Lets see your brine shrimp hatcheries

[pedrofisk]

Anyone else freeze their left over baby brine? I rinse mine in fresh water and sometimes I feed the left over to the display tank or goldfish but I also got on of these ice cube trays with soft silicone bottoms and a lid that work perfectly for freezing the baby brine. They come out as little gum drop shapes. The trick is to have them pretty concentrated without too much water. They work great for feeding later or to my non-fry tanks.

[Bill Smith]

6 hours ago, pedrofisk said:

Anyone else freeze their left over baby brine? I rinse mine in fresh water and sometimes I feed the left over to the display tank or goldfish but I also got on of these ice cube trays with soft silicone bottoms and a lid that work perfectly for freezing the baby brine. They come out as little gum drop shapes. The trick is to have them pretty concentrated without too much water. They work great for feeding later or to my non-fry tanks.

Yes, in fact, I rarely feed mine live. I immediately rinse mine, strain into about 1/4 cup fresh water for a high density, pipette the mixture into these silicone cube trays:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07G8GN911
(non-affiliate link)

One teaspoon bbs eggs in the 2-liter Ziss hatchery gives me between 125-150 cubes. I use them everywhere, as I'm a tetra/rasbora/danio fan.

I'm also a believer in the notion that freshly hatched bbs are more protein-heavy than they are 12 hours later, so this preserves that extra nutritional value.

Edited August 21, 2020 by Bill Smith

[pedrofisk]

Got a good hatch this morning. 1000ml+

 

[Andy's Fish Den]

On 8/21/2020 at 10:50 AM, pedrofisk said:

Anyone else freeze their left over baby brine? I rinse mine in fresh water and sometimes I feed the left over to the display tank or goldfish but I also got on of these ice cube trays with soft silicone bottoms and a lid that work perfectly for freezing the baby brine. They come out as little gum drop shapes. The trick is to have them pretty concentrated without too much water. They work great for feeding later or to my non-fry tanks.

 

I freeze my leftover BBS as well. I have one of the trays that @Bill SmithHas that I also use for Repashy that I freeze it in and then pop them out into a zip lock freezer bag.

[AdamTill]

Bill, that cabinet is officially epic. Much respect.

We lost our whole fish room to fish TB, but this was the setup I was using at the time. 6 little AliExpress tubes, lit from below with a lamp. Air came from the central pump, and I used the little tubes so we had fresh daily on a rotation.

[Maggie]

You all have such awesome setups! I don't have space for a Ziss and also have a problem with electrical outlets (not enough). So I have two of these dishes, which have inner rings that keep the unhatched eggs in one area. It requires only a light for warmth and to attract them to the center. But the hatch rate is not great, and after about 20% not hatching, each one barely makes enough for two meals for 7 rasboras or 9 dwarf danios, one at 24 hours and one at 36. The second pic is after 12 hours, only a few hatched so far. I've already made room for 3 tanks, and now I guess I'll have to find space for a better hatchery since I'm picking up 12 more rasboras today! (Assuming they have them - fingers crossed!) Since I can see the utter joy they get in hunting and eating live food, I want to give it to them every day! 

[umfalcon]

On 7/17/2020 at 8:01 AM, Daniel said:

I have been using this setup for the last 13 years.

I dump the oldest of the 3 cones everyday and then setup a fresh batch. That way I always have brine shrimp in one of 3 categories.

1. Too old
2. Too young
3. Just right!

If I was starting now I would probably go with the Ziss hatchery.

@Bill Smith's hatchery setup above is absolutely mind boggling!

Daniel,

Where did you get the rigid airline tubing?

[Daniel]

Just now, umfalcon said:

Daniel,

Where did you get the rigid airline tubing?

Brine Shrimp Direct

[FishyMike]

 

Hey everyone i posted my hatchery a couple weeks ago I 3d printed bottom and a top and put some lights in it. I did have a question though hopefully you guys could help when I went to harvest I noticed a fair amount of what looked like unhatched eggs. 😞 does anyone that is harvesting from the bottom ever have that problem? I strained thru a keurig permanant coffee filter (metal mesh) worked great!

[Bill Smith]

2 hours ago, Mikeo said:

I strained thru a keurig permanant coffee filter (metal mesh) worked great!

This is a common problem for me. But lemme get this straight. Is there any chance you're saying the Keurig filter stops the unhatched eggs but lets the live brine through?

😄

[FishyMike]

Haha nooo that what would’ve been great If it did but thats not the case or what I was saying! Lol I was just saying I use the keurig filter to strain the water. But noticed there was a fair amount of un hatched eggs 😞. Is it true that the in hatched eggs are bad for the fish??

[Joshua14]

A little over a year ago I built deans design. These days I'm rocking the ziss blender. 

[Struggle]

3 hours ago, Mikeo said:

 

Hey everyone i posted my hatchery a couple weeks ago I 3d printed bottom and a top and put some lights in it. I did have a question though hopefully you guys could help when I went to harvest I noticed a fair amount of what looked like unhatched eggs. 😞 does anyone that is harvesting from the bottom ever have that problem? I strained thru a keurig permanant coffee filter (metal mesh) worked great!

I like your setup, very nice! Depending on the brand of eggs and temperature I would always get varying amounts of unhatched eggs. I used to hatch them at room temperature but I just recently added a heater to my hatchery and it has made a significant difference on the hatch rate. 

[Bill Smith]

1 hour ago, Mikeo said:

Haha nooo that what would’ve been great If it did but thats not the case or what I was saying! Lol I was just saying I use the keurig filter to strain the water. But noticed there was a fair amount of un hatched eggs 😞. Is it true that the in hatched eggs are bad for the fish??

Yes, the unhatched eggs should be removed as much as possible; I've read they're bad for the fish, but don't know for sure. I sometimes shine a flashlight over a temporary holding container to get them to rise, then pour most of it out into another container, leaving most of the unhatched eggs at the bottom. That seems to work pretty well for me.

Also, I get a MUCH better hatch rate with a heater and a light.

[pedrofisk]

On 12/16/2020 at 11:02 AM, umfalcon said:

Daniel,

Where did you get the rigid airline tubing?

You can also get rigid airline tubing on Ebay.

[Brian P]

My ziss hatchery is in my garage.  I run it on the weekends.

[Fonske]

Mine is quite un-glamorous, but it gets the job done, for the total cost of $0.   I wish I could just buy Ziss or build a cool unit like the Bill Smith's though :)

Before assembly:

In operation:

[Schwack]

1 hour ago, Fonske said:

Mine is quite un-glamorous, but it gets the job done, for the total cost of $0.   I wish I could just buy Ziss or build a cool unit like the Bill Smith's though 🙂

Before assembly:

In operation:

This one is my favorite because it looks the most like mine! Random bits and bobs from around the house cobbled into something workable. The hardest component for me to locate was a halogen bulb for my trouble light... None of my LED/CFL bulbs would put out enough heat to keep the thing toasty.

I did break down and buy a strainer, I couldn't find something fine enough for the little guys outside of a specialty shop.

[Fonske]

10 minutes ago, Schwack said:

Random bits and bobs from around the house cobbled into something workable.

To be fair, the crucial bit for mine (the bottle cup with the nozzle that connects to the air pump) came for free with the brine shrimp eggs. Along with a strainer, measuring spoons for salt and for the eggs, and other useful stuff. I don't heat the hatchery, and I tried to get rid of the light too, but it did not work. Also, harvesting from this device is a bit awkward, so this is the part I am still figuring out how to improve.