As Far As Brine Shrimp Go, I've Failed Miserably...

[Eines]

Tried to hatch some brine shrimp for my new swordtail fry. I believe that I "airated" the little eggs too much though (since the brine shrimp were only in a small jar, the air bubbler violently sloshed the water around) and as far as I can tell, they didn't hatch. At least that's what I think. The little dots weren't moving (and didn't look much different than the eggs did) One or two of my fry tried eating them, but spat them right back out; the rest were uninterested. Oh well, at the rate these guys have growing for the first four days, I'm hoping that in a three or four days I'll be able to feed them finely chopped up bloodworms and maybe even some veggies.

 

[BigC]

Explain the process you used to set up your hatchery.
Then we can assertain why you failed.
Regards
BigC

 

[Eines]

Well, I bought a packet of brine shrimp eggs (and I'm assuming the package contained some food or salt or whatever). Anyway, I followed the instructions: I poured the contents of the package into a jar with 500ml of water, stirred it around a bit, then put the air pump from my main tank into the water to keep it airated and let it sit for 24 hours. And that's it. This afternoon I removed the brine shrimp (or what I thought was the brine shrimp) from the water and placed them in my breeding tank.

 

[BigC]

OK.
Here's how to do it. (non technical method)
There are many receptacles etc you can use as a hatchery.
Simplest one is a 2 ltr lemonade bottle with the base cut off around 1/3rd of the way up. Fill this with gravel and stick the other end (neck) into the gravel.
3/4 fill the upturned bottle with water and add 1-2 tablespoons of Cooking Salt (not table salt) Then add your BS cysts. Let the cysts hydrate for around one hour before you start to airate the mix. Brineshrimp eggs need 4 things in order to get a sucessful hatch... Brine Solution, Heat, Light & Water Movement.
Temp needs to be around 80-82°F or 26-28°C
Light on all the time
Water airated via an air pump.
Eggs will hatch in 24 hours.
Regards
BigC

 

[Eines]

well, that definately explains a lot. thanks for the great tips! (geez, no wonder they didn't hatch)