Hobby artemia/brine shrimp hatchery dish thingy

[PluckyD]

As a devoted Aquarium Coop follower, I have heard the gospel about the benefits of feeding brine shrimp from Cory and Dean, et al. many times over the years. Naturally, I considered getting the Ziss brine shrimp hatchery, but it seemed a bit….more intense than what I needed or wanted. I had successfully hatched brine shrimp in jars for free, and it was only occasionally that I did it, either to raise a specific batch of fry or the occasional treat. I had trouble committing to a contraption that was akin to a pickup truck when I just needed a scooter.

At some point, I stumbled across the Hobby brine shrimp hatchery which looked like an unassuming piece of plastic, nothing like other hatching systems I’d come across before. At about half the cost and many positive reviews, I figured I’d give it a try, and I was pleasantly surprised to find it was exactly what I was looking for with the following benefits:

1. Simple to set up — just add tap water to the line, throw in a tablespoon of salt that I have on hand, a smidge of baking soda to help with the pH since I’m not using marine salt, and a scoop of eggs.
2. No additional equipment is needed (no airstone, no light, etc). It is shallow with lots of surface area so there is sufficient oxygen exchange. My room temp is generally around 80, so plenty warm in summer. In winter, it’s a bit more effort admittedly, but I’ve managed.
3. Periodic harvesting on my schedule. I don’t have to rush back at a certain time to harvest in a specific window of time. Note that I work from home, so maybe it’s terrible if you don’t have that luxury, but I tend to walk by it several times a day and harvest just whenever it feels like I should.
4. Harvesting is straightforward and simple, taking just seconds. Because the shrimp go toward the light, they make their way to the center where the light, and conveniently, the straining scoop basket thingy, are. Very few egg shells make their way in (once I realized I need to be careful about not making waves when I put the basket back in), so I pull it out and dip it straight into the tanks and back it goes to collect more for later. The hatch fizzles out after a few days, but there is enough for a snack for my favorite fish for the day for a while. I am lazy and often don’t clean it out for some time, and can continue to pull harvests until I don’t want to anymore. The smell is contained, though it definitely smells like an ocean pier when I finally wash it out
5. When I do clean it, it is simple to do so.

Also, I honestly just appreciate simple clever design.

I decided to log a hatch session just to document what it looks like (and prove to myself it was indeed days and days that I did a single hatch and not just me losing track of time!).

Each picture is what the harvest looks like before I empty it completely, so the amount of shrimp accumulation is from since the previous picture. Some show the scoop submerged and some pulled up. I thought I’d do a photo for each, but…that’s a lot of photos. I did just one like that on Day 4 to give an idea. Days 5 through 7 are almost nothing, but it continues like that until I finally cleaned it out a couple days ago, about 2 weeks since I set it up.

It’s possible this only happens to work for the eggs I have. Maybe they are old and cruddy and take forever to hatch, and better quality eggs wouldn’t allow this. Unfortunately I haven’t had a chance to use the AC brand to compare. For context, I ordered this 25 gram pack off eBay in April of 2021, and there is still a LOT left, so I am not a heavy user.

I know Cory tried this contraption before but found it impractical for his use case because it hatches such small batches. However, so many of us have more modest setups, I believe this item makes a lot of sense. Anyway, hope this helps someone thinking about upgrading from a Tupperware container or mason jar DIY situation, but not in a place to need the Ziss brine shrimp hatcher — I think this thing is worth considering.

[Tlindsey]

On 7/22/2024 at 2:51 AM, PluckyD said:

As a devoted Aquarium Coop follower, I have heard the gospel about the benefits of feeding brine shrimp from Cory and Dean, et al. many times over the years. Naturally, I considered getting the Ziss brine shrimp hatchery, but it seemed a bit….more intense than what I needed or wanted. I had successfully hatched brine shrimp in jars for free, and it was only occasionally that I did it, either to raise a specific batch of fry or the occasional treat. I had trouble committing to a contraption that was akin to a pickup truck when I just needed a scooter.

At some point, I stumbled across the Hobby brine shrimp hatchery which looked like an unassuming piece of plastic, nothing like other hatching systems I’d come across before. At about half the cost and many positive reviews, I figured I’d give it a try, and I was pleasantly surprised to find it was exactly what I was looking for with the following benefits:

1. Simple to set up — just add tap water to the line, throw in a tablespoon of salt that I have on hand, a smidge of baking soda to help with the pH since I’m not using marine salt, and a scoop of eggs.
2. No additional equipment is needed (no airstone, no light, etc). It is shallow with lots of surface area so there is sufficient oxygen exchange. My room temp is generally around 80, so plenty warm in summer. In winter, it’s a bit more effort admittedly, but I’ve managed.
3. Periodic harvesting on my schedule. I don’t have to rush back at a certain time to harvest in a specific window of time. Note that I work from home, so maybe it’s terrible if you don’t have that luxury, but I tend to walk by it several times a day and harvest just whenever it feels like I should.
4. Harvesting is straightforward and simple, taking just seconds. Because the shrimp go toward the light, they make their way to the center where the light, and conveniently, the straining scoop basket thingy, are. Very few egg shells make their way in (once I realized I need to be careful about not making waves when I put the basket back in), so I pull it out and dip it straight into the tanks and back it goes to collect more for later. The hatch fizzles out after a few days, but there is enough for a snack for my favorite fish for the day for a while. I am lazy and often don’t clean it out for some time, and can continue to pull harvests until I don’t want to anymore. The smell is contained, though it definitely smells like an ocean pier when I finally wash it out
5. When I do clean it, it is simple to do so.

Also, I honestly just appreciate simple clever design.

I decided to log a hatch session just to document what it looks like (and prove to myself it was indeed days and days that I did a single hatch and not just me losing track of time!).

Each picture is what the harvest looks like before I empty it completely, so the amount of shrimp accumulation is from since the previous picture. Some show the scoop submerged and some pulled up. I thought I’d do a photo for each, but…that’s a lot of photos. I did just one like that on Day 4 to give an idea. Days 5 through 7 are almost nothing, but it continues like that until I finally cleaned it out a couple days ago, about 2 weeks since I set it up.

It’s possible this only happens to work for the eggs I have. Maybe they are old and cruddy and take forever to hatch, and better quality eggs wouldn’t allow this. Unfortunately I haven’t had a chance to use the AC brand to compare. For context, I ordered this 25 gram pack off eBay in April of 2021, and there is still a LOT left, so I am not a heavy user.

I know Cory tried this contraption before but found it impractical for his use case because it hatches such small batches. However, so many of us have more modest setups, I believe this item makes a lot of sense. Anyway, hope this helps someone thinking about upgrading from a Tupperware container or mason jar DIY situation, but not in a place to need the Ziss brine shrimp hatcher — I think this thing is worth considering.

Yes definitely is perfect if you don't have a lot of aquariums to feed the bbs. I personally have been using the hobby hatchery for a few years. I rotate 2 of them to feed only 1to 2 day old bbs. If you don't fill all the way to the water fill line you'll never get any egg cyst during collection. @PluckyD

Edited July 22 by Tlindsey

[govsfabshop]

I've had great success with mine as well, unfortunately the puppy found mine and ate it during the move and being the basement is so cool i opted to buy the ziss that i can run a heater in as well.

[FirstClassFish]

I have one and think it’s a nice idea, but in the end, I think a regular hatchery is probably easier. 
 

It’s good to have on hand in an emergency and to get people into trying live foods. Like you said and felt, people feel a regular hatchery is overkill, and depending on use case it could be, and what everyone finds best for them varies. 
 

Keep in mind the brine shrimp lose a bulk of their nutrition very quickly after hatching. 
 

Check this study and others, and keep in mind when they say the brine shrimp in their study should be consumed within 24 hours, they are saying within 24 hours of putting them in the salt water to hatch. They’re going to be worthless less than a day post-hatch and of dubious value well before that timeframe. 

[PluckyD]

On 7/22/2024 at 4:36 PM, FirstClassFish said:

Check this study and others

I think you may have omitted the link? Regardless, I'm familiar with the conventional wisdom around brine shrimp losing their nutritional value shortly after hatching.

On 7/22/2024 at 4:36 PM, FirstClassFish said:

they are saying within 24 hours of putting them in the salt water to hatch

Are you sure this statement is correct? If so, what happens if you are hatching in cooler temperatures and the vast majority do not hatch until well after 24 hours? I assume you actually mean within 24 hours of hatching?

Regardless, I have two reasons why I'm not particularly concerned with the theoretical loss of nutrition. First, as I am harvesting virtually all hatched brine shrimp within a few hours of the previous harvest, that would give me good reason to believe at least some if not the vast majority of them are "recently" hatched. Their consistent size supports this theory since, if I leave brine shrimp to grow (as I have in other situations), they grow in size quite quickly, but I am not seeing that difference in size between day 1 and day 4 of the brine shrimp harvests. Second, even if they *are* nutritionally deficient, well, my fish still love eating them ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It's a treat for them, and I feed them plenty of other foods to meet their nutritional needs. If I were raising fry, I would be more diligent about harvesting and setting up fresh hatches. Also, like @Tlindsey, I do own two of them so I can alternate between them if I want to have more on hand. (There is evident irony in there if you are looking at the cost comparison of two Hobby dishes to one Ziss, but that's a different conversation.)

[FirstClassFish]

Hi, yes having two is a good idea. 

I’ll try to link the study again. 

It’s not theoretical, and in this case the conventional wisdom happens to be correct, sometimes it is, sometimes it isn’t. 

Yes, I’m sure it’s correct, that’s why I wanted to specifically say 24 hours after the eggs hit the salt. 
 

It makes perfect sense as it was a controlled study aimed at getting at empirical evidence, so of course they kept temperature the same. It doesn’t mean nor imply that you wouldn’t adjust your own time frame at which they’d best be most nutritious depending on time of hatching. 
 

As for the rest, there’s information out there on how long they continue to hatch for. I want to try and watch inside of this device and see what happens as some are simply blocked off from getting to the collection point after it fills up, so they’re hatched, but “waiting”. 
 

Whatever nutritional value people want to provide is their decision, I simply wanted to point it out for others to make a decision, that’s all. 
 

Hope the link works this time, I may have forgotten it. 

I can’t seem to add it. It’s easy to find, done by the university of Rhode Island. They did it to test what time frames to use to best provide for the fish they supply food to, and for others to be able to adjust there feeding protocols.  They did the study and then changed how they fed 

 

 

[Jody P]

On 7/22/2024 at 1:51 AM, PluckyD said:

As a devoted Aquarium Coop follower, I have heard the gospel about the benefits of feeding brine shrimp from Cory and Dean, et al. many times over the years. Naturally, I considered getting the Ziss brine shrimp hatchery, but it seemed a bit….more intense than what I needed or wanted. I had successfully hatched brine shrimp in jars for free, and it was only occasionally that I did it, either to raise a specific batch of fry or the occasional treat. I had trouble committing to a contraption that was akin to a pickup truck when I just needed a scooter.

At some point, I stumbled across the Hobby brine shrimp hatchery which looked like an unassuming piece of plastic, nothing like other hatching systems I’d come across before. At about half the cost and many positive reviews, I figured I’d give it a try, and I was pleasantly surprised to find it was exactly what I was looking for with the following benefits:

1. Simple to set up — just add tap water to the line, throw in a tablespoon of salt that I have on hand, a smidge of baking soda to help with the pH since I’m not using marine salt, and a scoop of eggs.
2. No additional equipment is needed (no airstone, no light, etc). It is shallow with lots of surface area so there is sufficient oxygen exchange. My room temp is generally around 80, so plenty warm in summer. In winter, it’s a bit more effort admittedly, but I’ve managed.
3. Periodic harvesting on my schedule. I don’t have to rush back at a certain time to harvest in a specific window of time. Note that I work from home, so maybe it’s terrible if you don’t have that luxury, but I tend to walk by it several times a day and harvest just whenever it feels like I should.
4. Harvesting is straightforward and simple, taking just seconds. Because the shrimp go toward the light, they make their way to the center where the light, and conveniently, the straining scoop basket thingy, are. Very few egg shells make their way in (once I realized I need to be careful about not making waves when I put the basket back in), so I pull it out and dip it straight into the tanks and back it goes to collect more for later. The hatch fizzles out after a few days, but there is enough for a snack for my favorite fish for the day for a while. I am lazy and often don’t clean it out for some time, and can continue to pull harvests until I don’t want to anymore. The smell is contained, though it definitely smells like an ocean pier when I finally wash it out
5. When I do clean it, it is simple to do so.

Also, I honestly just appreciate simple clever design.

I decided to log a hatch session just to document what it looks like (and prove to myself it was indeed days and days that I did a single hatch and not just me losing track of time!).

Each picture is what the harvest looks like before I empty it completely, so the amount of shrimp accumulation is from since the previous picture. Some show the scoop submerged and some pulled up. I thought I’d do a photo for each, but…that’s a lot of photos. I did just one like that on Day 4 to give an idea. Days 5 through 7 are almost nothing, but it continues like that until I finally cleaned it out a couple days ago, about 2 weeks since I set it up.

It’s possible this only happens to work for the eggs I have. Maybe they are old and cruddy and take forever to hatch, and better quality eggs wouldn’t allow this. Unfortunately I haven’t had a chance to use the AC brand to compare. For context, I ordered this 25 gram pack off eBay in April of 2021, and there is still a LOT left, so I am not a heavy user.

I know Cory tried this contraption before but found it impractical for his use case because it hatches such small batches. However, so many of us have more modest setups, I believe this item makes a lot of sense. Anyway, hope this helps someone thinking about upgrading from a Tupperware container or mason jar DIY situation, but not in a place to need the Ziss brine shrimp hatcher — I think this thing is worth considering.

Thanks for posting this. I've been wanting to feed BBS, but I only have a few fish and setting up a hatchery seemed overkill. I think I'll try this.

[gardenman]

Selcon is a commonly used nutritional supplement/food for brine shrimp that increases their nutrient value. If you're trying to keep a culture going for a bit, it might be a good investment. 

[PluckyD]

On 7/23/2024 at 1:39 AM, FirstClassFish said:

It’s not theoretical, and in this case the conventional wisdom happens to be correct, sometimes it is, sometimes it isn’t. 

To clarify, I don’t disagree with the fact that brine shrimp nutrition declines, and declines “rapidly” after hatching. However, I hesitate to come to perhaps the same "conventional conclusion" drawn from that wisdom, which often suggest it’s not worth feeding brine shrimp at all after a certain timeframe.

 

On 7/23/2024 at 1:39 AM, FirstClassFish said:

Yes, I’m sure it’s correct, that’s why I wanted to specifically say 24 hours after the eggs hit the salt. 
 

It makes perfect sense as it was a controlled study aimed at getting at empirical evidence, so of course they kept temperature the same.

Ah, I suppose if all other variables are controlled for a specific study, then you could make such a statement and for it to be true for that study that the nutritional value declined after a certain number of hours after the event of the eggs hitting the salt water. However, without the actual study to refer to, and with no further context, I wanted to point out that the statement can be very misleading. I read it as suggesting the nutritional value of brine shrimp was dependent on “when the eggs hit the water”, as if that event in itself began the clock, independent of when the eggs actually hatched. This would suggest a leaching of nutritional value on the eggs themselves, which I don’t believe is the case. I used my earlier point of “what about when eggs don’t hatch after 24 hours?” to attempt to convey that point.

 

On 7/23/2024 at 1:39 AM, FirstClassFish said:

I want to try and watch inside of this device and see what happens as some are simply blocked off from getting to the collection point after it fills up, so they’re hatched, but “waiting”. 

That would be interesting indeed to get some data on. I am not in a state of the hobby nor life to perform such a study myself, but look forward to seeing your results if you take this on 😉

On 7/23/2024 at 1:39 AM, FirstClassFish said:

Whatever nutritional value people want to provide is their decision, I simply wanted to point it out for others to make a decision, that’s all. 

I absolutely agree with laying out as much information/data as we can so people can make an informed decision that meets their needs and use cases, so thank you for providing that information! I want to be clear that I wasn't intending to advise people to *not* clean out their hatcheries and to keep feeding brine shrimp from the same batch of eggs for days on end, etc...only that, if you are going to be lazy like me, this little gadget can be more forgiving than other options   🙂

 

On 7/23/2024 at 1:39 AM, FirstClassFish said:

I can’t seem to add it. It’s easy to find, done by the university of Rhode Island.

I Googled “rhode island brine shrimp nutrition study”, and the first result is “Time Post-Hatch Caloric Value of Artemia salina 2008”, a paper from a senior honors project available on Digital Commons, is this the correct study? (I wonder if this student could have imagined his undergrad paper would have such an audience!). I just did a cursory read, but for those who don't even want to Google, the primary finding is:

> The results from this experiment showed a decrease in caloric value of approximately 30-50% between 24 and 48 hours post hatch.

On 7/23/2024 at 4:36 AM, Jody P said:

Thanks for posting this. I've been wanting to feed BBS, but I only have a few fish and setting up a hatchery seemed overkill. I think I'll try this.

I hope this works for you!

 

On 7/23/2024 at 5:30 AM, gardenman said:

Selcon is a commonly used nutritional supplement/food for brine shrimp that increases their nutrient value. If you're trying to keep a culture going for a bit, it might be a good investment. 

Thanks for the tip. I am in fact trying to culture some brine shrimp now, as I have been forbidden from hatching them for the sake of feeding my fish when my son found out what was happening. He was very excited when I first asked him if he wanted to hatch brine shrimp! I neglected to explain what the plan was until... 🫠

[FirstClassFish]

That’s the study. That one line isn’t the conclusion though. That’s the abstract. 12-15 hours post hatch is when they can start eating, and in order to get the most out them, it’s recommended to feed as soon as they hatch. During that 12-15 hours they’re deleting their nutritional value rapidly, so the sooner the better. Calories wasn’t the only thing measured either. We do want some protein. 
 

Since most fish don’t need to eat daily I guess you could continue to feed, but fish are usually trying to decide on what is worth expending the energy on to acquire. 
 

A lot of people want to use brine to give to fry and juveniles and you really don’t want to go past eight hours for that. I just don’t want people to get the wrong impression. 
 

Many will read the first post and think they’re feeding something nutritious 2 days later. You should explain that for your use case where you don’t care if they don’t have any nutrients left. You also said the hatch fizzles out on day 5 as a negative. That’s like saying I wish I could feed this empty calorie longer. People aren’t going to realize that. They’ll also think that’s what people do with a normal hatchery for even longer as you’re saying 4 days is a downside. 

Most feed within 8 hours. 
 

Selcon coats them more than anything, it’s not meant as food. If you use it take it easy as it can foul the culture.