how to hatch brine shrimp eggs?

K

kisho

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Sep 4, 2005
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ok, i got a 6grams of brine shrimp eggs in a vial from my LFS(Big Al's). i heard u need a kit to hatch the eggs, but i found a method on the internet that doesnt need a kit, so i followed it. i took off the cap and jus tap the vial's cap over the jug to shake off sum eggs so it will fall in to jug. i wasnt gonna use a teaspoon and not get any results. i waited a day, nothing happened.

this is what i did.(i din to sum steps)

i have the exact type of jug shown in the other post except there is no aerator and i din kno how much talk to put i jus put like a quarter of a teaspoon of marine salt. put sum eggs in put a heater in and i let it sit there.

so do u guys have any better way or to improve on this method?
 
http://www.thekrib.com/Food/brine-shrimp.html

Hatching Brine Shrimp
by cbay-at-menken.NoSubdomain.NoDomain (Charles Bay)
Date: Fri, 16 Jun 1995
Newsgroup: rec.aquaria

Ok, I avoided commenting as long as possible. I've been reading
about some really good brine shrimp hatching techniques, a couple
of which I wrote down and plan on trying. I've bought several
kinds of kits and tried several DIY systems over the years, but
one has been (by far) the best.

BTW, it was the cheapest one also.

A few years ago I read a small paragraph in the back of AFM that
described the following. I didn't believe it, tried it, and
the darn thing worked. It's what I use today.

Get a regular 1-gallon plastic milk jug (the kind with the plastic
handle that is a part of the jug). Make sure the jug has a
screw-on cap, not a press-on cap.

Cut off the bottom of the jug. With the jug upside down, you
now have a big container with a narrow bottom.

Poke a hole through the cap just large enough for airline tubing.
Force the airline tubing through the hole, which leaves a
water-tight seal. I used to use an air stone, but don't anymore.
If you're having trouble making the watertight seal (it's not hard),
you can insert an airstone or hard plastic tubing into the airline
tubing, which widens the tubing, making a better seal against the
cap.

You need to support the upside-down milk jug, so you may want to
put it in a bowl. I use a small (6" diameter) glass bowl. The
bowl never holds water, it just supports the jug.

Fill the jug with your salt solution to 1" ABOVE the top of the milk
jug handle.

Turn your air on, and add your brine shrimp eggs to the main body of
the jug.

*************************************************************
* -----------> NOW THE MAGIC PART <------------ *
* (Don't forget to say "Abracadabra". *
* I used to say "Hocus Pocus", but it didn't work as well.) *
*************************************************************

After a day or so when the water evaporates, ALL THE SHELLS WILL
COLLECT IN THE MILK JUG HANDLE. This process is complete when the
water level in the jug drops below the top of the handle. The shells
will stay in the handle of the jug, no matter how low the water level
goes from shrimp extraction or evaporation. The little briney
critters will be swimming around in the large open area of the jug,
and you can simply extract them (yes, go ahead and use the flashlight
to attract them). Also, you can take the airline tubing off your
pump, and after a minute or two, all the critters will settle on the
bottom (or attract them there with the flashlight). If you don't have
an airstone, you can just use the airline tubing to siphon the critters
into another tank or rearing facility. Actually, you don't even need
to begin the siphon because the tubing is at the bottom of the jug
already and gravity feed will dump the critters into another tank for
you.

START THE CULTURE 12-24 HOURS LATER
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
|~~~~~~~~~~~|water level | |
| o _ | | _ |
| brine shrimp / | |\--------->|~~~~~~~~~~/ |~|
\ o eggs / / / \ brine shrimp / /o/
\ o / / / \ / /o/
\ | / / \ x | /o/<--\
\ o o - / \ x x -o/ \
\ / \ x x / brine shrimp
\__||__/ \__||__/ shells
|____| |____|
|| ||
|| ||
|| ||
\\ <--- airline tubing (to pump) -> \\


It's magic. It's incredible. It's cheap. It's the easiest I've
ever done, with the best success in hatching (although I'm going
to try some of the recent hatching posts to see if I still like
this one the best). Although your mileage may vary, it has worked
for me 100% of the time. Of course, I happen to have an Enchanted
Milk Jug that I re-use.

BTW, the rate of evaporation depends on your climate. Figure out
how long it takes to evaporate water in your area, and fill that
much water ABOVE the milk jug handle to time with the complete
hatching of all your eggs. I'm in a pretty arid climate (Colorado,
USA), so I can easily lose 1" overnight with aeration. I just
marked a spot on the jug that I fill to every time.

I wish I could say this idea was mine, but I read it in AFM several
years ago. It's a secret, though, so don't tell anyone. :-)
 
Last edited:
You need to get eggs from a good source. Being in a clear vial the UV rays can get in and actually decrease the hatch dramatically, the eggs also need to be stored in refrigeration, if they aren't the eggs go bad quickly.

If you want to see good results you need to buy the 90% hatch rate stuff, its more expensive but it works, water temp also effects the hatch time. 80ish will get you a hatch in about 24hrs. You also need to be sure the salinity of the water is high enough.
 
I bought one of the hatchery things from Petsmart it is black with a clear collection cup at the top. It has worked well for me (don't have any fry or anything to feed only used for treats so far). I can collect from it for 2-3 days. The bottom holds the saltwater and eggs and the top has fresh water in it that is clear and has a cap on it with a small hole. You fill the container put on the cap and turn it upside down onto the top of the hachery thing. Then a day later I can see brine shrimp swimming in the clear container. I just strain them off and use them. I of course also buy frozen so that way if I am not thinking far enough ahead I have an "instant meal" that can be defrosted.
 
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