How to Hatch And Harvest Brine Shrimp

Newly hatched brine shrimp are a wonderful addition to the diets of the fish and invertebrates in your fresh or salt water aquariums. They are not hard to hatch and harvest at home, but before you invest in a hatchery try this easy method and see if you like working with the brine shrimp. Brine shrimp are native to the salt lakes and lagoons in the Western United States. These waters change water levels seasonally and the cysts from the brine shrimp dry up and wait for high water to come back. These dried up cysts are what you buy when you buy brine shrimp eggs. Then you hatch them at home, separate the shells from the brine shrimp and feed the tiny brine shrimp to your fish....

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• a tall narrow clear glass or plastic container.
• synthetic sea salt for aquariums
• distilled water
• brine shrimp eggs
• a small low powered air pump with tubing.
• an airstone
• a tank heater (optional)
• a tank thermometer (optional)
• A turkey baster
• a few feet of air tubing for aquariums
• dark paper to wrap around your container
• tape to hold the paper in place
• a flashlight
• a fine mesh brine shrimp net

1. Mix the salt water for your container according to the directions that came with your salt.
2. plug in your air pump
3. attach tubing to the outlet valve
4. attach the airstone to the end of the tubing
5. submerge the airstone at the bottom of the water in your container
6. you should see lots of little bubbles coming up through the water
7. measure the amount of brine shrimp eggs according to the directions that came with your eggs for the volume of water in your container
8. the eggs should bounce around in the water as the water is agitated by the bubbles from the airstone
9. install your tank heater if you are using one. set it for 75 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit for optimum hatch rate.
10. install your tank thermometer.
11. monitor temperature for a couple of hours
12. wrap the dark paper around the container
13. tape the paper in place
14. your shrimp will hatch in 24 to 48 hrs.
15. now it is time to separate the inedible shells and to harvest the brine shrimp. To do this will we take advantage of the natural behavior of the shrimp... they swim to the light, and of the shells which float.
16. remove the airstone and tubing from the tank and turn off the air pump.
17. wait 15 minutes for the water to quiet and the shells to float.
18. slip the dark paper sleeve up the container until about 2 inches are exposed to the light at the bottom of the container.
19. shade the top of the tank from the lights in the room or turn the lights down very low
20. turn on the flashlight and lay it down so it shines into the exposed area at the bottom of the container
21. wait 15 minutes
22. the live brine shrimp will have gathered in the light from the flashlight. They will look pink.
23. squeeze the air from the turkey baster and lower the tip of it into the mass of brine shrimp.
24. release the bulb of the turkey baster and suck the brine shrimp up into the baster
25. remove the loaded turkey baster from the water.... carefully
26. squeeze the turkey baster of brine shrimp into the brine shrimp net.
27. Rinse the brine shrimp with fresh water before introducing them into your tank. This will assure that no parasites that might have hatched out with them will contaminate your tank of fish and invertebrates.
28. .

Tips & Warnings

• the brine shrimp will continue to grow into sizeable treats if you feed them. You will have to get brine shrimp food, or make green water if you with to feed them and keep them for more than a few days
• you will have to keep several containers going started a few days apart if you wish to have a continuous supply of brine shrimp for your aquariums.
• brine shrimp are sold to children as Sea Monkeys