Hatching brine shrimp???

[mench]

Ok what is everyone receip for hatching brine shrimp? I have a dual bottle hatchery,that uses the 1 liter plastic pop bottles that I cut the bottoms off.'What temp do ya set the heater at? how much brine shrimp eggs do ya put in and how much salt to ya add to the bottle? Also how long before the shrimp hatches and how long does a hatch last before ya have to throw it away?
 I have let the fry feed of the parents for about two weeks then I take frozen beefheart and use a razor blade and scrape it down the beefheart to get real small peices and the fry seem to take right to it.I thought the since I have a large hatch this time I would try the brine shrimp.
Any thoughts as to what to feed????

Mench

Hey Mench, congrats on the fry.
I use the same setup as you decribed.
I am not real accurate here, but it works for me.
First i take a coolwhip container and fill it maybe a third with salt. Then i add brine eggs until it gives the salt a nice brown hue. ( not much help is it) I also leave this container out until its empty then refill it. It is much easier than runing to the fridge to get eggs every day.
Then i take the hatching container(2 litre bottle) and fill it 3/4 full. Then i add 2 1/2 tbs of my mix. Turn on air and let it go. No heaters, just a light below the bottle and it hatches in around 24 hours.
Then start the next one. Each day i start and end a batch. The brine never gets old and smelly and i get great hatches.
I will take a pic to help describe what i do. Can you tell wich container is ready and which is new?


On the other food list for fry, i would have to add grindal worms. Fry can eat them as young as a week old, up until i get them on white and black worms.

Here is the grindal worm culture.
Again i do it a little diferent, but again, it works for me.
Take your culture and get it going good. Then i add a peice of glass on top of the culture. The handle is a shampoo lid siliconed on. ( im cheap too)
Then i add the food on top of the glass. Wet it down and wait for the worms to come to the food. Very clean way to get the worms.
I do add a little food under the glass and i wipe the glass off every time the food is gone or starts to mold. The glass looks like this after a night, so no worries, there is plenty to feed daily. I have fed of this twice today and look how many there still are. This is a great first food for fry.
HTH, Matt

[cobalt]

Yo Mench.
i just built a small salt water tank with live rock and a weak protein skimmer and I keep adult's for as long as needed.
You will B surprised at what young age the fry will go after artemia.
If you need additional info about brine try lookin with google.com for the institute of artemia in Ghent belgum.
tons of info about the artemia spp.
Cobalt

[Ardan]

Nice explanation and pics to go with it Matt!! 8)

Ardan :sunshine:

[Kevin]

Well the setups you guys use sound good. I use the gatoraid bottle, bottom cut out and a 2 gallon tank with a small heater to around eighty degrees. I use sea salt for salt tanks, seems like a good deal. The salinity is at 1.022 on the sea test kit. Use about a tablespoon of eggs, let them stew for thirtysix hours. I add some bird vitamines after the first twenty four hours. Get really good results that way. Used to use kosher salt and the two liter bottle but things change. Let me know if this works for you. I am lucky that my wife had that salt tank till she got tired of buying fish, plenty of salt left over, also her birds are easy pickens for the vitamines. By the way I also mix this salt by the five gallon bucket. Easy to get the right numbers and less hassle than mixing every day. K.