Diy Brine Shrimp

[BigbruiserAl]

After a few post about brine shrimp i thought i would do a quick how to to help out. There are many way to do it this is what works for me so hope it helps you.

you will need.

Empty 2 lr bottle.
Air line
Air pump.
Tea spoon
Brine shrmp eggs
Cooking/Sea salt

Do not use a air stone with brine shrimp just open air end. For best results use half a tea spoon on eggs for this volume

1st a normal 2 lr bottle of pop rinsed out and air dryed. Cut the bottome off this will allow us to use it as a base.

Place the top of the bottle (screw cap end) into the base we just cut.

Now add the airline making sure the end sits in the small space at the screw top end

Now fill with water, i use tap water with no prime added to about and inch from the top of the bottle. I add 1 and half tea spoons of cooking salt and turn the air pump on. I added a heat source to keep the temp at 25-28c this will give you live brine shrimp in 18 hours or so. You do not need to do this but without the eggs will take 24-36 hrs to hatch.

After 18 hours you can see that there is a orange colour at the bottom and of the bottle this is the shrimp. When ready to harvest turn the air pump and light off and leave for 10 min. the egg shells will float to the top and you will see the orange shrimp collect right at the very bottom. I just use a turkey baster to suck them up and feed direct to my fry/fish.

Hope it gives you some ideas

 

[da7thson]

Great post, really gives me some ideas.

Might be a dumb question, but do you have to do anything different if you wanted to feed this to an established aquairum as i wouldn't want the salt out of the water getting into my tank (or is it that small that it doesn't matter)?

Cheers

Andy

 

[CrazyAirborne]

you can buy special "brine shrimp nets" so you can rinse off the shrimp before feeding them, but i found it to be a hassle, so i fed them directly, and i never had a problem raising 100+ fry.

 

[Tizer]

your going to be doing loads of water changes on a fry tank anyway so a little salt will soon vanish.

 

[mike455555]

what about if you dident want to buy eggs again how can you keep the population of shrimp up? like how do u breed them?

 

[FishNChimps]

Excellent post, and very helpful with the pics. I'd like to try this, but have no place indoors where I could leave a brine shrimp bottle. Would they still survive if this process (without artificial heat or light) were carried out outside?

 

[mike455555]

i think they would but would just have a slower life cycle so they'd hatch after 30 hours instead of 18 ?

im doing an experiment in bio on the effect of temp on bring shrimp hatching i'll post the results after its done. we'v got them at 5C 20C 30C and 35C i think and maybe 1 at room temp i'll have to check

 

[BigbruiserAl]

Great post, really gives me some ideas.

Might be a dumb question, but do you have to do anything different if you wanted to feed this to an established aquairum as i wouldn't want the salt out of the water getting into my tank (or is it that small that it doesn't matter)?

Cheers

Andy

As they said mate it will dilute on a big tank your only going to pull 50 or ml not the whole thing

what about if you dident want to buy eggs again how can you keep the population of shrimp up? like how do u breed them?

They will live in bottle for about 2-3 days after this time there is little point keeping them as there Nourishable value is so low. Best to just start another culture as you would have to gut load brine shrimp after there 2-3 days and is soooo much more hassle.

Also they wont surive outside in the uk, i did do it once and they didt make past the 1st night, room temp indoors at min 18c+ plus should be fine for a 36hrs hatch maybe less

 

[mike455555]

i nicked afew eggs from bio i have about 100 id prefer not to go out and buy some more so if there is a way to breed them? if there nourishment value drop's i can keep them as breeders and feed there off spring to the fish?

 

[Tizer]

brine shrimp eggs are cheap as chips, stop being tight

 

[mike455555]

the packet i saw were £15 im a student lol i could save up but id peffer todo it a cheap way ;p

 

[Tizer]

£3 for 20 grams is not expensive, just have one less pint on a night out its also far less hastle free and cheaper in the long run as you spend far far less time messing around

 

[mike455555]

true i guess =]

 

[BigbruiserAl]

brine shrimp eggs are cheap as chips, stop being tight

Agree by the time you paid the lecci and food to gut load the parents/offsping you can buy a a bag eggs that will last months

 

[BigbruiserAl]

Forgot to add brine shrimp like a high ph 8/9 so if you suffer like me with tap water at 6.5 i add a pinch of bi carb to boost ph