Are those BBS? Honey get the magnifier!

[Digitalgerl]

I received my new BBS hatching dish the other day. Never saw one like this before. I got in on BrineShrimp Direct. After about 12 hours or so we noticed that the tiny eggs were sort of swirling around. The dish said they would hatch in 24-48 hours. Well the "swirling around of the pinkish orange cloud" stopped and there is no movement after 48 hours. I know this had got to be a ridiculous question but are the BBS that tiny? Can't tell just by looking at it? I have always gotten brine shrimp from the LFS and apparantly these are adult brine shrimp and very easy to distinguish. The hatching dish does not use aeration. I just have a light bulb above the dish to draw the BBS to the opening in the middle as the direction states. I spoke with the store over the phone before purchasing- they were great - and they said many people liked this hatching dish. I am going to dump this unsuccessful attempt. But are those BBS so tiny that they appear to be as small as the tiny eggs? Feel foolish but this is BRAND NEW....

 

[Algenco]

They are very tiny, you had a successful hatch

 

[Digitalgerl]

lol....very tiny! And apparantly they will not live long without food of their own. As nothing was moving after 48 hours. Back to the drawing board....

 

[BillD]

It is not the lack of food that killed them, but if there was no water movement, that will do them in quickly.

 

[Digitalgerl]

Thanks! Good to know...I started over and added fewer eggs also. If I am successful I will be careful then regarding how few I try to hatch at a time. I always bought the adult BS and placed them in fridge. I have a feeling it won't be the same with the bbs.

 

[Gillie]

Do you have a pic of the dish or a link? I am curious about what it looks like.

 

[Digitalgerl]

Yes, here is the link:
http://www.brineshrimpdirect.com/c1/Hatchery-Dish-p183.html
I searched all over the internet for info on this product from any other source and could not find anything.
I feel much better about this second attempt.
Tell me what you think of this.

 

[Gillie]

Well that is definitely different, pretty cool actually when compared to other hatchery set ups. Still puzzled by the no aeration needed though.

 

[SparKy697]

Just for comparison, I use an inverted 1L bottle with a rigid air line for bubbles at the bottom. I get what I am guessing is about 80% hatchings judging by what is left. I honestly never counted them to be able to tell you if I got "over 100,000" like that ad does. Mine live for days with no food added, although the sooner you use them the more nutrition your fish get from them. Normally they are used in the first 48 hours.

 

[Digitalgerl]

I ordered this as their seemed to be very convenient. I guess the first batch hatched but I wasn't careful about placing the eggs in the outer ring so I just had a mess. This time I was very careful about the salinity and the placement of the eggs in the outer ring. They are supposed to swim to the middle when hatch (towards the light) There is a mesh cup sitting in this middle exposed area. Just supposed to lift out the mesh stainer when they show themselves. All the unhatched eggs are supposed to stay in the outer ring. We'll see what happens. I wonder if anyone else has used this device?

 

[plecoperson]

I have the lil' dish-it works very well for me. You don't get a kabillion babies, but I don't feed them that often.

It really helps to put the dish under a bright light source an hour or so before you feed. The shrimp gather under the light and you will get a bigger haul in the lil' cup.