By Nyon Steede, BFAS
So, you have newly free-swimming fry and want to try your hand at hatching
your own brine shrimp. Are you an aquarist that likes to make or alter your
equipment? Well, this will be a fun undertaking for you. If you are not a handy-person,
you can still handle this project. As you may or may not know, newly hatched
brine shrimp is much more nutritious than adult brine shrimp. You may have heard
stories about how easy it is to set up a brine shrimp hatchery and to tell you
the truth it is easier than that. If you follow these simple set up instructions,
you will undoubtedly be successful.
First of all, there is the essential (and relatively inexpensive) equipment
that you will need such as: an air pump, air pump tubing (hose), an airline
check valve, an airline T-valve, a small tube of silicone, a two-liter soda
bottle (pop or mineral bottle if you are over 50), a large metal water bottle
holder (used to hang rabbit water bottles on the cages), plumber's threading
tape, and a 45° - 3 inch long glass tube about the width of your air tubing
(not necessarily essential).
Step 1
Cut the bottom off the (empty) two-liter soda bottle and make a hole
in the bottle cap the size of the glass tube or air tubing.
Step 2
Insert the glass tube into the hole on the top of cap making sure that a few
centimeters of the glass tube is protruding through (if you do not have the
glass tube use the air tubing).
Step 3
Silicone the end of the glass tube to the bottom of the cap (make sure that
the hole of the glass tube is unobstructed), and silicone the
top of the cap around the glass tube.
Step 4
Attach a small piece of air tubing to the glass tube and insert the airline
T- valve into the other end of the air tubing (if you are using the glass tubing,
silicone it to the air tubing). * Allow the silicone time to dry.
Step 5
Attach another small piece of air tubing to the other end of the T-valve and
insert the airline check valve (making sure it is not on backward) into the
other end of the air tubing.
Step 6
Use the plumber's threading tape around the threads of the soda bottle to prevent
leaks and screw on the cap.
Step 7
Insert the soda bottle into the water bottle holder and hang it on the outside
of your tank.
Step 8 Attach the air tubing from the check valve to the air
pump.
Now that you have assembled your brine shrimp hatchery, there are a few things
that you need to know to get started hatching brine shrimp. Fill the hatchery
with 4-1/2 cups of water, plug in the air pump, and let two tablespoons of aquarium
salt dissolve in the water. Try to keep your water in the low 80's (80-83 degrees).
When you have the water at the desired temperature, add the brine shrimp eggs.
You may (on your first batch) add too many eggs. Depending on the amount of
fry you are feeding, you need to calculate the amount of eggs to add. Just to
give you an idea of how much to add, I added 1/4 of a teaspoon of eggs to feed
200 fry. At the stated temperature, the eggs hatched in about 30 hours and I
had enough baby brine shrimp to allow me to give three healthy feedings a day
to my 200 fry. It is important to refrigerate the unused portion of the brine
shrimp eggs to keep them from going bad.
In order to harvest the newly hatched brine shrimp, simply cut off the air to
the hatchery by closing (turning) the T-valve and disconnect the air tubing
at the point indicated in the diagram. Wait for approximately 20 minutes to
allow the brine shrimp to settle to the bottom of the hatchery (the eggshells
will float to the top). If you used the glass tubing, you will see the brine
shrimp collecting inside. After the allotted time has elapsed, slowly turn the
T-valve open and let the brine shrimp drip into a small, shallow container (preferably
clear glass or a white dish to allow you to see the amount of brine shrimp).
When you have the desired amount close the T-valve, reconnect the air tubing
and then turn the T-valve open. Congratulations, you have hatched your first
batch of baby brine shrimp. I use a plastic pipette to feed the brine shrimp
to the fry.
I recommend that you construct two hatcheries so that when you have fed all
of the brine shrimp in one hatchery you have the second one with brine shrimp
just starting to hatch. If you do not wish to undertake the construction of
another hatchery or you do not wish to construct the one, you can use a clear
glass cookie jar and use an air pump and an air-stone. You will have the same
result when you remove the air-stone, the brine shrimp will settle on the bottom
and the eggshells will float to the top. I opted for the cookie jar instead
of the second hatchery, but I found it a bit more difficult to extract the brine
shrimp. After the third time of hatching brine shrimp in the cookie jar, I figured
out that all I had to do was pour the contents of the cookie jar into the hatchery
after I had finished feeding from the hatchery and had cleaned it out. I started
all new batches in the cookie jar.
If you have followed the directions carefully, you will have success every time
you hatch brine shrimp eggs. If for some reason the eggs do not hatch, enquire
about the age of the brine shrimp eggs (they might be bad). Brine shrimp eggs
have remarkable longevity. The eggs I received spent a year in someone's freezer
and another year in someone else's fridge before I got them. So have fun hatching
the eggs. You might find hatching your first batch of brine shrimp just as exciting
as your fry hatching.