Hatching BBS

[Kerrin]

So me newest little project is BBS for the fry, and I am new to it all. I had my first run at it yesterday, went and got some sea water, filled a clear plastic container, added eggs then did some reading. Damn, no air stone, ohwell.... gave it up as a bad job and resolved to get an air stone today. Went out early this morning, got the required bit and pieces and came home ready to try again.

I had left the container outside yesterday to take advantage of the natural light and it is currently about 35c outside, and to my surprise I had a heaps of BBS swimming around in water that felt about 45-50c. I quickly grabbed the net, scooped out what I could and into the tank they went. I then tipped out half the water, cooled it down with a frozen bottle of water and then topped up the container with tank water, added air stone and another batch of eggs.

My question is relating to unhatched eggs, what to do with them? will fish eat them? are they harmful if fish do eat them,and if so how do I best separate the BBS from the unhatched eggs when I wish to harvest?

[joller]

eggs and empty shells are harmless, but they don't really break down they just hang about until you remove them

bbs will chase light and the hatched shells will float, i put a light midway down the container for a few mins and they suck them up with a cheap turkey baster, then deposit them onto a peice of linen to separate the salt water

[Likoma]

Hatching Nauplii needs to be easy and low in maintenance. This system has worked out well for me and never falls over. It uses tank water for heat and no airstone. When you want to feed, just close the in-line valve.

Allow shrimp to settle and hold above fry tank and open valve allowing settled shrimp to fall into the lions den.