Brine Shrimp Questions...

[nabokovfan87]

On 1/24/2023 at 1:38 PM, jwcarlson said:

Though not sure why it would take over 36 hours at 80 degrees?  That's what gives me pause.

It's dry in the desert! Or they are just damaged in some way and a % of them don't hatch properly.

On 1/24/2023 at 2:33 PM, Schuyler said:

Maybe it's a temperature shock? Maybe if you leave the eggs out of the fridge for an hour before adding them to the water

Potentially, but it shouldn't matter. In Cory's video and many others they keep them literally in the fridge and then go right into the water.

[jwcarlson]

Well... Still a bunch as parachutes after almost 48 hours.  But my punting on them after 36 seems to have been premature.  Plenty of live swimmers! 

Now wondering why it wasn't working with a heater after 36.  These have been at 74.

[Tommy Vercetti]

I am new to hatching brine shrimp but I have been hatching mine in 1liter of water, with 1 and 2/3 table spoons of rock salt (the kind for water softeners). At 80 to 82 degrees, heated with an incandescent bulb and they hatch in 24 hours. Probably close to 100%. These are the San Francisco brine shrimp strain of eggs. 

It sounds to me like maybe you just got a batch of eggs that somehow got damaged.

Edited January 25, 2023 by Tommy Vercetti

[jwcarlson]

They're basically all hatching, but apparently it's very protracted.  I expect in the morning I will have the rest of the parachuters free swimming.  That will be about 60 hours.  74 degrees. 

Will probably start another batch in the morning with the heater.  And the extra salt.  So would be back to standard, but with two tablespoons per liter. 

[AllFishNoBrakes]

On 1/24/2023 at 4:39 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

In Cory's video and many others they keep them literally in the fridge and then go right into the water.

I take my eggs straight out of the freezer and into the hatchery. 
 

When I harvested my bbs last night I checked the temp of the hatchery with my infrared thermometer gun and it was like 82°. Honestly didn’t think it would be that warm and had never needed to check the temp before. Makes more sense that I could be harvesting at 24 hours (and I used to) but personally like 36 hours. 
 

With all the testing you’ve done, and actually checking on things in my setup I believe the temperature to be your biggest factor. Curious to see what the heater does for you. 

[jwcarlson]

On 1/24/2023 at 8:45 PM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

Curious to see what the heater does for you. 

It's probably lost in all of the frass, but I did have a heater in for a couple of hatches.

 

This morning (~60 hours) there were a bunch of nice, swimming baby brine shrimp again.  I fed them out, but there was still a decent amount of parachuters that went down the drain.  Started a new batch at the same temperature, but back to regular tap water, but with double the salt.  

So I think the two biggest problems were patience (not sure why it's taking so much longer than others at similar temperatures are experiencing?) and needing more salt.  There were at least a decent amount of dead shrimp in a couple of hatches.  

Could also have been a bit too much air at some point, which could have contributed to the dead.  

I've got one last worming with levamisole tonight so I don't need any BBS for at least 36 hours, so I can handle the same protracted hatch with just one variable changed this time (straight tap water instead of discus tank water).  So it will be interesting to see how they look after 24 hours.  It's possible that because the discus water is dechlorinated, heated, aged, and biologically filtered for 48 hours that it wasn't "dissolving" the shells like chlorine supposedly does so maybe it's harder for them to hatch?

 

Again, I appreciate the help in this thread it's been great!

[jwcarlson]

Been getting protracted hatch since doubling salt.  Shrimp look good.  About a third good at 36, 48, and then 60 hours.  Which is actually OK for what I need right now. 

 

Apistos are happy!  Man the glass is dirty. 😄

Edited January 27, 2023 by jwcarlson

[jwcarlson]

Any ideas at all why hatches would be taking so long?  

Even with a heater and 78 degrees.  I'm getting good pulls from them at 36, 48, and some amount less at 60 hours.  But now that I've upped to 1/2 tsp of eggs, it's definitely getting soiled by 60 hours.  I'm straining out the swimmers and re-adding the water back.

But last night after 60 hours I strained the swimmers and there's still a bunch of parachuters floating on top.  

Last night started a new batch with different eggs, so will see if that changes anything tonight @ 24 hours.

[nabokovfan87]

On 1/31/2023 at 7:29 AM, jwcarlson said:

Any ideas at all why hatches would be taking so long?

Very strange.  I can't say as to why but my cook brain makes me think of the stove as being uneven.  Maybe it's air or maybe it's the pot.

I think it was Dean, but someone had mentioned doing something and their hatcher got contaminated leading to issues. Maybe that can be related.... Maybe a hot water clean and a peroxide dip is helpful to clean all of the equipment.

[jwcarlson]

I always rinse it with as hot of water as I have in the water heat, which is way too hot to hold my hand in.  But I could pretty easily do some sanitizing.

 

I'm interested to see what this different set of eggs looks like tonight.  

[Guppysnail]

@jwcarlson turn up your air. It helps them out of the egg casing. When my hatches are slow consistently I know my air pump needs replaced or the control knob has been turned down to far. 

[jwcarlson]

On 1/31/2023 at 12:03 PM, Guppysnail said:

@jwcarlson turn up your air. It helps them out of the egg casing. When my hatches are slow consistently I know my air pump needs replaced or the control knob has been turned down to far. 

What if I just put my hand over the hole in the lid and shake it really hard? 😄

 

I'll adjust the air up some.  I had a bunch dead early on and so had turned the air down thinking they got their limbs destroyed, but since then I think I've arrived at not enough salt having possibly contributed to that.

Thanks so much!

[jwcarlson]

A pretty good update here.  On @Guppysnail's suggestion, I turned the air up and got good results.  3 tablespoons of salt instead of 4.  Using different eggs (non-ACO).  Temp about 80 degrees.  Really good hatch, very few parachuters left and I got a good hatch at 24 hours and another good one at 36, which is just fine by me.  1/2 teaspoon of eggs.

So last night, same recipe as above, but back to the ACO eggs.  I do not expect that the eggs are the problem here, but tonight should help prove that.  

[jwcarlson]

Well... dang.  24 hours and the hatch is certainly behind.  I turned the air up and will see after 36 hours.  Everything is parachuted, but it's like they don't want to come out of their shells.  So maybe it IS an egg issue.  Certainly a step change (in the wrong direction).

Thinking a mix of the two eggs would be good, honestly.

[Schuyler]

Did you end up getting it to work?

[AllFishNoBrakes]

@jwcarlson I’m curious about your recent experiences as well and am rooting for success!

On Saturday I went out for a night (weird for a fish nerd, right?! Lol) and when I came back on Sunday afternoon I realized that my usb air pump died (no idea when it died but I believe it was out for a long time) and so did my hatch. For the first time I saw some “parachuted” brine shrimp, tons of eggs floating at the top, and basically nothing hatched and swimming around in the water column of the hatchery. 
 

I swapped out the dead usb pump for a new one I had on hand and had another 7 hours until the 36 hour usual harvest mark. I decided to let it ride and see what happened over the next 7 hours. 
 

Come harvest time, it was definitely the worst hatch I’d ever had, but honestly better than I thought it would be. Let’s just say I didn’t freeze and save a whole tray like I normally do, but had enough to feed live what’s usually leftover from a full hatch. Essentially, a 10% hatch rate with 0 air for idk how long. If I had to guess, we left at ~3pm on Saturday afternoon and got home about ~12pm Sunday afternoon, so almost 24 hours, and I bet the pump was out for the majority of that time. 
 

I’m curious to see if you’ve narrowed down what is getting you better or worse hatches in your trials and tribulations. The air pump dying on me made a HUGE difference and was literally the only change. Hope you’ve found some success with hatching BBS!

[jwcarlson]

Both eggs work, for some reason coop eggs take 36-48 hours.  They hatch and separate really well though.  Additionally, I had turned air down a bit too low and @Guppysnail above helped a ton with additional all recommended.

I get good hatch rates at 3 tbs salt and I alternate my heater every 24 hours, get them to hatch and then cool them to room temp about 60.  Two harvests per batch 12 hrs apart.  Second harvest is light, but plenty for fish that need it.  Alternating eggs now until I use up the other brand then will do another can of ACO.  Have two hatchers now so I can handle the delayed hatch just fine.  Have been freezing extras too just for backup. No fry yet and the apistos like basically any food.  So I am in good shape.  Really good hatches overall. 

Edited February 21, 2023 by jwcarlson

[Guppysnail]

On 2/20/2023 at 11:07 PM, jwcarlson said:

for some reason coop eggs take 36-48 hours.

I can get a few to hatch at 18 hours but I have to start at 81 degrees and keep it there with a heater and a light shining on them in a pinch. Otherwise doing that most hatch at 24 hours. I shut the heat off at 18-20 hours so I can harvest for 2 days as the rest hatch a bit later. 

[jwcarlson]

I put mine in cold and a 25 watt heater brings it up to temp.  I leave the heat on for 24 hours usually sometimes 36 depending on how I'm rotating hatchers.  It works pretty well for what I need at the moment.  I don't have years of experience hatching BBS, I've been doing it for like 5-6 weeks.  I really like feeding it though, especially to things I'm trying to condition.  You can't beat live food that keeps swimming for 12+ hours, at least some of it that might survive that long.