leftover baby brine shrimp....

[wolfman_9234]

How long will freshly hatched baby brine shrimp last (safe to feed)?

will refrigeration extend that time?

Should it be store in a sealed container or in a container that is open to the air?

[ScottieB]

I’m sure many others can chime in as this has come up before. But I put mine in an open cup in the fridge and get at least a few 3-4 days out of it (albeit less nutritious each day). Keeping them cold will preserve them longer.

Another option is to leave an air stone in it and let it tumble for another day or so at hatching temp or lower. Keep in mind, the longer you keep them alive the less valuable they are from a nutrient perspective (unless your feeding them).

Alternatively, you could freeze them in little ice cube trays and feed it like any frozen food.
 

 
 

 

[Andy's Fish Den]

If I remember right, in one of the videos with Dean in showing the Ziss hatchers, he said the BBS started dying off after 36 or 48 hrs. I don't know if its due to temperature, or because he hatches a lot of BBS. When I am hatching BBS because I have fry, I intentionally hatch extra, then feed the fry and all my fish with. then I take the extra, rinse in fresh water and freeze. I have a silicone ice cube tray that makes the little cubes about the same size as the packaged ones you buy in the LFS. This way, I can pull a couple out and feed tanks whenever I want.

[Jess]

This is a good question; I was going to post something similar so I'll comment here.  

My BBS hatch after about 24-30 hrs (I use the recipe in Cory's video; they're probably at 80-82 degrees F).  After 12-24 hours, half of them die - regardless of whether I keep them tumbling in the hatchery or put them in a container. After another 12-24 hrs, another half die.  It doesn't matter if I store them in the fridge or on the counter (in an open, clean plastic container).  I'm now only hatching 1/16 teaspoon at a time because I feel really bad about them dying.  I feed 6 licorice gouramis and 12 chili rasboras with them, and the 4 female licorice gouramis will only eat BBS so if I don't hatch those they will starve in the winter.  The males eat Xtreme Nano pellets, too.

Any commenters have suggestions on why the BBS keep dying, and how I can keep more of them alive?  What I do now is remove all the dead ones from the bottom, so they don't foul the water.  And sometimes I will transfer the live ones via pipette to a new container with fresh saline water.  But geez this is SO time-consuming...I spend over an hour every day just transferring or pipetting BBS. And they still die. 

So is the half-life of newly-hatched BBS 12-24 hrs, no matter what you do?