# Help!....Hatching Brine Shrimp-keeping temperature stable



## King James (Jan 30, 2012)

I just started hatching brine shrimp....how do you keep temperature at 80-82 degrees? I have the sanfransisco bay unit where you attach pump and use 2 liter plastic bottle with bottom cut out. I have it in spare bathroom with electric heater going trying to keep heat stable. I checked in middle of night and it was too hot.....88 degrees, turned down heater and it got to cold....I am getting it there, but what a pain. Does anyone have a system to keep temp stable without having to use aquarium?


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## King James (Jan 30, 2012)

Just checked and it is 80 degrees now, but my wife is not real happy with me at moment since I have that bathroom shut up with 80 degree heat in there just so brine shrimp can hatch. Hope there is a better avenue!


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## navigator black (Jan 3, 2012)

I hatch it in my basement beside the water heater - the furnace room is at 22-23 celsius and I get superb hatches (depending on the quality of the cysts) in about 36 hours. I'd guess that to be about 72-73 f?


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

I just hatch in the fish room.Temp varies.Just takes maybe a few more or less hours to hatch.


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## williemcd (Jun 23, 2011)

Set up a 10G tank with the heater in that... with that you can heat the tank and run 2,3,4 hatchery batches mostly submerged in the 2L bottles, delaying by 12-18 hrs. between each.. constant supply..Bill in Va.


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## navigator black (Jan 3, 2012)

I think of it this way - if it's too much trouble, then you will not do it for long. Seek simplicity. Hatching brine shrimp at room temperature is very little trouble. I get enough for two feedings a day, and the second feeding remains nutricious and promotes good fry growth. I get enough bbs that it is a staple in my fishroom for all my smaller fish.
I have cut back as the price of cycts has skyrocketed (I now feed a lot of decapsulated artemia), but I am very lazy, and still have hatched brine shrimp at least four times a week for the past 15 years. If I worried about heating it, etc, I doubt I'd still be doing that.
It helps if you have a space consistently above 70f, but outside of that, you just nneed water, salt, aeration and cysts.


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## ArtyG (Jun 29, 2011)

All the above info is true and good and I would add that you can substitute microworms for brine shrimp. You can get cultures from Carolina Biological Supply.
All you need then are a box of instant Cream of Wheat and brewers yeast from a health food store and you can create self sustaining cultures of barely visible nematodes that are very nutritious and eagerly eaten by the tiniest of egg hatched fry.


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## navigator black (Jan 3, 2012)

Microworms are good, but they drop to the bottom. A lot of the fish I breed are surface feeders. The fry never go to the bottom pf the tank, so microworms don't work for them. Bbs stay in the water column for quite some time, and that increases their value for many fish. They're also eagerly eaten by adult fish.
If microworms worked for everything, I would save a lot of money...


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## King James (Jan 30, 2012)

navigator black said:


> I think of it this way - if it's too much trouble, then you will not do it for long. Seek simplicity. Hatching brine shrimp at room temperature is very little trouble. I get enough for two feedings a day, and the second feeding remains nutricious and promotes good fry growth. I get enough bbs that it is a staple in my fishroom for all my smaller fish.
> I have cut back as the price of cycts has skyrocketed (I now feed a lot of decapsulated artemia), but I am very lazy, and still have hatched brine shrimp at least four times a week for the past 15 years. If I worried about heating it, etc, I doubt I'd still be doing that.
> It helps if you have a space consistently above 70f, but outside of that, you just nneed water, salt, aeration and cysts.


That is good to know, all the directions I have read says keep them 80-82 and several of you just do as you do and it works. I was kind of thinking this is to complicated, but now I will not worry about it, just keep above 70 degrees. At night our heat goes down to 62 F, so I will just keep that room above 70 at night, no problem. Thanks, good info!


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## King James (Jan 30, 2012)

Well the consensus is as long as you keep it pretty much above 70 degrees F they will hatch ok. Sounds good to me! Thanks!!
What about lighting? Somewhere I read you need direct light on them.....especially first 6 hrs.....is this true?


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## King James (Jan 30, 2012)

navigator black said:


> I think of it this way - if it's too much trouble, then you will not do it for long. Seek simplicity. Hatching brine shrimp at room temperature is very little trouble. I get enough for two feedings a day, and the second feeding remains nutricious and promotes good fry growth. I get enough bbs that it is a staple in my fishroom for all my smaller fish.
> I have cut back as the price of cycts has skyrocketed (I now feed a lot of decapsulated artemia), but I am very lazy, and still have hatched brine shrimp at least four times a week for the past 15 years. If I worried about heating it, etc, I doubt I'd still be doing that.
> It helps if you have a space consistently above 70f, but outside of that, you just nneed water, salt, aeration and cysts.


Sounds good.....I bought a small lamp (reading lamp) with articulating lamp, I put this about 8 inches away shining directly on eggs. 25Watt halogen bulb. I read where you need light and especially the first 6 hrs.....is this True?


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## ArtyG (Jun 29, 2011)

navigator black said:


> Microworms are good, but they drop to the bottom. A lot of the fish I breed are surface feeders. The fry never go to the bottom pf the tank, so microworms don't work for them. Bbs stay in the water column for quite some time, and that increases their value for many fish. They're also eagerly eaten by adult fish.
> If microworms worked for everything, I would save a lot of money...


True, but I find that when I dip a Q-tip into the culture and swirl it around in the water even the most dedicated surface feeders catch on and feed all the way down. One other problem is if you are feeding fry over a gravel substrate the uneaten worms will burrow down out of further reach. Bare tanks are best for raising fry anyway.


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## navigator black (Jan 3, 2012)

I used to put a night light close to the hatching bottle, but then I began using a spot not far from a window, and I see no difference in hatch rates or times with the natural cycle of the day. I use modified 2 liter pop bottles with the bottom cut off, and the cap drilled with an airline. They hang down, and when I harvest, I turn off the air, wait a few minutes, detach the airline from the air valve and drain by gravity through a net. 
I use lukewarm tap water, bulk store sea salt or even road salt, and cysts. By alternating two recycled pop bottles, I can feed 50 tanks once a day. I have a large fishroom full of small fish, and I breed and sell a lot of fish - enough to pay for the hobby. Brine shrimp is not an especially interesting to hatch, so I want to keep it simple, easy to keep clean, and as cheap as the high cost of cysts allows.

I also cultivate white worms and sometimes wingless fruit flies. I have been using a lot more (way cheaper) decapsulated brine shrimp eggs recently, and find they are working well. For the first two weeks that they can take food that big, bbs is still ideal for fry though - it's the best starter.


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