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diy brine shrimp hatchery


Wellydave

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hey guys had a quick search on here and couldnt find any sort of how to on making one of these so thought id show you in a few easy steps!

so things you will need

2x1.5ltr soft drinks bottles

1 air pump

1m air tubing

desk lamp or lamp of some sort

brine shrimp eggs

salt

water

step #1

take your two bottles and cut them as so

IMG_1386_zps9d2af1de.jpg

First bottle cut around the base of the bottle this will be your hatchery bottle with the second bottle cut about half way up this will be your hatchery holder

IMG_1387_zpsf74a8e1f.jpg

step #2

slot bottles together as shown

IMG_1388_zps3b8cbedf.jpg

step #3

install air pump and tubing into the hatchery

IMG_1389_zpsd01f189e.jpg

step #4

fill with 1 liter of water and add 1 tea spoon of brine shrimp eggs then leave for one hour with the air pump on to rehydrate the eggs

step #5

after 1 hour add 2 tablespoons of aquarium salt to the mixture and place lamp over the top (this is a picture of the other one i set up yesterday but forgot to take pics as i was duin it)

IMG_1385_zpsac921211.jpg

now leave for around 24 - 36 hours and boom! youve got brine shrimp now go feed them to you fish and watch them go crazy!!

any feedback to this like how you get the best hatch rates and tips or tricks you use would be great this is the first time ive set one up and thought people might like to see how it was done!

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...did you copy my patent ? :rotf: :rotf:

shrimps.jpg

haha nah i got the idea from the internet. after seeing the brine shrimp hatcherys and how much they were charging for them and how simple they actualy were i thought it cant be that hard to make so did a bit of research and found this video on youtube

so thought i would chuck something up here for everyone :thup: :thup:
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Mine were made from 1kg plastic Marmite or peanut butter jars...

brineshrimphatcher.jpg

All I had to do was drill a hole in the lid to fit the airline tube through and wrap some wire around the neck and then bend the other end so it hooked over the top of the aquarium. It sat inside the main tank so kept a nice temperature to hatch the brine shrimp. :thup:

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In my experience they need heat so I put a small element in there. They also need light to hatch and are atracted to the light so you can use it to seperate them from shells etc. Using straight hose with no diffuser is also the way to go as the bubbles only need to agitate rather than aerate. There are also differend sizes of brine shrimp nuplii that are useful when feeding particularly small fry. If you use the small ones (dearer) they can be fed to small fry like fighters from the get go.

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By hatching them in a container in the main tank you save the expense of another heater. The lid stops the salt water from getting into the main tank. When I want to use them, I remove the jar from the tank and sit it on the table with a lamp overhead then wait a few minutes for the stuff to settle and the naupli to head towards the light (makes it sound like they get a near death experience. I wonder if they see their long dead relatives?) Of course, when they are then sucked out with the turkey baster, it is an actual death experience :gigl:

To feed them out, I sit a clean hankie over the jar then squirt the naupli into the hankie so the water goes back into the jar. I then give them a quick rinse under the tap (although not sure if this is really necessary) and dip the hankie into the tank to feed.

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  • 8 months later...

what counts as a big hatchery?

I'm setting one up in a jug that takes about a litre and a half

is it actually harmful to use the stone if it's not needed? I find that without a thing on the end it's hard to manage the outflow of the other tubes connected to it. I don't have a multiple way gang valve but I probably need one.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Is there a time limit to how long you can keep the culture alive for, or how long to keep feeding to the fish?

I read on one site that you should throw them out every few days but I have so many shrimp that there are still millions left to feed.

Will they just keep growing in the brine? Do I have to feed them or what?

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