Hatching live brine shrimp

[yassy]

I just watched the "how to" video ,but I have a question.

If you only want live brine shrimp for 3 gallon tank for clown killifish and you do not need whole container worth of liquid, how can I hatch brine shrimp in smaller quantity like 1 tbs worth or less;that is probably more than needed amount but...?

Hatching seems easy but unsure of how to hatch much much smaller amount. At first, I thought, "Ok, I can follow the step by step method and then maybe keep in fridge or freeze the portion but @Cory said in the video the liquid is only good for a day... Thus,I wondered this question.

I do have Ocean nutrition brand's instant baby brine shrimp that I keep in fridge. If I got only tiny tank like 3 gallon size, then, I can just feed frozen or instant brine shrimp to clown killifish?

Any tips are appreciated. I have aquarium salt from Fritz.I do not have hatching container just yet.I do not have clown killifish either just yet.I would like to get some soon.

Thank you.

 

[TheDukeAnumber1]

The water is good for longer than a day if you have a smaller amount of baby brine shrimp in it. The more water to brine shrimp ratio the longer the hatch will last before crashing. You can freeze the extra baby brine and feed the cubes out later.

IMO for very small batches a hatching dish can be ideal. Something like this.

https://www.amazon.com/Brine-Shrimp-Hatchery-Dish-Separately/dp/B08KRZT369

[yassy]

Thank you. So, frozen brine shrimp is basically hatched brine shrimp with salt water frozen in mini cube;the one from Sanfrincisco bay brand one?

I can make just like Cory did and pour some into mini ice cube tray and freeze it and still I can use with no health risk to the fish? If I can do that, it looks easy way to go.

 

I will look up the link later.

Clown Killifish is ok with instant brine shrimp too from ocean nutrition brand?

Thank you.

[Cory]

With a 3 gallon, frozen baby brine is probably the way to go.

however you can hatch any amount of brine shrimp eggs, you could hatch just what you need daily in a coffee cup if needed. 

[yassy]

Thank you,@Cory.

I enjoy watching informative video on your channel.

[Hobbit]

On 8/30/2021 at 12:39 PM, yassy said:

I can make just like Cory did and pour some into mini ice cube tray and freeze it and still I can use with no health risk to the fish? If I can do that, it looks easy way to go.

Yep! I’ve done that plenty of times. I don’t even rinse the shrimp before freezing.

You’ll notice that the shrimp sink to the bottom of the tray as they cool. So if you’re concerned about adding too much salt to the water, you could rinse the top off the cube in a little trickle of warm water. (Or just use a sieve to rinse the shrimp before you freeze.)

If you’re interested in making your own hatchery, here’s a few simple DIY ideas:

 

[yassy]

Thank you very much! After watching Cory's video, I watched Jason's video on brine shrimp hatching from Jadren aquatics.

He mentioned something like he would raise the brine shrimp with spirulina flakes??? but he did not show how to keep them alive more than 1 day.

Have you done that as well?

When it comes to small amount of brine shrimp would be the amount I would use,then, just like Cory said, frozen brine shrimp or get things like this that makes looks like size of K-cup amount yield would be good for me.If I could keep them alive more than 24 hours with feeding or something, that might be better than frozen ones.Maye.

 

 

[Hobbit]

On 8/31/2021 at 11:51 AM, yassy said:

He mentioned something like he would raise the brine shrimp with spirulina flakes??? but he did not show how to keep them alive more than 1 day.

Have you done that as well?

I’ve taken leftover brine shrimp, put them in a jar, and added just a tiny tiny sprinkle of spirulina powder, then put them in the fridge. I’ve gotten an extra day or two out of the shrimp this way. They’ll sink to the bottom and may look dead, but if you look closely you can see them still wiggling. 

If you also add some new, fresh saltwater, you may be able to get them to live even longer. Once you add a tiny bit of spirulina powder so they have some food, the main limiting factor on how well they’ll live is water quality.

[yassy]

@Hobbit,Thank you very much for the info.Very interesting. When you say you put left over brine shrimp in a jar, do you pour water and all or drained shrimp? I am guessing water and shrimp both in a jar and then put in the fridge?Am I correct? I like to try that.

I know feeding brine shrimp to fish is great but, I have not fed it as often as I used to even with instant brine shrimp from ocean nutrition to guppies in quarantine tank or  guppies in community tank once I got cory and shrimp in the community tank. I am kind of afraid if I fed brine shrimp to fish, then, they might get conditioned they can eat shrimp in the community tank... Am I worrying too much?

With clown killifish, when I get them, I am planning to set up the species only tank so I am not worry about neo shrimp being eaten when I feed brine shrimp.

[CT_]

On 8/30/2021 at 9:18 AM, yassy said:

If you only want live brine shrimp for 3 gallon tank for clown killifish and you do not need whole container worth of liquid, how can I hatch brine shrimp in smaller quantity like 1 tbs worth or less;that is probably more than needed amount but...?

I'm either misreading this or this part hasn't been completely addressed yet, but for clarity sake:

As others have said you can hatch any amount.  when you say a table spoon I assume you mean at the density Cory had in his turkey baster and not a tablespoon dry (thats a lot!).  It's not required but many people strain theirs and re-suspend in fresh water, this also allows you to have more in a smaller volume.  They'll live long enough to be eaten that way.  I make my own strainers but you can buy brine nets or sieves. 

 

Also, I've found that you can harvest and strain at whatever time you feel is optimal, then resuspend them in fresh (dechlorinated) salt water and refrigerate them at 4c (normal fridge temp) and that slows their growth* and energy use (fat stores) by quite a lot.  as soon as they hit warm tank water again they start to wiggle and are as good as when you refrigerated them.  I've not kept them this way for more than 24hr though, but i hear you can get 2-3 days at least.  I usually to freeze them in a mini ice tray after a day of feeding.

 

* without feeding them, or when they're too young to have proper mouths, growth = nutrient loss, though even at the 48hr mark they're still good enough for Dean to breed and grow out fish so its probably not a big deal.

[Hobbit]

On 8/31/2021 at 10:08 PM, yassy said:

do you pour water and all or drained shrimp? I am guessing water and shrimp both in a jar and then put in the fridge?Am I correct? I like to try that.

Yep, that’s correct! I just do water and all. No straining.

On 8/31/2021 at 10:08 PM, yassy said:

I am kind of afraid if I fed brine shrimp to fish, then, they might get conditioned they can eat shrimp in the community tank... Am I worrying too much?

If you raise baby fish on brine shrimp, sometimes you’ll have a hard time getting them to eat dry food. But for most fish, it’s easy to transition them onto the dry stuff. You just offer them a little bit of dry food every day until they get hungry enough to eat it. I’ve found that my honey gourami fry won’t even eat frozen baby brine shrimp at first. They’ll only eat the live stuff. I transition them onto frozen brine shrimp before I try dry food. The frozen ones seem to be a good in-between food: it seems to teach them that there are edible things in the world that don’t wiggle. 😉 

[CT_]

I've watched way to many of the ACO videos... I know dean feeds almost everything BBS twice a day and then flake or whatever mid day if he's around.  I suspect the mid day snack of dry food helps them identify it as food later in life too.

[yassy]

On 9/1/2021 at 1:55 AM, Hobbit said:

If you raise baby fish on brine shrimp, sometimes you’ll have a hard time getting them to eat dry food.

Thank you for the info. For now, community tank is getting flakes, frozen, dry and not live thing.

Once I get clown killifish in nano tank;species only tank, then, I would plan to add in some live here and there. I read they do not take flakes food that well.And prefer frozen or live food.

If I give community tank fish;guppies, panda cory, otto,shrimp, live brine shrimp like once a week, even though they are accustomed to flakes and frozen and all that, their preference shift and stop eating flakes, frozen instant brine shrimp too?Also would it condition them to go hunt red cherry shrimp baby more?

[Hobbit]

On 9/1/2021 at 1:56 PM, yassy said:

If I give community tank fish;guppies, panda cory, otto,shrimp, live brine shrimp like once a week, even though they are accustomed to flakes and frozen and all that, their preference shift and stop eating flakes, frozen instant brine shrimp too?Also would it condition them to go hunt red cherry shrimp baby more?

No, I don’t think so. Fish will always appreciate live baby brine shrimp, but they don’t forget what they can eat once they’ve eaten it. The only reason they’d stop eating their flake or frozen food is if you gave them so much BBS that they weren’t hungry by dinner time the next day. And even then, I’m sure they’d be hungry by the night after that!

[Vanish]

I used the cut 2L bottle method for a long time.

Here's my small brine shrimp hatchery, about 1/2 liter. I should probably take a photo on a different background. 😄

Its just a cheap plastic party glass that I stick a rigid airline in. I very carefully drilled a small hole and pushed an airline valve in which makes removing the BBS slightly easier. Not necessary though.

[yassy]

Interesting idea! THank you.

[eatyourpeas]

I just hatched my first batch, and it is all gone! I guess leftovers are not going to be a problem. Great hatch rate from the Coop eggs! 🙂

[yassy]

I tried Brine shrimp hatchery disc from brine shrimp direct and I had tonz of brine shrimp swimming in the center now.

Red tail dumbo ear female did not notice I put food in her tank and still looking at me as if not being fed,lol.But other guppy tank had good reaction and seemed everyone loved them. I have not fed killifish yet since mother in law is still sleeping in the room with their tank at.

When we hatch the eggs, instruction said to add tap water with aquarium salt,no prime.

So.. I put center mesh part upside down holding on top of empty jar of jam and pour treated water to clean the mesh and fed those to the tank with syringe.

Then, I put the center mesh collection cup back in but still more shrimp swimming in the center. With my set up, I think I have more than enough for a day so thinking about freezing. I could feed spirulina powder and see how long they can last and feed them to the fish tomorrow too but how many days in a row, can fish eat live brine shrimp without health risk?Can they eat daily as half part of the feeding;if you fed twice, I can feed once with brine shrimp and the other feeding is with different one?

If freeze,  I can mix the remaining brine shrimp mixed with treated water (treated with prime) and freeze in cube for later use? The water in the hatchery is with tap water with aquarium salt added,no prime is added. So, I was thinking that way but am I correct?

[Tihshho]

I would try to feed it off within the day. Two feedings of baby brine a day isn't a bad thing. If you're still left with extra, I would filter/strain the baby brine out from the water (be sure to not include the shells as they have no nutritional value and will add to waste in the tank) and then freeze just the shrimp. 

[yassy]

This gadget does not let the shell into the center it says. So, I would not need to worry for shell.

 

You say freeze just shrimp but scraping off with spoon on the bottom of the cup?

 

[Tihshho]

In the picture you posted, there are egg casings floating above the sieve. 

[yassy]

oh, it was what it was? ok,thank you. I know I messed up and before putting the white ring in there, I added egg so it is possible eggs went in without being filtered.