My Brine Shrimp Hatchery

[gaf7808]

Thought I would share a very simple but efective hatchery that came to mind one day.

http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae31/gaf7808/DSC03285-1.jpg

Materials: One times tooth eating Coca Cola bottle
A drill bit
Flexible airline
Rigid airline (Optional)
Super glue
Plaster of paris or poly filler or rhino-lite
A six pack of beer

1: Cut the bottom off the Coke bottle, make sure it is evenly cut and turn the base over and cut a hole the same size of the threaded section of the bottle into it (I used a small hole saw with a hand drill) If the neck of the bottle fits into it - reward yourself with a beer!!!

2: Super glue the base to the neck of the bottle.

3: Drill a hole in the bottle cap the size of the rigid airline, glue a piece of rigid airline into the cap (Approx 15mm in length and make sure it will not leak at all!!!)

4: Now drill a hole into the base and connect a piece of flexible airline to the nipple you have made on the bottom of the bottle cap.

5: Double check that there are no leaks at all - I did this by placing the bottle upright, crimping the end of my flexible hose over by heating it up with a lighter and filling it up with water. If there are no leaks - reward yourself with a beer!!!

6: Another beer for luck!!!

7: Now turn the bottle over so the that the base is facing upwards. Mix the plaster of paris or similiar and pour it into the base - making sure it is level.

8: Fetch yourself another beer as this is hard work waiting for it to dry.

9: If there are no leaks and it is level, you can put water, salt and brine shrimp eggs in, turn on the airpump, reward yourself again and go do something constructive for the day!

[Zoom]

That's an awesome set up. Very impressed. I would have one small problem... by the time I get to the 3rd beer I would have lost all concentration on the current project, would have lost my temper with the glue that is messed all over me, and just chucked it in. My suggestion would be to reward yourself with the 6 beers in one go AFTER it works!! LOL

Just out of curiosity... does cultivating BS require you to keep the water heated?

[gaf7808]

This is a summertime project! Have a much better plan for winter.... PS Summer SA 30 C.

[shaunlventer]

Flippen neat idea...in durbz we hatch all year round no heating..feed them on yeast they grow nice and fast for the bigger fish...also think most projects tackled should have beer added to requirements for the project lol good one..

[gaf7808]

Thanks guys. BTW I thought of the base filled with something solid like plaster of paris cos the thing would be unstable and flimsy with the weight of the the water once filled, going to build another one today but this time ill set a one way valve inside the base so that it does not leak once disconnected for cleaning and incorporate another tube with a small air valve on it for harvesting the brine shrimp as I have noticed the hatchlings tend to settle to the bottom when the air is turned off.

[Gaawie]

I'm a total noob when it comes to Brine Shrimp, but I'd like to try. Do they need salty water? And how do you harvest them...?

[gaf7808]

They do need salty water Gaawie. Same salinity as sea water or just a bit more, so as you in CT take a trip to the beach. There are a few ways to harvest them, I turn the air off, put a torch at the bottom of the hatchery to attract the babies to the light. I then use a syringe with airline connected to the end to suck up the little ones. Then filter the the BS through a piece of stocking to get rid of salt water and feed directly to your fry or feed them on brewers yheast to raise them up for bigger fish.

[Gaawie]

OK great, thanks. I could just use a desklampfocussed right on top of it for heat. Would that work?

Is direct sunlight a bad thing...?

[gaf7808]

That will work great, the warmer - the faster they hatch! Just check the temp of the water, they handle up to about 30 deg C and hatch in about 24 to 36 to 48 hrs. There is a way to hatch quicker, it involves raising the PH and decapsulation the eggs. I can explain when im back at the pc this afternoon. Let me know! I need to get off for a little while cos I just been accused of being online with all my fishy
boy-girlfriends! WTF LOL OMG!!!

[gaf7808]

Ok, back and managed to spend quality time with missus so now I can get back to fishy business.

[shakester]

if you want to see an easy almost exactly the same setup watch a video setup by people on youtube .i did and its SIMPLE and cheap