Hobby Artemia Brine Shrimp Hatchery...MUST HAVE!!

Wow so impressed I just had to post a thread!

Just mixed 3 teaspoons of Iodated coarse salt with about half a liter of water, added the water to the dish, added the eggs and 21 hours later I found thousands of baby brine shrimp in the center sleve.

Easy to make and harvest. Amazing! DIY brine shrimp hatchery be gone! arty:

 

Heehe

This is the easy way of getting it but isnt the cost of this unit like R450?
I do how ever use the 2l coke bottle DIY setup - I get good rates(80-90%) but
maybe will even give this try if you have better rates of hatch.
the reason this one would be better is the sleave issue, its the only place where light will penatrate.
and the all bunch up wheres theres light.

 

Yup about R450 with shipping. Definitely worth it though. I have previously used two other methods of brine shrimp hatching and never got such good results as quick and easy as this one.

In the long run I'd say a cheaper option...no light, no pump. And I used to struggle to find the perfect combination of all the elements required in those setups.

I also found that they only stop hatching after about a week; and if you leave the dish for another week, you will find bigger shrimp swimming around

 

So where do you buy this?

 

isn't it non iodated salt?

 

So, where is our local DIY engineers? How long to come up with a way to build one?

The 2nd pic shows the eggs in the outer rim? How much eggs did you put in? How do they get through the rims to the center where the light is?

If you put in 5ml eggs, like with the coke bottle DIY hatchery, and have such a good harvest in 21 hours, how can there be eggs left that keeps on hatching till a week later. Or are you not harvesting often? Only once and then a week later again?

 

Guys, guys, guys,

I imported this very device about 5 years ago and sat on the stock for about 2 years before Gert Combrink bought it. You can do just as well, by using a large open bakkie with a shallow layer of water and adding the eggs, sorry for saying this Jenn. But the crucial thing is the quality of the eggs and most of those sold in SA are dead, I mean not capable of hatching properly. Jenn you can now carry on with this setup until you get to having to use local bs eggs again and you will be back to square one, nothing will hatch.

BBQ, the percentage hatch is determined by the quality of the eggs that you buy. In SA in general wholesalers could not give a damn about which quality eggs they buy or they sell it is all about price. Well, rubbish in, rubbish out, so the low quality eggs that wholesalers buy result in poor hatches and if these eggs sit on a shelf for a few months the hatch rate is close to zero.

I have for years now imported decent bs eggs and these hatch with your method Jenn or in the Coke Bottle method which I use. What is absolutely critical though is how much salt you use. If the eggs are good quality they will hatch if the salt percentage if correct. I always say that bseggs are so expensive that you can just go a little further and buy a hygrometer which all the marine guys use, it is not so expensive and you buy this once. A hygrometer looks like a thermometer but it floats in the water, the more salt the higher it floats and then you line up the water level with the part sticking out and read off the density = specific gravity = salt content. I do this on a daily basis and add salt to a density of 1.020 and add eggs and they hatch each time, Bob's your Uncle. I even reuse the salt water as I have a green algae growing in it which feeds the bs for a short while.

So if you want bseggs that hatch, drop me a PM, that is the most crucial thing. I sell 100g amounts or full tins at prices which are not unreasonable.

Mattie, the iodated salt thing is overrated, they hatch just as well in iodated salt water as they do in coarse non-iodated salt water. This is again a trick used by the local LFS to try to explain why their poor quality bseggs won't hatch. This is part of the continued ripoff that local fishkeepers are exposed to which completely get my back up.

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

There are 2 diys for this posted a few months back.

I had to feed 200 baby angels and needed to feed them at least 4 times a day. So 3x the old coke bottle method it was to get the constant supply.

The eggs I got from Prof and when I got the salt mix right a could feed 200 angels for almost 2 days on a good teaspoon of eggs. I would guess about 7ml of eggs, maybe less.

This device is extremely convenient but was a bit pricy for me. If you have the cash go for it.

 

[Removed: Double post]

 

If salt and water is all that is needed...why all the fuss about airstones and heat and epson salt etc on DIY brine shrimp hatchery forums. Is this then what is necessary to hatch the LFS low grade eggs?

 

Thanks for coming in here Gerhard,

What is the cost of a cheap hygrometer now? Every time I use mine it actually pays itself more so it becomes cheaper!

Gerhard, you will agree that if you are feeding say angels and you have one day on which the bseggs don't hatch will mean that you will have losses right? So getting the salt mixture right actually not only has to do with the cost of the eggs but also with the potential losses you could make if your eggs do not hatch, so this gets into a cost spiral.

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

i have found great success in using sea water for hatching BS ,i find it ideal,but obviously if you dont drive past the beach every day this could be inconvenient.

 

No Jenn,

None of those treatments will hatch low quality LFS eggs those are dead and will not stand up from the dead, RIP.

What happens in the container that you are using is that you have a large surface to volume ratio and this will mean that enough oxygen will be dissolved in the water without aeration. If you want to use larger amounts of eggs in a Coke bottle that does not have the surface area then you need aeration, but I have never used heaters in SA that is unnecessary and where does the Epsom salts story come from, never used it and never had a problem hatching my bseggs, another internet rumor.....

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

Hi Murray,

your sea water is excellent, but check the salinity of that sea water with a hygrometer and adjust the water with tapwater and you will have an even better hatch.

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

I also used the coke bottle method. Two hatcheries, everyday using the one and the next day the other. Did as Dirk says with the Hydrometer, but also added in some koeksoda and engelse sout. Specific gravity 1.021. I use the Ocean Nutrition tin of eggs. While it is giving a good hatch, I feel it could be better. The koeksoda is to ensure a pH of 8 and the engelse sout I have no idea what it does. I use normal PnP table salt, which is iodated. Apparently it is law in SA, according to the No Name Raymond Ackerman packaging, that all salt destined for human consumption in SA must be iodated, because of a lack of it in the poor's diet. I futher keep the coke bottles in my biltong maker, it has a light and a fan. The fan worked well in making sure the heat generated by the globe does not go to high. Suppose it is not very energy efficient! So this pan thing looks attractive.

 

Hi Oom TomK,

Koeksoda is baking powder which you can use, but if you use fresh coarse salt this is not necessary. Yes, it is law to iodate table salt but go to Oom Raymond's shop and check where they sell dishwasher salt, dirt cheap and no iodine. Engelse sout is Epsom salt and as I mentioned, I do not think it is necessary. If you set your water to that hygrometer measurement, then that is good as the hatch from those eggs will go. If you think it could be better then the eggs that you have are not good any more or their percentage hatch rate was not high in the first place. If you put your hatchery in good light near a window, mine are on a windowsill, then that is perfectly ok and you do not need a globe or a fan. You can also hang a Coke bottle directly into an aquarium and attach it with a clothes peg or two and then the light of the aquarium gives enough light.

Tom when you use up those eggs please contact me and I will supply you with some high quality eggs.

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

Razer2007, bought mine at Brine Shrimp Direct

 

OK, a correction is required here.

AquaS PMed me and indicated quite correctly that I should refer to a hyDrometer and not a hyGrometer. A hyGrometer measures air moisture and not water salinity so sorry for the confusion and thanks for indicating this AquaS.

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

Thanks Dirk, will do. I know all those names for koeksoda and engelse sout, just feeling anti english tonight.

I got the Epsom salt recipe from this book. And btw, it is not baking powder. Baking powder has flour in it. Koeksoda is bi-carbonate of Soda. haha, got you!

 

No I got you Tom,

I was just checking on your anti-English skills....