Locally culturing pods or Rotifers > My Part II

[canit0]

Since am in the process of cooking whats left of my livestock in my 120 gal (JK) and that I did not want to take over the previous thread and I would like to learn and save money - driving to purchase fish food. I decided to begin my own brine-shrimp growing operation with the encouragement from people like armagedon48 (thanks man)

Ok, I have been using Phyto feast which I figured out something fishy is selling for like $1.99 per small baggie. (kinda ingenious but hey it got me!) They have it in a small 5 gallon breeder with a air hose.

So I purchase two of their small baggies and some brine-shrimp eggs. I read the instructions in addition to the advice from the previous thread.

I cut up a small plastic container on the top filled it with water from my tank, emptied the phyto-water from SF and deposited a teaspoon of eggs. Now, I also added phytofeast and when I did, then I realized this is much more simple than I thought it would be.

I put the container inside my sump to maintain water tempeture. However, am concerned that this plastic bottle is eventually going to release toxins in my water? I got the bottle from CUB FOODS RO/DI water station. Then I connected an air pump feeding air to the bottom where I put a small live rock - I took a picture but cant really see it through the phyto so not going to post it. Ok, if there are any suggestions please let me know. Am looking to a succesful harvest.

Fish soup~

Operation Center

Area 51

[canit0]

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[armagedon48]

thats the exact brine shrimp bottle i have. your idea of putting the brine shrimp growing container inside the tank to add heat is good, i have had poor growth in my brine shrimp due to cooler temps at night. i had that kind of iron stand for my 10 gal setup, it go SO rusty by the time i moved.

oh and your triggers, beautiful.

those fish are going to love you when they see you have live food for them!

that container will not release toxins, otherwise they wouldn't use it for RO water.
i would highly recommend you hatch your brine shrimp before adding them to the grow out container. all those hatched and un hatched cyst make a mess of things. any idea what species of phyto plankton you have in that bottle? it says 1-15 microns, this could mean there is a mixture of phyto.
ill have pictures of my operation uploaded tomorrow.

[armagedon48]

here is a pic of my phyto container. it just has heavy bubbling, and natural sunlight. i didnt want to waste money on lights.

[David Grigor]

I raise brine shrimp to feed baby bangaiis. To hatch brine shrimp you don't put the eggs in with the phyto. Wait until after they have hatched. I just place the 2liter bottle for hatching in my tank and/or sump so temperature is not an issue.

Also, it's alot less messy with the eggs if you decapsulate the eggs first. Decapped, take about 11-12 hours to hatch.

I don't raise them to adults just the first 24-48 hours and gut feed them with selco so can't help you raising to adulthood but hatching them is pretty easy once you have a routine down......

[canit0]

Originally Posted by David Grigor

I raise brine shrimp to feed baby bangaiis. To hatch brine shrimp you don't put the eggs in with the phyto. Wait until after they have hatched. I just place the 2liter bottle for hatching in my tank and/or sump so temperature is not an issue.

Also, it's alot less messy with the eggs if you decapsulate the eggs first. Decapped, take about 11-12 hours to hatch.

I don't raise them to adults just the first 24-48 hours and gut feed them with selco so can't help you raising to adulthood but hatching them is pretty easy once you have a routine down......

I have already hatched them and they're about a thousand of them floating around in the phyto. Since this is my first batch I guess am ok with the learning curve here and probably won't hatch'em in there again.

Also armagedon48 that bottle looks too green but I guess that is good. Thanks for the help, looking into the bottle with the bryne I dont really see the egg caps but I will have to change my method. Again thank you both!

[armagedon48]

the darker green it is the more cells per drop of water you have. my culture has been growing for 2 months at least, so its plenty dense. the culture looks darker than it really is because the sun just went down so it was dark.
for some reason i really like hatching brine shrimp, kinda fun. i have never tryed decaping the cyst. i seperate my hatched shrimp from eggs by putting the container next to a light so they all cram into the corner trying to go towards the light, then just suck them out. sometimes though it doesnt work, im not sure why.