Hatching Brine Shrimp Eggs in Display Tank?

[AnotherGoldenTeapot]

I've added them directly to the tank before. No problem with them hatching.

I used the one with no shells.

 

[JennM]

First question is why you would want to hatch BBS in a tank that is cycling....odds are if there's ammonia the nauplii won't live long.

I hatch brine for baby seahorses. I have a hatchery I bought online made by San Francisco Bay Brand that uses a soda bottle and an air pump.

I decapsulate (remove the hard outer shell) chemically first, but it's not necessary. Hatch the eggs in a hatcher, enrich the nauplii with Selcon or Zoecon and feed to your fish and/or corals.....OR you can grow them out to adulthood.

There's a great article on brine here: The Complete Guide to Artemia

HTH

Jenn

 

[amphiprion]

Hi,
Not sure how ignorant I'm being by asking this question, but I have some brine shrimp eggs that I got from somebody (not even sure if the eggs are still good). Anyway, I am cycling my 37 gallon and just added 3 Blue/Yellow Tail Damsel today. I have like 4 powerhead creating a lot of flow. Can I just put the brine shrimp egg in the aqaurium? Do you think they will hatch? Or should I do it in a different container (what's the process? Any URL?)

Thanks..

 

[HARRISON]

Thanks for the link Jenn...I have had some questions about this too. I like to watch my barnicle blenny zip out and take the brine shrimp...I am glad you asked Amph...

 

[Anonymous]

I heard that it's not good for them to eat too many of the capsules (shells). Hatching is so easy - I use a 2 liter bottle with an air hose - no air stone - in it. I put a little (quarter to one half teaspoon is still too much for my 4 chromis) bit of the eggs in and the next day, I siphon them out from the bottom into another container. I use a turkey baster to feed them to the fish.

Dropping them into your tank doesn't sound like a good idea. You might lose some to the skimmer or any other filter you have hooked up, I don't know what your UV light will do to them (if anything) and you will never know if they hatched and your fish are actually eating them, which will lead to over feeding if they are.

 

[Anonymous]

No, it will not lead to the over feeding. You cannot over feed your fish. The problem is when uneaten food sits and breaks down the tank. This cannot happen with live food however, so it's not a problem.
Jim

 

[Anonymous]

But the brine shrimp don't survive.

 

[danmhippo]

Or should say, brine shrimps don't survive long enough before being actually consumed. Most likely, it will be sucked into a protein skimmer, picked up by a mechanical filter, or simply starved to death before it lived out its usefulness.

BTW, shells of artemia could create blockage in fish's intestines, especially for the smaller fishes.

[ October 02, 2001: Message edited by: danmhippo ]

 

[Anonymous]

Phew - thank's hippo, thought I was on my own here. Should have known you'd have my back though

 

[danmhippo]

Interesting, Never seen people doing experiments like that, or should say, never seen reports on feeding exclusively with artemia cysts. I remembered various author making claims about it, but I never had the guts to try and create a experiment to test out the hypothesis.

Thanks for your update and clearing that up!

 

[JennM]

I decapsulate my cysts. Whether or not they damage the fish, the resulting Nauplii are more nutritious from decapped eggs because they don't have to work as hard to hatch.

I rehydrate them by bubbling them in plain water for 2 hours with airline hose, then I decap with bleach in the water until they turn orange, then I add dechlorinator, rinse them in a brine net and store in plain water in the fridge for up to a month.

No shells...no mess, no worries.

Jenn

 

[bashcraft]

danmhippo wrote:

"BTW, shells of artemia could create blockage in fish's intestines, especially for the smaller fishes."

This is not true. Read this article by Steve Rybicki, a well known freshwater angelfish breeder. http://www.angelsplus.com/artemiashell.htm

Bob