Baby brine question

[ND1990]

Okay so I’m hatching baby brine shrimp for my fish. After they hatch how long do they stay alive? As in can I hatch a bunch and keep the in the hatchery for a few days? Feeding the fish for a few days essentially. 

[Daniel]

Personally I try and use them within a few hours of hatching because they are still a good part yolk sac. But they will live indefinitely and even grow to adults if you feed them.

[ND1990]

1 minute ago, Daniel said:

Personally I try and use them within a few hours of hatching because they are still a good part yolk sac. But they will live indefinitely and even grow to adults if you feed them.

Okay, my first time so I may have used WAY to much on my first run.. I probably used a few days worth by accident. 

[CT_]

I hatch about 1/2 g (1 scoop is usually 1g if it came with a little spoon) and feed the same day (as hatched) then freeze the rest into tiny ice cubes.  Mostly because I'm only feeding <20 nano fish so it doesn't make sense to go through the effort more than a 1-2 times a week.  I feel this is the optimal balance of nutrition and effort for me.

 

and honestly if i didn't find feeding bbs fun I'd probably just stick to pellets and flake.

[Wingman12r]

You could feed them spirulina powder and keep alive for a couple of days.

The water quality would be my concern. Thousands of tiny shrimp in such small water volume quite the bio load.

I feed the live shrimp and freeze the rest in a silicone ice tray with tiny probably .25" cubes. The ice cube tray also works great for repashy portions.

 

 

[ND1990]

Just now, Wingman12r said:

You could feed them spirulina powder and keep alive for a couple of days.

The water quality would be my concern. Thousands of tiny shrimp in such small water volume quite the bio load.

I feed the live shrimp and freeze the rest in a silicone ice tray with tiny probably .25" cubes. The ice cube tray also works great for repashy portions.

 

 

I’m thinking about setting up a 5 gallon as a hatchery for future. I just used way to many for this first time. I have freeze dried daphnia as well, usually just use Co-ops nano food, but I purchased a few Scarlet Badis and they don’t care about is so.  
 

I have some of those cube trays I’ll try that for the rest, good tip thanks. 

[TheFish]

On 4/2/2021 at 6:55 PM, ND1990 said:

I’m thinking about setting up a 5 gallon as a hatchery for future. I just used way to many for this first time. I have freeze dried daphnia as well, usually just use Co-ops nano food, but I purchased a few Scarlet Badis and they don’t care about is so.  
 

I have some of those cube trays I’ll try that for the rest, good tip thanks. 

I have one Scarlet Badis who show no interest in anything but live food and I try to hatch 1/64tsp of eggs in a 1L hatchery. they hatch in about 36-48hrs but the water starts to cloud and foul around day 4. I'm always trying to figure out how to keep them longer because he simply cant eat enough fast enough. 😕 I'm really interested in trying to hatch daphnia instead since they can be hatched and dumped into his tank and live in freshwater while he can hunt them as hes hungry but i cant find any info on how to accomplish this or even where to find cysts to hatch from. but that's the current research project i have haha

[ND1990]

1 minute ago, TheFish said:

I have one Scarlet Badis who show no interest in anything but live food and I try to hatch 1/64tsp of eggs in a 1L hatchery. they hatch in about 36-48hrs but the water starts to cloud and foul around day 4. I'm always trying to figure out how to keep them longer because he simply cant eat enough fast enough. 😕 I'm really interested in trying to hatch daphnia instead since they can be hatched and dumped into his tank and live in freshwater while he can hunt them as hes hungry but i cant find any info on how to accomplish this or even where to find cysts to hatch from. but that's the current research project i have haha

I also read if you have a well developed sand substrate they’re good at finding organisms from that also. Yeah I really wouldn’t want to keep it past 2 days to be honest. Co-op sells instant baby brine also. Try that maybe? It’s not life but should still maybe get them to eat. I’m going to try that in a couple days I think. If you find anything just tag me. That would be cool to figure out also. My fish go crazy for the frozen daphnia over anything. Can’t wait to see how they react to baby brine. 

[Hobbit]

22 hours ago, TheFish said:

or even where to find cysts to hatch from.

I believe I’ve found the cysts on eBay before. Worth a look!

On 4/2/2021 at 9:49 PM, Wingman12r said:

You could feed them spirulina powder and keep alive for a couple of days.

The water quality would be my concern. Thousands of tiny shrimp in such small water volume quite the bio load.

This is what I do, and also my main limiting factor. If you want to really stretch your hatch...

1. After the shrimp are about 24 hours old, add a tiny pinch of spirulina powder. This will keep them alive for a little longer.

2. When the shrimp are 48 hours old, concentrate them (by using a light to collect them in bulk, or by straining) and put them in a small jar. Add another tiny bit of spirulina powder. Then put them in the fridge. They’ll last at least 24 hours this way.

3. If you really want to stretch things out, you could pull most of the brine shrimp out of the hatchery, replace the water with clean salt water, and then put them back.

I’ve never gotten a hatch to last more than 6 days. I find it’s way easier to freeze them like others have suggested. 🙂