Brine shrimp.

[Swampman]

Hi. I am having a problem with hatching brine shrimp.I have followed many one line hatching videos. I thought I had it made when I had a hatch in 20 hours. I bought new eggs. I do have air machine attached to the hatcher. I also have a lamp shining on it, Sea salt and a touch of water conditioner. I had eggs in the water for 36 hours and nothing hatched. Now I have eggs in the water for 30 hours. I'll wait and see after tomorrow which will be 48hours. What am I doing wrong.

 

[Andy Sager]

Hi. I am having a problem with hatching brine shrimp.I have followed many one line hatching videos. I thought I had it made when I had a hatch in 20 hours. I bought new eggs. I do have air machine attached to the hatcher. I also have a lamp shining on it, Sea salt and a touch of water conditioner. I had eggs in the water for 36 hours and nothing hatched. Now I have eggs in the water for 30 hours. I'll wait and see after tomorrow which will be 48hours. What am I doing wrong.

With brine shrimp eggs, temperature can play a large role. For example: SF Bay brand eggs should be at a cooler temp than most. With OSI eggs, I was able to get them to hatch in under 18 hours by raising the temp a bit over their recommended temp but when I tried that with Brine Shrimp Direct eggs, they barely hatched. Their recommended temp was THE sweet spot for maximum hatch.
What brand eggs are you using?

 

[Swampman]

title

I bought them from V Point Store. From what I see it is Brine Shrimp Direct. I do have a small heater I could install. But the thought of the plastic melting concerns me.

 

[Andy Sager]

I bought them from V Point Store. From what I see it is Brine Shrimp Direct. I do have a small heater I could install. But the thought of the plastic melting concerns me.

BSD eggs need 80-82 degrees to hatch. If your temps are too much lower than this, they will take FOREVER to hatch. At 82 degrees, mine were taking 20 hours +/- to hatch. I used salt at a rate of 5 tablespoons of salt per gallon of water. You can premake a gallon of water or adjust the amount of salt to match your volume ( i.e. 2 1/2 tablespoons per 1/2 gallon). If you are concerned about heating in plastic, heat water in a tank to 80-82 and submerge the hatchery at least half way in the heated water. That will heat the water inside the hatchery. Shine the light down onto the hatchery. Remove the hatchery from the tank to harvest the nuplii.
Hope this helps.

 

[Swampman]

Brines

Thank for the info. I'll have to figure something out. Water is too cool.

 

[Andy Sager]

Thank for the info. I'll have to figure something out. Water is too cool.

Yeah, that's a problem. Also, you need to make sure you don't overload the hatchery with eggs. Too many eggs and they don't hatch well either. I've used everything from small pickle jars to 5 gallon jugs to hatch shrimp. It all depends on how much nuplii you need. You can see one of my smaller hatcheries here: https://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/members/41382-albums9862-picture46202.html I got it from a thrift store for 25 cents.

 

[ghyti]

Brine Shrimp Direct says 82F is the ideal temp. But I have found that 1 or 2 degrees warmer and they don't hatch at all. I use a 2 liter soda bottle turned upside down in an old cracked 10 gallon tank with an incandescent light bulb for light and heat. Same principle as a chick brooder. Never measured the temp. but a 15-25 watt bulb keeps it warm enough that I get 80-90% hatches in 24 hours.

 

[Andy Sager]

Brine Shrimp Direct says 82F is the ideal temp. But I have found that 1 or 2 degrees warmer and they don't hatch at all. I use a 2 liter soda bottle turned upside down in an old cracked 10 gallon tank with an incandescent light bulb for light and heat. Same principle as a chick brooder. Never measured the temp. but a 15-25 watt bulb keeps it warm enough that I get 80-90% hatches in 24 hours.

I'm with you. They are good eggs but for some reason BSD eggs have very little leeway. Just like SF Bay eggs, they do not like heat( which goes against most other eggs. ) Too warm and they don't hatch. :^S

 

[Swampman]

Brine shrimp

I bought a 5gal tank. I have a heater placed in. Light above the hatchery and air pumped in. The heat is 84f. It has been 18 hours and no hatching. I did have the temp 81 degrees. But when I woke up this am and the temp risen to 84f. Let's see at 24hours

 

[Andy Sager]

I bought a 5gal tank. I have a heater placed in. Light above the hatchery and air pumped in. The heat is 84f. It has been 18 hours and no hatching. I did have the temp 81 degrees. But when I woke up this am and the temp risen to 84f. Let's see at 24hours

Lower the temp. Above 82 and the eggs don't usually hatch or the hatch rate is poor.

 

[Swampman]

brine

I'm trying to get the temp steady. It has been 24 hours. Should I dump this batch and try again. Or, wait another 24 hours?

 

[Andy Sager]

I'm trying to get the temp steady. It has been 24 hours. Should I dump this batch and try again. Or, wait another 24 hours?

You lose nothing but another day by waiting another 24 hours but if nothing hatches or the hatch rate is very low, I'd dump it and start again.

 

[Swampman]

no shrimp.

I cannot figure out why I cannot hatch these shrimp. Keeping the water warm is a problem. It is either too warm 84f or cool 80f. Keeping it stable is a problem. I have a light shinning all the time on top of the hatchery. maybe that is a problem. I do have a light that I can shine on the side. How much light do you need? I am using a led light that is for a Nono tank. Bright. Is that too bright?

 

[Andy Sager]

I cannot figure out why I cannot hatch these shrimp. Keeping the water warm is a problem. It is either too warm 84f or cool 80f. Keeping it stable is a problem. I have a light shinning all the time on top of the hatchery. maybe that is a problem. I do have a light that I can shine on the side. How much light do you need? I am using a led light that is for a Nono tank. Bright. Is that too bright?

If the light you were using is incandescent, that throws heat so that could be why you can't keep the temp stable. I just used a cheap fluorescent light (a walmart special) about 10"-12" behind the bottles, on all the time since it doesn't produce heat, and just used the heater to keep the water a constant temperature. If the new light is LED, that should work. I was using just a basic plant bulb ( Gro-lux) so it was more red than white light but I doubt the spectrum had anything to do with the hatch rate. If you still have issues with that light being too bright, try placing a piece of tinted plastic between the light and the hatchery to diffuse the light a bit.

 

[Swampman]

reply

I'm using a LED light on the side of the tank. Yesterday the temp of the tank was 81. Today temp was 78. Put it out a bit. I'm going to see if it takes up to 48 hours to hatch.

 

[Andy Sager]

I'm using a LED light on the side of the tank. Yesterday the temp of the tank was 81. Today temp was 78. Put it out a bit. I'm going to see if it takes up to 48 hours to hatch.

Are you using a heater?

 

[ghyti]

Temp stability isn't really necessary as long as the temp stays somewhere between 76 and 82. If the temp is OK, it could be your water. You need hard water for the eggs, pH of 8.0 or higher. If you are using soft water from a water softener that might be a problem. If so you can add either Epson salt or magnesium sulfate to harden the water. Also be sure you have vigorous air flow. If the air flow slows down they will not hatch.

 

[Swampman]

Interesting

My water is 7.8ph Aquarium salt API I did have batch today. I'm not sure when they hatched. But this morning I had Brine shrimp. That was a 38 hours. I made a new batch.

 

[Andy Sager]

My water is 7.8ph Aquarium salt API I did have batch today. I'm not sure when they hatched. But this morning I had Brine shrimp. That was a 38 hours. I made a new batch.

Congrats!! The delay is due to the temp. If you don't want to raise the temp via a heater, you'll know you need to set up shrimp the hatchery 36 hours in advance of when you need them.

Keep in mind that brine shrimp nuplii are their most nutritious within the first 6 hours of being hatched. They will still have somewhat of a yolk sac so that's added nutrition for a fish fry. ( You can see this in the graphs from this test: https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/cgi/...ii larvae,nutritional value and caloric value. ) Depending on how often you feed your fry, you may need to set up multiple BS hatcheries. I fed 3 times a day so I set each of mine up at different hours so that it was always " fresh"/ newly hatched. The growth rate of my fry showed the difference between newly hatched and old nuplii.

 

[Swampman]

Brine

I do have a heater. Right now the water is very warm 86 I didn't touch the heater temp at all. I did turn it down. I'm hoping for a 24 hour hatch. Also I think I need a larger bottle.