Len
03-17-2013, 07:14 PM
The items you will need to decapsulate brine shrimp eggs are:
bleach (Chlorox/Javex or whatever non-scented bleach you have)
vinegar (to neutralize the bleach later)
Plastic coffee filter
A regular cereal bowl
2L soda bottle or whater you hatch normal bbs with already (with air line amd pump)
brine shrimp eggs
Table salt
Deacpsulating the eggs
Fill a brine shrimp hatchery with about one litre of tap water and add the amount of shrimp eggs you want to decapsulate. I use a few table spoons but you can use more or less depending on your needs. Next add your air line and let the eggs churn for about 15 mins just as you would if you were hatching them minus the salt. This is just to rehydrate the eggs. pour in a cup or so of bleach and let it keep going watching the colour. The colour will turn first an ashy grey, then will turn orange. Once the eggs are mostly orange turn off the air and pour the solution through the plastic coffee filter to strain them. Give them a decent rinse under running water, and then place the coffe filter with eggs in it in your cereal bowl. Pour vinegar on the eggs until they are covered and let them soak for a few minutes stirring them around with your finger. take the coffee filter out of the bowl and discard the vinegar. Run the filter and eggs under running water again rinsing away all of the vinegar and that's it -- They are decapsulated
Storing the eggs
You will need to store the eggs in the refridgerator in a saturated salt water solution to keep them dehydtared. To do this just add enough ordinary table salt to water until no more salt will dissolve. It doesn't matter if you end up with some salt sitting on the bottom.
Hatching the eggs
To hatch the decapsulated eggs as you need them, just rinse the salt water from them using the plastic coffee filter and hatch them as you would normal eggs. I use about 2 Tablespoons of odinary table salt per 1L water and about 1/2 teaspoon of eggs. It will take them 12 -16 hours hatch, and then you can feed them as per normal. There will be no shells to worry about so you can just pour them through the strainer, rinse and then give them to your fish. Any unhatched eggs can also be eaten.
As a side note, decapsulated eggs can be fed to the fish without hatching them first if your fish will eat them.
bleach (Chlorox/Javex or whatever non-scented bleach you have)
vinegar (to neutralize the bleach later)
Plastic coffee filter
A regular cereal bowl
2L soda bottle or whater you hatch normal bbs with already (with air line amd pump)
brine shrimp eggs
Table salt
Deacpsulating the eggs
Fill a brine shrimp hatchery with about one litre of tap water and add the amount of shrimp eggs you want to decapsulate. I use a few table spoons but you can use more or less depending on your needs. Next add your air line and let the eggs churn for about 15 mins just as you would if you were hatching them minus the salt. This is just to rehydrate the eggs. pour in a cup or so of bleach and let it keep going watching the colour. The colour will turn first an ashy grey, then will turn orange. Once the eggs are mostly orange turn off the air and pour the solution through the plastic coffee filter to strain them. Give them a decent rinse under running water, and then place the coffe filter with eggs in it in your cereal bowl. Pour vinegar on the eggs until they are covered and let them soak for a few minutes stirring them around with your finger. take the coffee filter out of the bowl and discard the vinegar. Run the filter and eggs under running water again rinsing away all of the vinegar and that's it -- They are decapsulated
Storing the eggs
You will need to store the eggs in the refridgerator in a saturated salt water solution to keep them dehydtared. To do this just add enough ordinary table salt to water until no more salt will dissolve. It doesn't matter if you end up with some salt sitting on the bottom.
Hatching the eggs
To hatch the decapsulated eggs as you need them, just rinse the salt water from them using the plastic coffee filter and hatch them as you would normal eggs. I use about 2 Tablespoons of odinary table salt per 1L water and about 1/2 teaspoon of eggs. It will take them 12 -16 hours hatch, and then you can feed them as per normal. There will be no shells to worry about so you can just pour them through the strainer, rinse and then give them to your fish. Any unhatched eggs can also be eaten.
As a side note, decapsulated eggs can be fed to the fish without hatching them first if your fish will eat them.