Photo: Brine shrimp hatching and harvesting tutorial

Wow! I've been tempted to think about raising axie eggs in the far future, but always shied away from the idea because I had no idea how to do the BS. However this looks easy peasy!
Thanks for the pics! For me, I tend to know i'm following a tutorial right when what i've done looks like the pics.

My main questions now are, how much BS should you feed per larvae, and how do you take the babies out to clean their tubs?
 
Hi I just wanted to share my experience with my first hatch. (before I read this)
Great explanation of the procedure Racheal!!

I used a 1.25 litre bottle cut off the bottom.
Put hole in lid and screwed in reticulation fitting, the type you use for black hose and sprinkler extenders and attached air hose to this.
I used a vase to hold bottle upright.

To get the shrimp out I take off the hose and use my finger as a stopper :cool:

For the sieve I used a piece of white satin material over a pint glass, secured with an elastic band.
Easy to rinse and re-use.

I also used sea water and 1/4 teaspoon of cooking salt and got a great hatch rate but I only added a pinch of eggs for my first hatch.
 
I have used this tutorial to start raising my first larvae many months ago. I'm now on my third batch of larvae and I find bbs to be easy to raise.

I've noticed that no-one seems to be mentioning how long they keep the culture for?

I only have a small handful of larvae that don't eat much per sitting. I set up my hatchery (according to this tutorial) so that it sits inside my small temperature controlled shrimp tank and the hatchery keeps for about a week so long as I don't overstock it with shrimp. If I use a lot of eggs to start with, the culture lasts about 2 days. If I use less the bbs live for much longer. Every time the babies need a meal I just switch off the air pump, let them settle and suck some out. When I'm done I just start up the hose again and do the same for the next meal.

After 5 to 7 days there are few bbs left and they are weak so I just start the culture over again. Thanks to this tutorial I have a constant supply of food for my little ones until they switch to whiteworm/bloodworm.

Thanks so much, you've made my life so much easier!
 
Nice one :) This article is great, really easy to read and the inclusion of photos has made it seem alot clearer in my head!

I'm expecting some eggs this weekend, my LFS is really good in regards to live food week round, but will try this to make sure I always have some food.

Thanks
 
You're in WAGGA??? I'm in TUMUT!!!! Small world! I'm having all sorts of problems with my babies - would love to pick your brain lol!
 
Thank you a million for this easy tutorial, my first axie eggs are hatched and have bellies full of brine shrimp, they're are approx 50 at around 9 days old. My only querrie is when I capture the baby brine I seem to collect about 20% egg shell/ unhatched eggs, are there any suggestions for separating them? I've only needed to hatch a teaspoon at a time up til now... Mummy is a golden albino named sparkles and daddy is black, (Ebony), the babies have a large variation from specked black to white, the golden babies a very small and I feel may not survive, time will tell

Please help, this is my first attempt, mummy and daddy are about 15 months old!
 
Wonderful pictures! This was very useful, can you cultivate daphnia in a similar way? Also your axolotl babies are adorable. :happy:
 
anyone have a link on to what kind or where to get a pump like this?
 
I'm looking forward to trying this for the first time this week! I was starting to panic as daphnia is becoming impossible to source due to the cold weather so I hope my hatchlings will enjoy BBS :)

killervick7, I believe all you need is a small air pump, they are cheap to pick up second hand (or they are in the UK anyway)
 
thanks for the tutorial, did help me to set up my shrimp factory. with this method I have fresh shrimps every day (at the moment I am feeding newly hatched axolotle and firebelly newts and soon to be morphed tadpoles with them)

shrimps.jpg


front right - started today, ready to be fed in 2 days
front left - used today, ready to be started tomorrow
middle offset - ready to be fed tomorrow
 
As predicted I'm having a bit of trouble. I had a 0% success rate after waiting 2 full days but no sign of hatching whatsoever. I followed this tutorial as closely as I could except I didn't use a straw at the end of the tube because I didn't have any round the house at the time. (what difference does the straw make by the way?) and couldn't find any saltwater so used dechlorinated tapwater and bought some aqualibrium aquarium salts from the pet shop. Not 100% sure it was the ideal brand or type. What salt should I be using? Also I think the bubbles might have been a bit too big and throwing the eggs round too much. Should I use an airstone? Any help appreciated. I have my first clutch of eggs (more than 800) due to hatch after about a week so need a constant supply of live food.
 
Steve, a straw isn't necessary, but it doesn't float like plain airline tubing does. You want your bubbles to come from the bottom, in order to move the entire culture around. You actually want a fair bit of turbulence. An airstone will weigh down your air line, but it's not necessary. I actually use a clip to hold my air line to the bottom (clipped against the side of the container). Any salt is fine, as long as it's non-iodized.

Your problem is probably bad eggs. If eggs are too old, or get damp at any point, they're no good and will not hatch. Try a new batch of brine shrimp eggs.

A word of caution to everyone: When using an air pump, PLEASE make sure your air pump is above your water level, and you have left a drip-line in both your power cord and your air line. If you don't, you may very well suck water up into your air pump (no, the force of the air is not enough to push the water out). If this happens, it will destroy your pump, and it can very well start a fire. Please be cautious!!
 
Dear Rachel, I love you!!! I was a little confused with ALLLL the different versions, and you made me so confident for starting up a batch! I get my axies and some eggs this Tuesday, so THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:D
 
I've tried this with the Brine shrimp.
(I had too little time to breed Daphnia...)
It took almost three days for the shrimp to hatch, but I know what I did wrong at first. I stored the bottles in a way too cold room. When I moved them to the living room (= warmer) they hatched within hours.

But I was wondering, I added a straw full of shrimp to my larva's, but they don't seem to eat them? Or they don't "hunt" them down or anything. Is that normal? Like, are they supposed to chase them non-stop, or will it happen once in a while?
 
Dominick, make sure you're rinsing your shrimp very thoroughly with fresh water to remove the salt before adding them to the larvae tubs.

If your larvae are small, they will just lay there and wait for food to swim by their mouth. Then they'll 'gulp' it in.
 
Shock. I totally forgot about rinsing them! I think I'd better go and do an extra water change now to get the salt level down... Darn.
 
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