Freezing Brine Shrimp Eggs and Hatching Frequency

[Doug_E]

Two questions:
 

1. What is your take on freezing BBS eggs? Any experience with hatch rate of frozen vs refrigerated? (assuming you let them both come to RT. I've seen warnings to freeze and not freeze for long term storage. I bought two cans of the Coop eggs and plan to keep one in storage for a few months at least. 
2. When you use one of these hatching dishes, how many times can you re-use the water? I'd like to add in new eggs each day vs have to clean it, make fresh salt water, measure, etc. 

 

[KaitieG]

I'm not a brine shrimp expert, but here's my experience:

1. Most of what I've heard has been "freeze for long term storage" BUT let them come up to room temp for a day before trying to hatch.  That's worked fine for me.

2. I've never reused the water.  It would be super convenient, but you have all the shells and stuff in there after they hatch.  It's not too hard to mix the solution up, and it keeps anything nasty from getting started growing in the dishes/equipment if you give it a rinse after each batch.  Maybe someone else with more experience will have done more of a "continuous add" system, but it's not something I've heard of.

[Fonske]

On 12/8/2021 at 11:32 PM, Doug_E said:

What is your take on freezing BBS eggs? Any experience with hatch rate of frozen vs refrigerated? (assuming you let them both come to RT.

I keep my BBS eggs (not from Aquarium Coop) in a "mild freezer", -4 to-7C (because it's the roomiest part of my freezer, not because of the specific temperature range). 

I have no experience with "refrigerated versus frozen", only with "room temperature storage versus mildly frozen", in an open container, i.e. used for daily hatching. When kept at room temperature for several months, I saw a considerable decrease in hatching rate. The eggs also took hours to hydrate. When kept "mildly" frozen, the hatching rate remains constant and the eggs hydrate and sink in minutes. I never bother to let them come to room temperature, straight from the freezer works fine for me.

I suspect (but have no evidence myself) that for a sealed, unopened container storage conditions don't matter as much, as long as they are not extreme. 

I also never re-use the hatching water because it contains noticeable amounts of gunk after a single hatch. 

[Struggle]

I have had the same experience as Fonske.