Best small scale brine shrimp hatchery?

[coralbandit]

When the eggs and salt are premixed it is hard to split IMO.
Are you going to order just eggs when you run out of packets?
That is when you can control how much you produce(but will need to make your own water up).

 

[brennae]

When the eggs and salt are premixed it is hard to split IMO.
Are you going to order just eggs when you run out of packets?
That is when you can control how much you produce(but will need to make your own water up).

I think so yes.

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[brennae]

Just fyi, I was at lfs and they had a package of San Fran bs eggs that you measure out and add salt to. I just didn't use nearly enough of the premixed packets that came with the hatchery. This may not be the most cost effective brand to purchase but I'll just be using a small amount of eggs for now.

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[nightswake]

I freeze my bbs right after hatch normally then i have bbs ice cubes to feed fishys with ( i rinse them first)

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[brennae]

Normally I was buying Hikari bbs and thawing and feeding but was told the cory fry would do best with live but I lost 2 batches anyway to beginner error of some sort.

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[brennae]

2 batches of cory fry not bbs just to clarify

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[Gillie]

2 batches of cory fry not bbs just to clarify

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Have you tried decaps, for the Cory fry?

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[brennae]

Have some didn't try that. I have another batch that hatched the other day. Did liquid livebearer food which was working for the few fry that survived the old method. Either I didn't maintain water quality or feed properly or salt in the water. Temp dropped below 70 but I don't know if that's a factor

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[sinibotia]

I saw the SFB hatchery link that CB suggested and I've been wondering, why not just cut a 2 liter bottle in half and use the bottom of the bottle as the base and put the top of the bottle upside down inside of it, with an airstone? That seems like a cheap and simple DIY option.

 

[brennae]

I saw the SFB hatchery link that CB suggested and I've been wondering, why not just cut a 2 liter bottle in half and use the bottom of the bottle as the base and put the top of the bottle upside down inside of it, with an airstone? That seems like a cheap and simple DIY option.

I bought the kit. It's working fine. Just didn't think of your suggestion. I'm not good at coming up with DIY type ideas. I'm more of a see it done by someone first and copy it if it's simple.

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[sinibotia]

I bought the kit. It's working fine. Just didn't think of your suggestion. I'm not good at coming up with DIY type ideas. I'm more of a see it done by someone first and copy it if it's simple.

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I'm not usually good at DIY either I just was working on coming up with a brine shrimp hatchery of my own, and was wondering if there was an advantage to the purchased stand vs. my idea.

 

[brennae]

Well the difference I see would be that the air comes up the bottom in the kit and maybe it wouldn't be exactly the bottom in the DIY. Some one I know has a rack with holes cut for upside-down soda bottles and have them lined up with the air stones plunked in. No light from below or heat etc. Sounds about like your idea. I'd do that if I had a decent place to hang it. He has his directly above the utility sink.

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[Andy Sager]

I'm not usually good at DIY either I just was working on coming up with a brine shrimp hatchery of my own, and was wondering if there was an advantage to the purchased stand vs. my idea.

The only advantage is psychological. I've hatched brine shrimp in every kind of container up to the 5 gallon water cooler type water bottles. It's all about the water and circulation. Keep the eggs in motion at the right salinity and temp. and they should hatch. ( Today's brands also do better in a lighted area.) My current hatching systems are nothing more than old glass candy jars. I got them at the flea market for 50 cents a piece. My gallon jars were $1.00. ATM, I am hatching 1 tablespoon full of eggs per 1/2 gal container per day. My gal jars were doing 3 tablespoons per feeding. You can't overdo the amount of eggs or they don't circulate enough to hatch. I've tried every kind of airstone and have found an open end on the airline tubing works as good if not better than any on the market. I use an egg sinker to hold the tubing at the bottom of the jar. It doesn't get any easier than that. I'm a HUGE "function over form" type and with all the brine shrimp hatcheries on the market, nothing beats what I am doing. At best, it equals it. Talk about cost savings.

 

[brennae]

When I'm ready to run with the big dogs I'll look into the gallon glass jars. I'd imagine more light gets through than with a tinted soda bottle.

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[Andy Sager]

When I'm ready to run with the big dogs I'll look into the gallon glass jars. I'd imagine more light gets through than with a tinted soda bottle.

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Ruff Ruff. Here's a hint: ask for wide mouth pickle jars. I get those so I can put my hand inside them to clean them. Look in the thrift stores as well. I've gotten them there too for $1.00
Lighting can be as easy as simple light bulb behind the jar but I use an old flo strip light used for under cabinet use attached to the wall. It's only the 17" bulb but it's long enough to work 3 jars at the same time. Since it's on 24/7, the electric bill isn't really effected and if you can get a CFL or other LED type, you may save even more on the bill. ( I've just had this one for years so why replace? )
Main thing, don't over complicate things. I use round and square jars. The only difference is where the airline needs to sit to get maximum circulation.

 

[Gillie]

Another nice thing to have is one of these http://www.amazon.com/Coralife-05146-SL-65-Super-Luft/dp/B000BJP4V0, it would probably run your entire fishroom

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[brennae]

Ruff Ruff. Here's a hint: ask for wide mouth pickle jars. I get those so I can put my hand inside them to clean them. Look in the thrift stores as well. I've gotten them there too for $1.00
Lighting can be as easy as simple light bulb behind the jar but I use an old flo strip light used for under cabinet use attached to the wall. It's only the 17" bulb but it's long enough to work 3 jars at the same time. Since it's on 24/7, the electric bill isn't really effected and if you can get a CFL or other LED type, you may save even more on the bill. ( I've just had this one for years so why replace? )
Main thing, don't over complicate things. I use round and square jars. The only difference is where the airline needs to sit to get maximum circulation.

Oh we have a ton of wide mouth large canning jars. Why that didn't occur to me earlier. Oh boy.

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[brennae]

Another nice thing to have is one of these http://www.amazon.com/Coralife-05146-SL-65-Super-Luft/dp/B000BJP4V0, it would probably run your entire fishroom

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You know I knew about these and didn't bother to look them up because honestly I thought they were a lot more expensive. If I do put up another rack of guppies with sponge filters I will seriously buy this.

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[coralbandit]

I saw the SFB hatchery link that CB suggested and I've been wondering, why not just cut a 2 liter bottle in half and use the bottom of the bottle as the base and put the top of the bottle upside down inside of it, with an airstone? That seems like a cheap and simple DIY option.

Liking that and if gluing the airline in cap is trouble I looked at DIY co2 bottle caps!!!

Another nice thing to have is one of these Amazon.com : Coralife 05146 SL-65 Super Luft Air Pump : Aquarium Air Pumps : Pet Supplies, it would probably run your entire fishroom

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You know I knew about these and didn't bother to look them up because honestly I thought they were a lot more expensive. If I do put up another rack of guppies with sponge filters I will seriously buy this.

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I used up both sizes of the coral lifes IMO.
They both still run(loud) ,but after a couple years I thought a new pump would be nice and I would keep the coral lifes as back up.
Alita BABY!!
Alita AL-15A Air Pump + 12 Gang Manifold
This rocks ALL my tank using air silently!!
I won't use those coral lifes again after experiencing these!
I run the 6LA on my 120 reef skimmer!

 

[Gillie]

Alita's are nice, but big bucks, my Coralife isn't all that loud that I know of, but who can really hear it over all of the sponge filters

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