the only light sorce. the live baby brine will be attracted to the light and you will see a "small cloud " of them in the beam of light . then very slowly and carefully use a turkey baster or babies ear wax cleaner to suck them up .put them in you tank that you desire to feed and thats it . they will die off within a week at the most unless you feed them and thats another complicated story . what are you using them for ?

Do you use freshwater or tank water? Also, do you run a heater or just leave it at room temp? How strong of a flow should be coming out of the air pump? Enough to keep the eggs in suspension, or just enough to aerate the water and don't worry about them settling?

 

[snoopie]

Don't let them settel room temp always work for me. I have always used tank water. Go to YouTube and Aeschylus DIY brineshrimp see many videos

Sent from my EVO.

 

[Viva'sReef]

Brine Shrimp Hatching Guidelines | Frequently Asked Questions

 

[swannyson7]

Thanks for the info everybody. That last post said that they should be stored in a fridge or freezer. There were sitting on a shelf at the LFS, so I'm thinking the eggs may be no good. I'm going to try one more time with using some tank water, but I'm guessing that I just need some new eggs

 

[Viva'sReef]

I never had success with the little kit that comes from the LFS.
Buy the decapsulate cysts from the link I posted and follow those directions and you'll be set. I do not use a heater, I just deal with the prolonged hatch.

 

[swannyson7]

Viva-
How long will they live after the hatch? If I add some live phyto or another food source will they live any longer, or does it not make a difference?

 

[Viva'sReef]

I'm not really sure. I usually fed the baby brine to coral almost right away.

There is a section on that website that talks about enriching brine. Check out the articles on the left side of that page

 

[swannyson7]

I'm not really sure. I usually fed the baby brine to coral almost right away.

There is a section on that website that talks about enriching brine. Check out the articles on the left side of that page

That site is loaded with information that should steer me in the right direction. Thanks again!

 

[Billgax]

Feeding them nanochloropsis phyto is only economical of you grow your own... but they will eat and grow well on it... Plus they're always gutloaded that way.

 

[swannyson7]

That was way over my head...better do some research. I was hoping to just put a few drops of the ocean nutrition live phyto in there to extend their life

 

[Billgax]

I assume you're after the newly hatched size? Not sure how much they'll eat in their first instars, while toting their yolk around...

 

[swannyson7]

To be honest, I don't even know what the yield is of a fresh hatch, so I may end up using them all for target feeding. I'm using them to feed a 180 that is primarily SPS, but has a decent amount of LPS as well.

 

[Billgax]

You could easily exploit a mix of sizes... but the SPS would only be interested in the smallest sizes, I would think (but artemia may be too big)... Dunno.

 

[swannyson7]

Wasn't really plannin on doing it for the SPS. For LPS, I have scolies, acans, duncans, a lobo, pagoda, blastos, Euphyllia, caulastrea and then of course the fish. I really just wanted to see the feeding responce of the LPS to live food