Hatching brine shrimp

[idris]

I've just had my first go at hatching some JBL brine shrimp eggs.

It took nearly 36hrs to be able to see the hatched shrimp, but I think the hatchery was a little colder than ideal.
The problem now is that they're free swimming, not sinking. Is this incldicative of too little salt, too much time, or anything else in particular? As it is I have no idea how to seperate out the brine shrimp.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
About 27oC for hatching, I used 2:1 table salt and Epsom Salts in hard tap water, I've never used a splash of bleach, but most people recommend it. It doesn't matter if the water is saltier than recommended, so you don't need a refractometer or hydrometer to get the salinity spot on.

The hatched nauplii swim towards the light. When turn the air line off, you should have all the egg cysts floating at the top, and the BBS at the bottom (if they won't congregate at the bottom of the hatch container, you can use the light to get them down to the bottom). If it is a filter with a tap you can open the tap and let them out, and then strain through a brine shrimp net, if it has a solid bottom you can siphon them out.

If you are intending to feed BBS it is worth getting Hellweg's "Culturing Live Food", it is a good book any way and has a whole chapter on BS.

cheers Darrel

 

[idris]

Any idea why the egg cases might not float?
When you say add a splash of bleach, do you mean "Kills all known germs DEAD" Extra Thick Domestos, or Milton. And how many ml are in a splash. (I assume you mean a metric splash )