Brine shrimp hatching

[Rol&Jas]

Hi,

I have made my very first home made brine shrimp hatchery yesterday night. I have started it up as well with a spoonful of eggs and they are nicely moved by the air current.

According to the instructions they hatch in 24 hours. How can I tell whether or not they have hatched or not?

Also the instruction said to drain the brine shrimps into a brineshrimp net or handkerchief and then rinse them with freswater. Do I really need to do that or I can "serve them" with their salty water?

Thank you

[parkesg]

Hey Roland,

I usually turn off the air to the hatchery and wait about 1/2 an hour. The brine shrimp will fall to the bottom and the cysts will raise to the top. Then just drain off the cysts and keep the shrimp. Also make sure there is no light on the hatchery as the brine shrimp will swim toward the top. The shrimp are orange, if you notice a lot of unhatched cysts (brown) then 1) increase salt, 2) increase hatch time, 3) increase temp, 4) all of the above.

Its fine to serve them in the salty water. I also find it good to wait a little longer for hach time about 36 hours. I also float it in an existing tank so it keeps warm, don`t know if your doing this already?

HTH

Grant

[Rol&Jas]

Thanks Grant.

I actually hung the hatchery bottle between tanks. How do you make it float that it is still upside down or you are not using bottle?

[parkesg]

Hi Roland,

I am using an upside bottle, the weight of the water in the bottle equates to the level of the tank water - bouyancy. I have put two holes in either side of the upturned bottle and put wire through to give it support and ensure it does not move bending the wire around the tank hood at one end (if the wire comes lose the bottle tips and you lose your batch).

Grant

[Rol&Jas]

Ah, OK now I get it.

Thanks Grant