Brine shrimp hatching question

[813aquatics]

Hey Nerms,

I recently picked up a baby brine shrimp hatchery (San Fran brand) since baby brine is *incredible*. However, I don’t have a ton of tanks (7) due to apartment life at the moment. I have seen Cory’s videos on hatching but my question is, once hatched how long can I keep the hatched bb alive before they will die?

Can I put the live baby brine that I don’t use in the fridge and keep them for a few days? Or is the more logical option just to use less eggs per hatching?

I am thinking I won’t need an entire egg pack worth of baby brine to feed my tanks for a single day but I’m new to hatching live so any advice is appreciated. My goal is to make it as cost effective as I can and reduce waste as much as possible. Any other helpful tips are much appreciated!

Thanks!

Edited January 27, 2022 by 813aquatics

[StevesFishTanks]

Here are some ways to go about this:

1. Hatch enough so you feed all of it when its separated (I prefer this method and will usually overfeed just to use the brine up)

2. Hatch a little less so you can keep the remainder in the refrigerator and feed over the next 24hrs

3. Hatch the same amount and freeze the remainder immediately into small cubes.

 

On a side note, 813 area code? Are you in Tampa? I am 727 Pinellas Park.

There are some fish clubs in our area if you havent checked them out yet. TBAS and Pasco are great.

Edited January 27, 2022 by StevesFishTanks

[813aquatics]

On 1/27/2022 at 3:07 AM, StevesFishTanks said:

Here are some ways to go about this:

1. Hatch enough so you feed all of it when its separated (I prefer this method and will usually overfeed just to use the brine up)

2. Hatch a little less so you can keep the remainder in the refrigerator and feed over the next 24hrs

3. Hatch the same amount and freeze the remainder immediately into small cubes.

 

On a side note, 813 area code? Are you in Tampa? I am 727 Pinellas Park.

There are some fish clubs in our area if you havent checked them out yet. TBAS and Pasco are great.

Thanks, I wasn’t sure if I could refrigerate them, that’s probably what I’ll do.

Also yes, I was in Tampa since 2010 until a few weeks ago, now down in Bradenton (the Tampa housing crisis is insane). Been meaning to join TBAS now that covid is largely minimalized here. No clubs this side of the Skyway (Sarasota club is defunct from what I can tell). A suuuuper nice retail store just opened up here though (removed store name for forum rules) which also maintains a massive farm out in Ruskin. 

Edited January 27, 2022 by 813aquatics

[StevesFishTanks]

There is a club that just met last Thursday in Venice. It was small group but had a good speaker Andres from BioAquatix.

FatherFish from youtube was the auctioneer and also serves in some management capacity in the club. He was talking about possibly merging the Sarasota club into the Venice club.  May be worth checking out if its close enough to you. It was quite the drive for me so I may only go to future meets depending on the speaker.

TBAS just switched from Monday nights to Saturday mid day. I think this upcoming auction will be a big one for fish, The last few meetings had no fish auction. December was the Christmas party and January was the annual plants only.  So there should be lots of people waiting to turn in BAP fish and also selling fish they couldnt for 2 months.

[813aquatics]

On 1/27/2022 at 3:23 AM, StevesFishTanks said:

There is a club that just met last Thursday in Venice. It was small group but had a good speaker Andres from BioAquatix.

FatherFish from youtube was the auctioneer and also serves in some management capacity in the club. He was talking about possibly merging the Sarasota club into the Venice club.  May be worth checking out if its close enough to you. It was quite the drive for me so I may only go to future meets depending on the speaker.

TBAS just switched from Monday nights to Saturday mid day. I think this upcoming auction will be a big one for fish, The last few meetings had no fish auction. December was the Christmas party and January was the annual plants only.  So there should be lots of people waiting to turn in BAP fish and also selling fish they couldnt for 2 months.

Could you PM that Venice club info? Bit far but worth it for key events like you said. I had wanted to go to that plant sale but missed it 🥲

[Fonske]

On 1/27/2022 at 3:09 PM, 813aquatics said:

Can I put the live baby brine that I don’t use in the fridge and keep them for a few days? 

Yes if you don't mind slightly less nutritious BBS.

I always keep half of my hatched BBS in the fridge for the next day feeding, never had a problem keeping them alive. I use a flat petri-dish-like container with fresh brine (~teaspoon salt per 200ml or so), half filled so there is plenty of air in it. The fridge shelf I put them on is the warmest one (more cold results in less-lively BBS, they sink to the bottom of the container). Below is the BBS after a day or two in the fridge, the container has shrimp hatched from approximately 1.5g of eggs. 

[813aquatics]

On 1/27/2022 at 7:08 AM, Fonske said:

Yes if you don't mind slightly less nutritious BBS.

I always keep half of my hatched BBS in the fridge for the next day feeding, never had a problem keeping them alive. I use a flat petri-dish-like container with fresh brine (~teaspoon salt per 200ml or so), half filled so there is plenty of air in it. The fridge shelf I put them on is the warmest one (more cold results in less-lively BBS, they sink to the bottom of the container). Below is the BBS after a day or two in the fridge, the container has shrimp hatched from approximately 1.5g of eggs. 

Thank you! this very much what I had envisioned doing. 

[Steph’s Fish and Plants]

I’m in an apartment too with less tanks than you but I do have baby fish right now. I have one San Francisco Bay Hatcher with a 1 liter bottle and I have the ziss hatcher that I run on an off schedule, so I start one then the next day I start the other. Since I’m feeding babies I’m feeding throughout the day small amounts of brine, and I’m hatching small amounts of brine. I’ve kept extra in the fridge and just out in my fishroom and it seems to do fine for about a day or two, but not much longer. It is more work than hatching outa lot and saving but I’ve only been able to get survival to about 3-4 days in the fridge doing that so it’s not worth it imo