Any advice on hatching and feeding BBS?

[rebe]

I've decided to properly research and try my hand at raising baby brine shrimp. I have some fry who would benefit from their nutrition, and I think my smaller schooling fish would enjoy them too.
From what I understand it's a fairly simple process to hatch them, but there are a couple of areas that some experience sharing from forum members would be very helpful.

1. Which type of eggs should I try first? Decapsulated? Species of brine shrimp?*
2. How do you know when to harvest the BBS, do you set a mental timer of when they should hatch according to experience/instructions? From what I've read, the nutritional value deteriorates after 2-4 hours as the BBS use up the yolk sac.
3. Any advice in terms of equipment? I was thinking of trying out 2L bottles unless there are additional benefits to shop bought set ups that justify their price

* @GaryE I read some of your posts in threads about BBS, you seem to have a good experience with chinese cysts, if I remember that right? Would those be a particular species?

 

[Back in the fold]

This is the easiest thing in the world to do and everybody should know how to do this . The simplest way is dirt cheap too . Buy your brine shrimp eggs , any kind are good enough , get some non-iodized salt and a two liter plastic pop bottle . Cut the capped end of the pop bottle off and fill with plain tap water and three and a half teaspoons of salt . Add 1/4 teaspoon of your eggs and aeration from an airstone or just a piece of tubing . The airstone will clog fast from the salt so plain tubing is best . A piece of rigid tubing keeps it in place at the bottom of your container . Set it up where it can be warm and have some light , wait a day or two and you have baby brine shrimp . Small fish love them and fry need them . You’ll know when to harvest them . They are easily seen with the naked eye . The easiest way is to siphon them into a net lined with a piece of cloth , like a handkerchief , with a piece of tubing . Let your container sit without aeration for a few minutes beforehand to let the empty eggshells float to the top .

 

[GaryE]

Decapsulated eggs are dry food, and non hatching.

Brine shrimp eggs are expensive. I pay $85 CAD for 500 grams of Chinese cysts. I use two pounds a year to feed 60 tanks every day. So it'll last waaaaay longer for you. You can buy little vials in pet stores, but the cysts should be kept cold or hatch rates plummet. The pet store offerings usually barely hatch. But a 500 gram can is good for years if you keep it in the freezer.

I don't know what you can get in Ireland. American or Chinese - it's very similar. You might try a reef tank supply place, as saltwater hobbyists use them more. I have to online order now, but when I was in a bigger city, I got it at the one and only reef store at a fair price.

I bought a bag of "brine shrimp hatchery bottle caps" on Amazon, for $20 CAD. They come in 10s, and you need 1 for a lifetime supply.

I cut the bottom off a one or two litre water or Coke type bottle, put one of these caps at the bottom to replace the original cap, attach an airline and run it to an air pump. If it weren't for the famine, I'd bring you a cap over, but my lot ended up across an ocean in Canada. These caps make harvesting really easy.

With this system, you hang the bottle, turn off the pump (which must in any set up be above water level) and drain the airline through a brine shrimp net, or coffee filter or fine fine mesh.

I distribute it by scraping the live shrimp off the net with a fine pointed knife, and dipping the food into the water.

 

[rebe]

Brilliant advice, thank you @Back in the fold and @GaryE !
I'll definitely get those caps you suggested Gary, they make harvesting the bbs sound so easy.

I'll probably need to keep the set up on my windowsill, I'm limited in terms of free surface space. Should I get a heat lamp or something similar to keep them warm? I have a tub that I raise live blackworms in, and at night that can get as low as 15°C.

 

[GaryE]

Cold will slow the process. I don't heat mine, but they stay around 20, and get only natural light in the day - no artificial. They hatch at around 36 hours that way - faster in summer.
I have a thread on my 60 tank fishroom, and in recent photos of the set up, you can see the hatchery.

 

[MuddyWaters]

I've done it 2 ways: First is the 2 liter bottle. I bought this kit and it worked fine with the packets of shrimp and salt that come with it. I didn't heat them so it took about 36 hours. I used a flashlight to light the bottom of the bottle once I pulled the air stone out. Pretty easy.

Then I decided to try another way. I bought this thing because it looks way easier to pull them out and rinse before putting in the tank (using that little cup thing in the middle). Also bought these brine shrimp, this little lamp and this incandescent bulb to generate heat.

My first attempt with it was pretty good- about the same results as with the 2 liter, but didn't have to hook up the airline and it was WAY easier to get the shrimp out. I will say, if I was doing this all the time and wanted to make sure I get all the shrimp out, I'd do the 2 liter bottle, but this other method is just easy and I like that.

NOTE: The last time I tried it, I thought I'd put a BUNCH of eggs in there to see if I could get a really good haul. HOwever, I put the hatchery and the lamp in the basement which is colder than the rest of the house. I figured no big deal, the light will be on it. I forgot that I plugged the light into an outlet that turns off when I turn off the light walking out of the room, so they didn't get enough light/heat. I still got a haul, but most was wasted (or I just didn't give the rest long enough to hatch). I will try it again and do it right this time and I think I'll get a better haul.

One other thing about the "airless" hatchery that's cool- you can pull that little filter in the middle out every time you see a bunch of brine shrimp and go feed. That way you're getting them as they hatch more than waiting to make sure they all hatched. I like that part for the reason you called out- over time the nutritional value lessens, so I was able to pull out the shrimp in batches and feed.

 

[GaryE]

First off, the salt and cysts are a rip off. Salt is cheap, cysts are not. I use any non iodized salt at one tablespoon per litre, with one litre bottle hatcheries.

When you cut the air on the hatchery, you wait a few minutes and let the shells float to the surface. The live artemia drop lower, and since that system lets you drain from the bottom you catch 99% of the artemia in the net, before aiming the airline into the sink so the floating eggs stay out of the net.

Egg quality varies. A can left warm for a while, might give you 10% hatches, while a quality can well taken care of one gives 90% plus. The Chinese, no name on the can stuff I use is the best I've bought, better than the top of the line US stuff I was buying for a slightly higher price. Species aren't identified on the can, but the ones I'm hatching start a bit smaller than the US standard ones. I'd love to see what Canadian ones are like, but they go into aquaculture and there's no retail. I've used Russian cysts, with quite small nauplii, but miserable hatch rates.

I'd be curious about what you can get in Ireland, or in the EU in general.

 

[Back in the fold]

Brilliant advice, thank you @Back in the fold and @GaryE !
I'll definitely get those caps you suggested Gary, they make harvesting the bbs sound so easy.

I'll probably need to keep the set up on my windowsill, I'm limited in terms of free surface space. Should I get a heat lamp or something similar to keep them warm? I have a tub that I raise live blackworms in, and at night that can get as low as 15°C.

That’s a better and easier way of collecting them that Gary does . Do that . Also , double the amount of salt I said for a two liter bottle . My measure was for one quart .

 

[rebe]

Cold will slow the process.

That makes sense, I don't have many fish to feed so I might do two 2L bottles with staggered hatching times. That way even if it took 40+ hours, I could still harvest everyday. If they don't hatch, then I could try a small heat source.

Good to see your BBS hatchery in your thread, beautiful fish room I have to say. Very inspiring.

 

[rebe]

@MuddyWaters Thank you for such a detailed response, and for including links to the products you've used!
The second method, the premade bought set-up, is very clever!

If mine don't hatch or have difficulty long hatching times for the cold, I'll copy you with the little lamp and heat bulb!

 

[rebe]

I'd be curious about what you can get in Ireland

Ripped off is what you can get, I hope that these aren't the usual prices. From any Irish sellers or pet shops the two cheapest options I can find are JBL Artemio (€12 for 20g) or Ocean Nutrition (€35 for 50g).

The best option I could find was on eBay which I've ordered. I paid €25 including shipping for 100g

 

[GaryE]

Small countries get hit hard as small markets. We pay a lot as our country is sparsely populated and vast. I love Ireland, but it doesn't have that problem.

With the Euro and the EU,don't you have access to goods from the Netherlands or Germany? They're among the last countries with healthy aquarium hobbies, and there must be sellers. Here, I was able to find an online aquarium supply store that a guy runs out of his house, and they sell artemia eggs/cysts. There must be European equivalents.

 

[Back in the fold]

I've done it 2 ways: First is the 2 liter bottle. I bought this kit and it worked fine with the packets of shrimp and salt that come with it. I didn't heat them so it took about 36 hours. I used a flashlight to light the bottom of the bottle once I pulled the air stone out. Pretty easy.

Then I decided to try another way. I bought this thing because it looks way easier to pull them out and rinse before putting in the tank (using that little cup thing in the middle). Also bought these brine shrimp, this little lamp and this incandescent bulb to generate heat.

My first attempt with it was pretty good- about the same results as with the 2 liter, but didn't have to hook up the airline and it was WAY easier to get the shrimp out. I will say, if I was doing this all the time and wanted to make sure I get all the shrimp out, I'd do the 2 liter bottle, but this other method is just easy and I like that.

NOTE: The last time I tried it, I thought I'd put a BUNCH of eggs in there to see if I could get a really good haul. HOwever, I put the hatchery and the lamp in the basement which is colder than the rest of the house. I figured no big deal, the light will be on it. I forgot that I plugged the light into an outlet that turns off when I turn off the light walking out of the room, so they didn't get enough light/heat. I still got a haul, but most was wasted (or I just didn't give the rest long enough to hatch). I will try it again and do it right this time and I think I'll get a better haul.

One other thing about the "airless" hatchery that's cool- you can pull that little filter in the middle out every time you see a bunch of brine shrimp and go feed. That way you're getting them as they hatch more than waiting to make sure they all hatched. I like that part for the reason you called out- over time the nutritional value lessens, so I was able to pull out the shrimp in batches and feed.

I got one of those tray hatchers a couple years ago and it’s the cats meow . Another thing I use is the San Francisco Bay Brand hatching kit . That’s the thing that has a base you screw a pop bottle into and it bubbles from the bottom and you collect the shrimps out from too . I got both from www.brineshrimpdirect.com who has everything a guy might need in the way of brine shrimp eggs and supplies .

 

[rebe]

Small countries get hit hard as small markets. We pay a lot as our country is sparsely populated and vast. I love Ireland, but it doesn't have that problem.

With the Euro and the EU,don't you have access to goods from the Netherlands or Germany? They're among the last countries with healthy aquarium hobbies, and there must be sellers. Here, I was able to find an online aquarium supply store that a guy runs out of his house, and they sell artemia eggs/cysts. There must be European equivalents.

Good thinking! If the eggs I've already ordered are no good, or if I run out then I'll definitely be looking for Dutch or German sites

 

[GaryE]

I'm always very jealous of the EU. So much easy access to things - my European friends can quickly and easily visit countries that cost an arm and a leg to get to from here.
If you ever end up as into this hobby as I am, the availability of fish is superb. I don't know how the shipping is. My continental European friends keep telling me the aquarium hobby is in radical decline, with quality stores going under and availability of uncommon fish shrinking. It must have really been astonishing in the past, because what I read constantly shows me species that would be hard to find in any circles in Canada or the US. I also find the EU fish club scene much healthier - much more inclined to share info (and fish) than what we have over here.
I've only ever been in one Irish fish store, at a cruise port near Cork, and it was tiny and ordinary. But @rebe , you strike me as a curious person who has found fishtanks, and that often leads to endless exploring. Even if there is a tiny local scene where you are, you may have future access to a very intriguing aquarium world.