Adding brine shrimp eggs to SW?

[snapcrackler]

I have hatched brine shrimp before to feed my guppies and stuff, I used the light bulb/air line/ soda bottle type method, works fine.
My question is, could I just sprinkle some in my 55 SW , temps are usually 80F to 80.5F with lots of circulation... will they hatch in the tank and become natural food for my tank inhabitants? That would be handy, I think. Or not. What do you think?

 

[Bang Guy]

That's fine and yes, they will hatch but you need to decapsulate the eggs first. If you just toss them in there then the eggs shells could be irritating to your fish. The shells will also accumulate at the water line and become unsightly.

Be aware that if you have a Nitrate problem then hatching the shrimp in your tank might make it worse.

FYI - Decapsulated Brine Shrimp eggs are actually more nutritious than hatched baby brine shrimp.

 

[snapcrackler]

Thank you. I looked up the process and it appears to involve bleaching, rinsing and drying the eggs.... if I wanted to avoid that could I just snag some pre-decapsulated eggs online and pop them in there and be good to go? Gracias...

 

[Bang Guy]

Decapsulated eggs have a shelf life of only a few days. You can feed the ones bought online but I doubt if they will hatch.

Bleaching really isn't a big deal once you've done it a few times.

 

[steve-s]

Decapsulated brine is readily available both online and in better LFS's. As mentioned above they are much more nutritious than regular brine as well as being easier to raise. They will however fair better and you will get a much higher yield if the "hatchery" has a salinity of 1.028 SG. You can still do what you want by adding directly to the tank but you will have much less larvae hatch due in part to equipment and the lower salinity.

Cheers
Steve

 

[snapcrackler]

Cool, thanks guys!!!

 

[BillyZ]

just saw this on e-bay and remembered this thread:

500 grams of Decapsulated eggs