Brine Shrimp Hatchery Kits

[Clownfishman]

Anyone ever tried rearing these, I just got some and got it all set up and I am going to see how it goes.. I just used some freshwater and followed the directions

[Clownfishman]

Well anyone ever tried it..

[reefBoyDc]

Yep, I have. I had the one where you cut a coke bottle and screw it into the base and plug in the air pump. I put in the eggs, and got a bunch of brine shrimp a while later. I can't imagine anyone could mess it up. Remember Sea Monkeys? The craze a few years back? Brine Shrimp.

All you need is the right salinity and some light and you can be pretty sure they will hatch.

[Clownfishman]

Originally Posted by reefBoyDc

Yep, I have. I had the one where you cut a coke bottle and screw it into the base and plug in the air pump. I put in the eggs, and got a bunch of brine shrimp a while later. I can't imagine anyone could mess it up. Remember Sea Monkeys? The craze a few years back? Brine Shrimp.

All you need is the right salinity and some light and you can be pretty sure they will hatch.

Are they nutritous or just empty bodies... I just wanted to try feeding them to my clowns and stuff... it said add 1L of water I might have added a tad to much so I hope this doesn't matter... and I don't have them under light although they are in a room with regular room lighting... should I move them to the kitchen or something at night so they can get light all the time or what??

[shinbo]

Tried this. At first I was so excited about breeding my own fish food but quickly became unhappy. They do hatch quickly but they are so dam small. Feeding them to my fish would be like trying to drink water from the rain. Anyways, I will be doing this in the future again, just waiting to get the proper equipment and location since these guys require like 2-4 weeks to reach their adult form and water quality goes bad very quickly.

[reefBoyDc]

I did not have light all the time. Just ambient light. When it came time to harverst them, I moved them to intense lighting so they would move towards it and be easier to catch with a net.

I think you'll be fine with a bit too much or a bit too little water. Like I said, Sea Monkeys are not difficult to hatch.

As far as their nutritional value, I really can't say. I think I remember reading somehwere that the babies are more nutritious than the adults. not sure.

I just get frozen brine shrimp now though. The fish love it.

[Clownfishman]

Yeah I have frozen one's, im just gonna try these out so they can exercise and all, wonder if you put them in a tank and some survive if they will breed and all...

I have mysis now that i feed alot, they are more nutrituous than brine shrimp and are bigger, my Kaurdern's Cardinal eats them like there is no tomorrow, my clown goby has trouble eating them so I feed him some of the frozen brine and he gets what he can along with flake food... at the end of feeding he doesn't look happy with his efforts, but he must be getting his portions because he goes to sleep in the green sinularia every night..

[sally]

Adult brine shrimp have pretty much no nutritional value. Kinda like eating popcorn or potato chips. Actually my fish do like thelive baby brine shirmp. They are most nutritious right after hatch (about 24hours) if they still have some of their egg sac left. My fish, even the larger ones, will eat the live baby brine. I use it as a treat, not as a main food. Although I do decapsulate the brine shrimp and feed the BBS(hatched) to fish fry (banggai), but that is another thread.

[Mrs Smith]

I agree with Sally - a tasty snack, but not much nutrition.

They aren't hard to hatch, either. The coke-bottle method is basically what we've used in the past.

Danielle

[Clownfishman]

Thanks for all the replies mine are still aerating.... what about the 80 degree think I warmed up some distilled water and used that, but it will probably just drop to room temperature.... are they same size as the eggs when they initially hatch

[Clownfishman]

No brine shrimp yet, off course the water is room temperature and they don't recommend using a heater to keep it stable... maybe they will hatch in a bit..

[rayjay]

Adult brine shrimp have protein content in the same range as most other foods. What they lack is lipid content and that can be handled by gut loading with Selcon, Selco, or Super Selco.
As for hatching, that should start occurring within 8 hours, with full hatching within 24 to 36 hours.
Brine hatch in a very great range of salinity with the optimum being around 1.030 at a temperature of 30C.
Many have trouble with the hatching and it's usually not their fault. The cysts are many times no good because they haven't been stored properly.
IMO, the best cysts and best pricing to be had are from Brine Shrimp Direct.
For my page on raising brine shrimp see:
RAISING BRINE SHRIMP