Brine Shrimp hatching

[lilrobb]

I had zero success hatching any with the last two (same time my first) batches.

I have seen setups as easy as an aerated bucket outside and being successful, I even set the hatchery inside a heated tank - still no hatching.

I am blaming the eggs as of right now - can anyone comment on the needed temperature range?
My basement averages at 76F, my garage at 95F - I could set it up in either location...

PS: which eggs so y'all buy?

 

[jennm]

It's been a while since I've hatched live brine, but I used to do it daily.

What procedure are you following to do this? Using regular or decapsulated eggs? How old are the eggs? Some will hatch even if they are years old but fresher eggs have a better hatch rate. Are you hydrating the eggs before starting them to hatch?

I used to hatch them in inverted 2-liter bottles with the little "base kit" and airline. Eventually I threw my surplus nauplii in a salt bucket out on the back porch in old saltwater and the culture did well on its own with no aeration/filtration/heat for 2 1/2 years until a particularly rainy summer diluted the culture until it crashed.

Tell us how you're going about it and maybe we can figure out what's going wrong.

Jenn

 

[lilrobb]

I put the recommended amount of dechlorinated tap water into the inverted bottle, turned on the airpump and added one packet of the eggs/salt mix.
And then waited about a week with ZIP happening...

 

[jennm]

Is that San Fran brand? If so you never know how long they sat around... they should take about 24 hours to hatch. I used to keep mine on top of the canopy of my tank where it was a bit warmer, to accelerate the process, versus room temperature.

After 24 hours did you try turning off the airline and shining a light at the bottom of the cone to attract the nauplii? (the shells float to the top)...

If none hatched, it's likely bad eggs or something like that. After a week, they'd be dead if they did hatch and weren't fed.

I used to buy just the eggs and use my own saltwater. Here's a link to the simple procedure I used to use:

http://www.brineshrimpdirect.com/res-hatching-c169.html">http://www.brineshrimpdirect.com/res-hatching-c169.html</a>

I also used to decapsulate them first - that's a bit trickier, here's a link to that:

[IMG]http://www.seahorse.org/library/articles/artemiaGuide.shtml">http://www.seahorse.org/library/articles/artemiaGuide.shtml</a>

In fact that's the exact info I used back in the day when I first started doing it that way. Decapsulating makes the nauplii more nutritious as they have to spend less energy getting out of the shell, and it removes the dangerous sharp outer shells from the picture completely. Arguably, it can also reduce or eliminate the risk of introducing hydroids to your system, as it is believed that hydroids can hitch-hike in on the egg shells of brine shrimp.

If you don't already have a good brine shrimp net - get one. Not all brine nets are created equally and I found out the hard way that some will not be fine enough to rinse eggs, decapped eggs or nauplii and they'll go through the net and down the drain. I've got a pile of those good nets that are fine enough for eggs and nauplii if you would like one or two - I'll be happy to give you a couple (I literally have a few dozen of them, brand new).

Jenn

 

[lilrobb]

Thanks Jenn,

Do you regularly have eggs in stock too?

 

[jennm]

I haven't but I can probably get some. Honestly though your best bet would probably be brineshrimpdirect.com or similar. I can San Fran and possibly OSI (Salt Lake variety) through my regular channels but who knows how long they've been sitting around?

For something like that I'd suggest going direct (even if it costs me a sale LOL) you'll get a fresher product with a better hatch rate.

If you decide to put leftovers out on the back porch to grow out, don't expect the density to be like that in a LFS brine shrimp tank... that won't happen. Those are concentrated and require big water changes because the water gets really nasty. When I had my back-step culture going, you could clearly see them when you looked in the bucket(s)... at least the adults, you'd have to look very closely for the babies, and once the first bunch grew to adulthood, they'd reproduce on their own. In the right conditions the females carry the eggs and they hatch out just like that. During the colder months, the culture would go dormant - it even froze over a few times, and once the water warmed up again, they'd be swimming again. Amazing little creatures, they are. I tried bringing in a bucket or two indoors during the winter but they just didn't do as well.

I used waste water from water changes on my tanks to put them in - grungy water, and the sun grew algae in the water, which the brine consumed. No added food, occasional topoff by me (but rain helped with that too)... no heat, artificial light, aeration or anything - they literally thrived on neglect. That started because I felt bad throwing away living things when I was cleaning out my baby seahorse nursery fish bowls and I'd vacuum out uneaten nauplii... so I just stuck them in a bucket outside and lo and behold, they thrived. Over time I divided the culture into several buckets - white buckets worked better than orange Homer buckets - probably because they reflected more light which enabled more algae to grow. The water was yellowish-greenish (algae) and the whole thing just sustained itself.

Jenn

 

[budsreef]

PM sent!

 

[jmaneyapanda]

What salinity water?

 

[lilrobb]

Thanks Bud,
I'll call when I get home.

Jeremy,
No idea what the salinity on those pre-mixed bags is, it said to use 1Liter of water with the full packet of salt/eggs...

 

[jennm]

Jeremy, I think what Robin had was the little pre-packaged salt and eggs stuff from San Francisco Bay Brand... "just add water" in a hatching cone. I never had much luck with those - they come with the hatching cone kit or they're sold separately.

My culture varied a lot but I'd use old tank water - 1.023-1.025. The link I provided says 1.018 - that might be specific to the variety they sell. They are pretty forgiving, in my experience.

Looks like Bud's on it - I'm sure he's a pro at this!

Jenn

 

[jmaneyapanda]

I have massive hatch out at 1.018. Then again I use very high quality cysts. Don't cheap out Robb