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Rinsing BBS
I finally managed to keep 50 or so fry alive and they seem to be doing really great.
For the first time, I am hatching out BBS to feed them. How important is it to rinse the BBS before feeding? I don't have a net fine enough to rinse them in.
These past few days I've been catching the bbs with a turkey baster and squirting them directly in the nursery tank.
Anyone have problems with not rinsing BBS?
Thanks
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Re: Rinsing BBS
I don't bother rinsing the Brine Shrimp at all. I suck them out of my hatching container using a syringe and a piece of ridgid tube on the end connected with a small airline. Why everyone rinses them I have no idea. When someone has a sick Discus whats the first thing you do. Raise the temp and add salt. Dose anyone think that the little bit of salt from your Brine Shrimp Hatchery matters. Besides if you are doing water changes on the fry two or three times a day it doesn't build up anyway. Suck them out and feed them is what I do.
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Re: Rinsing BBS
Sort of depends on how many fry you have and how big your tank is.
If you want to rinse your bbs, just use a coffee filter. I just take a standard coffee filter, either a cone shaped one, or you can just fold a pleated coffee filter after flattening it out as you would filter paper to put in a funnel.
I use a pipette to harvest the bbs and put them in the filter. Then I just rinse the filter in tap water, then turn the filter inside out and put the bbs near the fry. You can rinse the filter, hang it up to dry, and use it again and again.
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I'm with George. Why rinse?
By the way, the best bbs filter/sieve is available from www.angelsplus.com.
Willie
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I don't rinse either, I use one of those re-useable plastic coffee filters, works pretty good and I just use bleach to sanitize my bs gear every few weeks and its lasted 3 years now I think.
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Try this one use a pair of panty hose. Yes panty hose just cut a piece out and tie of one end if needed. Drain your shrimp into it. Then you can rinse and feed if you want. Just like the coffee filter it can be used many times. And a pair of panty hose goes a long way. How do i know this works i used this method when i raised baby angels.
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Re: Rinsing BBS
I don't rinse either, but I do filter them through a coffee filter, then dump the thick paste into a rubbermaid sandwich container with fresh salt water and an airstone. I keep them in there until the next hatch. I hatch fresh bbs every 9 or 10 hours.
Barb
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I don't rinse or separate them from the salt water. The salt is insignificant especially with daily water changes.
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I only provide fresh salt water to cut down on the bacteria that is in the 'hatching' water.
Barb
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I de-cap, makes it easier to predict hatchout time, dont have to worry about shells or bacteria from shells.
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This is a great thread with lots of good tips. This should be archived in the library somewhere.
I'm sure there are lots of ways to hatch and harvest the bbs, as well.
I use small, white plastic wastebaskets. I put in 2 - 3 quarts of water and add the salt and the eggs (1-2 tbs per quart). I put in an airstone for circulation. Put the baskets on top of my warmed, aging water tank (on top of the lid) to keep the buckets warm in my cold basement.
To harvest, I put an led light shining into the side of the basket, near the bottom. Blow off the eggs on the bottom with a plastic pipette, and wait for the bbs to collect in the light beam on the side of the bucket near the bottom. I wait 10-20 minutes, then suck out nearly only bbs (no eggs) with a pipette, and put them in the coffee filter which is in a water glass, to hold it for me. I dump the salt water back into the brine shrimp waste basket, and put the air stone back in. Add a few more eggs. I find that a single basket will produce good yields of bbs for about a week, then I have to clean it out and start over. I always have two baskets going, so there is a constant supply of bbs.
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Get a net made for BBS harvest and no need to rinse. Makes it way easy. I will post some pics of my setup. Cheap,easy, and productive. Purchased these clear plastic containers at Wal Mart. Use the stand (easily made out of 1x6's) to hold 1 gal new brine mix, the pump, and plastic containers maintained at 45% angle on lower shelf, not to trap eggs on the bottom. Have mounted a spot light on the upper shelf for harvest. Place container on shelf with light on and most of the bbs attract to the light and are easily siphoned (ridgid tube with air line) thru the net on the lower shelf for feeding. I use a rubberband to hold the air supply lines in place on the lower shelf. If not used the lines won't stay in place at the bottom of the containers and circulation will suffer. The ridged tubes used for air supply to the containers will have to be rinsed daily to maintain air flow. Salt will crystalize will stop them up causing all air supply to cease. BBS will die without circulation. As for brine mix, use 1/2 cup rock salt (the cheap stuff for icecream making) and 1 tbs Epsom salt to one gallon of aged water ( I use RO but aged and dechlor will work fine). I add 1 tsp of eggs. Hope this helps!
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Missed the pic on the first try??LOL ,,,,