• You liked BFD7 now you should join this forum and of course become a club member to see what CCA is all about.
  • Thank you to everyone who registered and showed up for the BIG Fish Deal #7.

Baby Brine Shrimp

Becca

Members
I've been considering setting up one or two BBS cultures. I've had a lot of tetras spawning lately and keeping fry fed can be difficult. It's been nearly 20 years since I last did this and I don't remember much about it other than we used to add a pipette of bleach to each batch and we set up fresh cultures every day or so because they're only nutritious within the first day of hatching. I also remember that they SMELLED if the culture went off in any way (not excited about that part.

Has anyone here been doing this regularly? What tips do you have? What equipment do you recommend?
 

Tangcollector

Active Member
Staff member
I have started micro worm and banana worm cultures. It is super easy and the fry just love it. I'll be happy to give you some and set you up if interested. I much prefer it to BBS
 

Becca

Members
I have started micro worm and banana worm cultures. It is super easy and the fry just love it. I'll be happy to give you some and set you up if interested. I much prefer it to BBS

I have microworms. They're too big for tetra fry. I don't know much about banana worms.
 

rivka25

Members
I have done it one three levels, 1) research facility with hundreds of tanks, 2) large tank of fish 3) casual for just a few fish.

equipment necessary for each varies. You will need an air bubbler For all methods. For casual, i like the little brineshrimp hatchery where the hatched brine shrimp swim to the light.

for just one or two tanks i make my own cones using inverted soda bottles. If you are getting serious i suggest ordering cones like this


bleaching is suposed to increase yield but i have never really bothered. For all three, make up sea water using ro preferably, (but i have used tap) and 35grams salt (the best is instant ocean) per liter of water.

add water and eggs to the cone, insert the bubbler and make sure it goes down to the bottom and keeps all the eggs shifting.

the more eggs, the more dense the stock and more likely it will be to get gross. Eggs hatch in 1-3 days depending on temp, the brine need light to hatch.

it should not stink when you collect the bbs.

to collect, remove bubbler wait for eggs to settle, drain unhatched eggs, collect middle layer (bbs) then pour off hatched egg shells. Wash cone every time. You will need multiple hatchers set up 12 hours apart ( for feeding twice a day) use fine net to drain and rinse bbs, we used to use a piece of tshirt held over funnel. resuspend bbs in tank water and feed, if you make too much, you can chill in fridge for 12 hours or freeze in ice cube tray.
 

Becca

Members
Also note, that there are two sizes of naupali and you want the smaller, sfbay variety. I dont know about tetras but
zebrafish are too small To eat bbs until 10-12 dpf. We feed them this powdered food.
https://pentairaes.com/zeigler-larval-ap100-diet.html. Ld100
you could probably use just this and up the size until they are big enough to eat worms.


Thanks - I think we always used SF bay at the hatchery, but it was a looooong time ago. We had infusoria cultures for very little fry, but I find that adding moss and a bit of leaf litter to a tank can keep really small fry fed with infusoria for the first few days without having to maintain a jar of yuck. I have "golden pearls" and other fry foods that are small enough (in addition to decapsulated BS eggs), but I'm looking for something I can overfeed that will keep swimming for a few hours so that the fry can feed continuously. I also think it would be a good conditioning treat for some of my smaller fish.

I love the pentaire catalog. I should never have requested one, it gives me way too many ideas for how to go bankrupt.
 

FishEggs

Well-Known Member
I could give you a starter but it's an awful long drive for just that. There's gotta be someone closer than me that can get you started.
 

Becca

Members
I could give you a starter but it's an awful long drive for just that. There's gotta be someone closer than me that can get you started.

I mean, I could probably go grab a slice of that rotting peach on our tree out front and start a culture from that. I read they just show up.
 

FishEggs

Well-Known Member
I mean, I could probably go grab a slice of that rotting peach on our tree out front and start a culture from that. I read they just show up.
I've heard they don't so it may or may not work. If it doesn't work out and you happen to come out to Londontowne let me know.
 

captmicha

Members
I've been considering setting up one or two BBS cultures. I've had a lot of tetras spawning lately and keeping fry fed can be difficult. It's been nearly 20 years since I last did this and I don't remember much about it other than we used to add a pipette of bleach to each batch and we set up fresh cultures every day or so because they're only nutritious within the first day of hatching. I also remember that they SMELLED if the culture went off in any way (not excited about that part.

Has anyone here been doing this regularly? What tips do you have? What equipment do you recommend?
Not really answers to your questions per say, but apparently Cyclops are the same size, widely accepted, but superior in nutrition.

I use frozen and freeze dried. Freeze dried apparently (based on my research) has almost exactly intact nutrients. So better than just regular dried. Can rehydrate first, or just let it sink for longer.

I've had explosive growth on it.

When I used to hatch out BBS, I used to decapsulate to get better nutrients out of it, and store them on high content saline in the fridge. I've read that making it easier for them to hatch this way preserves more nutrients.

But that decapped, unhatched eggs are even better.

So most of these things won't flutter like BBS, but they're still moving prey like in the current. I haven't had any failures in having them appeal to any fry.

Oh, have also used bottled reef zooplankton too.

Just some options if interested. If not, just disregard.
 

Becca

Members
I think we’re all missing the important question here: Becca, what tetra are you breeding?

In rotation:

H. wadai
H. pulchripinnis
H. herbertaxelrodi
N. mortenthaleri (at least I was, had an unfortunate large loss over the summer and need males).
H. megalopterus
N. palmeri
I. kerri

I'm trying to get H. pulcher to drop eggs, but so far no luck.
 

b considine

a dude playing a dude disguised as another dude
In rotation:

H. wadai
H. pulchripinnis
H. herbertaxelrodi
N. mortenthaleri (at least I was, had an unfortunate large loss over the summer and need males).
H. megalopterus
N. palmeri
I. kerri

I'm trying to get H. pulcher to drop eggs, but so far no luck.
Becca: Take all my money.
Blaise
 

Marz

Administrator
Staff member
I use BrineShripDirect, they have three grades, the premium grade is worth it (90% hatch). I use tap water, 1 table spoon non-iodized salt and a dash of baking soda, and here is my handy-dandy diy hatching method and 24 hours later the bottle turns orange:

IMG_7534.jpg

IMG_7533.PNG
 

IndianaSam

CCA Members
I also order my brine shrimp eggs (cysts?) from Brine shrimp direct and go with the highest grade. I don't add bleach to aid with hatching.

For hatching, I use the following item:

Pickling/canning salt is cheap is all that is needed to achieve the required salinity to hatch bbs. Oh, I also add a little baking soda to buffer the pH.

Lastly, I use the following sieve:

I have two hatcheries going at any given time and alternate on each day. My basement is quite cool so I allow 48 hours for hatching. To harvest, I cut off the air supply to the hatchery and place a flashlight at the base. I wait a good 10 minutes in order to allow the egg shells to rise to the top and the baby brine to congregate near the light at the base of the hatchery. I then use the airline to allow the brine shrimp and salt water to flow through the sieve and stop when 95% or so of the brine have been collected making sure that I don't get any egg shells in the sieve. I give the collected nauplii a quick rinse with tap water and then dump them into a different container of tap water to be fed to my fish with a turkey baster.
 

IndianaSam

CCA Members
Here’s a picture of my setup. I use the glass disc that you see on the right hatchery to indicate from which hatchery I should harvest on any given day so that I don’t need to guess. I fill the margarine container on the right with tap water and then immerse the sieve, which contains the bbs, to transfer for feeding my fish.
05803697-7205-42DF-B4FF-13EE68CDF35E.jpeg
 
Top