A word of praise for the Brine Shrimp "Hatchery Dish"

[biophilia]

I've been experimenting with hatching Artemia nauplii as a reliable daily live food source for my reef tanks and finally came across a solution that is so simple it requires almost no effort on my part. After being frustrated with the amount of time it takes trying to separate nauplii from the cysts and other gunk or decapsulating eggs, I finally bit the bullet and picked up a "Hobby" brand hatchery dish.

I have it sitting on the stand next to my nano reef utilizing the spillover light from the tank and added the first batch of eggs about 30 hours ago. This morning I woke up to find the little strainer dipper thing completely packed with nauplii and nothing else. Any time I walk by the tank and feel like it, I add a scoop of nauplii without having to worry about polluting the tank. No air lines, sieving, problems. Just pour some eggs in and forget about it!

 

[TheEngineer]

Cool.

You of course realize that this post is useless without pictures, right?

 

[GoVols]

I have it sitting on the stand next to my nano reef utilizing the spillover light from the tank and added the first batch of eggs about 30 hours ago. This morning I woke up to find the little strainer dipper thing completely packed with nauplii and nothing else. Any time I walk by the tank and feel like it, I add a scoop of nauplii without having to worry about polluting the tank. No air lines, sieving, problems. Just pour some eggs in and forget about it!

(lol)
That's great... ;Singing ;Singing ;Singing

 

[mcarroll]

pics!

(I've thought about getting one of these too.....so far I don't think I use enough to justify one. If I had a higher bio-load maybe!)

 

[biophilia]

Sorry, should have added a pic! I’m away from home for a few hours but will when I get home. In the meantime, here’s a picture of a brine shrimp to wet your appetites:

 

[mcarroll]

Dude, that's VERY impressive. I've never seen another shrimpery grow em THAT BIG!!

Can't wait for more photos!

 

[biophilia]

Here's the little collection sieve cup full of nauplii:



Note: I used 2 scoops instead of the max. of 3 the directions recommended and have already scooped about 6x what is shown in the video into the tank... so the hatch rate seems decent for having no airline. In the future, I'll probably just do one scoop about twice per week.

The shells and unhatched eggs are kept well away from the center:

 

[Katrina71]

Can you post a link?

 

[biophilia]

Here's a video of my Stylophora colony going to town on them:



On another note, Artemia is the only thing my pajama cardinalfish will eat other than Hikari S pellets and the occasional amphipod.

 

[jjflounder1]

Can you post a link?

Following ...
Same question

 

[biophilia]

It's available here:
https://www.brineshrimpdirect.com/hatchery-dish

and on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Brine-Shrimp-Direct-Hatchery-Dish/dp/B079C6BN2B

 

[jjflounder1]

Thanks ...
Think I'll give it a try ..
I hatch an 1/8 of a tsb every other day in old water bottles now ..

 

[jd371]

I used the soda bottle with airline set up and it was a hassle, especially separating the shrimp from the eggs so now that one is sitting on the no longer needed shelf. This looks great and just ordered one, thanks!

 

[hart24601]

I just picked one up too. Thanks for the review and link!

 

[Mykesocalreef]

What all are you targeting with the live brine shrimp? Mandarins, pipefish or maybe the entire reef as a whole? Have you noticed any benefits?

 

[Maximus]

I'd love to try this for my mandarin. Getting sick of buying copepods all the time!

 

[mcarroll]

What all are you targeting with the live brine shrimp? Mandarins, pipefish or maybe the entire reef as a whole? Have you noticed any benefits?

An easy way to "try it" on your reef is a little jar of Ocean Nutrition's Instant Baby Brine Shrimp.

(actual size the jar is <2" tall...not as big as the image appears to me)

Not live, but still has the buoyancy and other positive attributes of newly hatched brine shrimp.

My corals really like them and there's no noticeable waste in the skimmer or elsewhere. Short of hatching your own, this is my favorite. They're shelf-stable until opened too, so that's nice....they make a nice backup food in some instances.

I've mostly hatched out of a DIY version of one pictured and it works pretty well too:

 

[Maximus]

I cant figure out how they collect in the center? What makes them go to the center instead of just swimming everywhere after they hatch?

 

[mcarroll]

Mind control.

Er....phototaxis.

(One of those days....humor needed!! )

 

[Cayenne1]

I cant figure out how they collect in the center? What makes them go to the center instead of just swimming everywhere after they hatch?

I used this same hatcher in the 80's to feed baby clownfish. The shrimp are attracted to light and will swim to the center when the cover is on. The barriers keep the egg cases back as they float.