Ok, the last of the original video episodes i have been working on. There will be more, but this was the last of the original plan. This show is about Hatching Brine shrimp for use as fish/coral food


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OMG that is funny. My daughter asked me when we were going to start hatching brine shrimp tonight. I said "As soon as I figure out the best way to do it." Right on cue Rob Thanks!

he he...

Great video Rob!! Even though I had done this before I realized I wasn't using the greatest technique!! Thanks for teaching me a better way!!

i haven;t seen it yet, its loaded & ready to go,i saw it load today. but what process did u use, how deep/full on did u dive into the process, just incase i still have trouble watching all of it>!

i go through everything start to finish.
explain and show the equipment and products, the hatcheries, lighting, air pumps, straining.. everything

I have heard that decapsulated brine eggs can be hatched in the tank, is that true? Is just bad practice?

huh, i never thought of that.

Yeah, I was reading this article on seahorse.org about keeping Dwarf Seahorses, http://www.seahorse.org/library/articles/dwarfKeeping.shtml and in the feeding section, the author said she places decapsulated eggs in the tank to provide different hatch times at different times of the day. I just don't know if it's really a good idea in a reef. I've where people have done that with regular cysts (not decapsulated) and ended with hydroids all over the tank.

used mainly for bulk batchs, unless your tanks the size of a small swimming pool, i would stick to pep bottles for now! lol we have links to stufff like this in the TR links DBase if u want to chase it some more!

I have heard that decapsulated brine eggs can be hatched in the tank, is that true? Is just bad practice?
any kind of brine eggs can be hatched in your tank.

i think i slightly misread that! in the tank, means in the display?

How often do you feed these to your tank?

I've never used Brine in my SW tanks.

i think i slightly misread that! in the tank, means in the display? Yup, in the main display tank. I just wonder why reefers don't do it, unless it is for some reason, considered to be bad practice. Seems like even the decapsulated eggs themselves would be good coral food.

i never heard this been asked before(cause u dont have control in the proccess)well afew reasons stick out on the simplistic front, they might not make it to maturity, uneaten, but un hatched will sit on the bottom pollutioning the tank!
can introduce unknown deseases, less that favouable conditions for cultivation to name a few

Rob mentions in his video that baby brine shrimp are very healthy for your fish, but adult brine shrimp are not very healthy for your fish. I happen to be reading Clownfishes, by Joyce D. Wilkerson at the moment and she has this advice on brine that I thought I would share.

She says that fist stage nauplii (newly hatched brine shrimp) are at their highest nutritious level because of the yolk sack that they feed on is high in fat. Their size also makes them excellent for feeding to clownfish larvae. But then she goes on to explain that adult brine shrimp make an "excellent food for your juvenile and adult clowns."

She said to move the nauplii to another tub or tank with good aeration and they will grow to adult in about 10 days and will live for more than 7 weeks. She says to feed them phytoplankton or "greenwater" and to pay attention to the color of the shrimp:

Pink or Yellow - Plenty of O2 and feeding on phyto.
Red or orange -Stressed and feeding on bacteria. Stress is caused by lack of food, O2 or high SG.


They will also eat rice bran, whey, spirulina (dried) and wheat flour. Be sure not to overfeed. A 20% change out is recommended per week. She says you need to clean the bottom of the tub every couple of days by attracting the brine with a flashlight to the top and siphoning the bottom. Debris collects because they molt 15 times before reaching adulthood.

It sound to me like it is more work to raise them to adulthood, but it does make sense that if they are eating phyto along the way, they still should have some nutritional value.

Just thought I would share what I have been reading and I will let you know how it works out!

valid post wild1, i should have modified the maturity statement within the the topic context, but to be honest, given the nature of the animals we keep, i dont see how many could survive any development stage, let alone play the numbers game to maturity

i sometimes use a hatchery that release the newly hatch slowly into the tank.

gravity feed?

gravity feed?
no, emigrating toward light.

u know what they say," if u see the light, chances are your already dead!"

yes, decapsulated brine shrimp can be added directly to a reef tank.
the decap cycts make a great food source for fish and coral.
then any cycts that aren't eaten will likely hatch, providing a second wave of food.

decap brin are often sold in two forms, hatching and non hatching. its pretty self explanatory, but the non hatching are used as fry and coral food.. and will not hatch.

well, just when u think uve got a decent understanding of something!!!!
bam!!! u have detention with forced study time for not knowing ur stuff welll enough! *puts his earphones in the ears & makes his way via the scenic route carrying his school bag full of jelly babies & gummy grapes*

im just thinking, if i add decapsulated shrimp into my tank, itll be sucked up by my skimmer before they even hatch. are the eggs themselves a good food source?

this is true, so as with many types of feeding its usually a good idea to turn off pumps/skimmers for a short period. but if they are hatching cysts, they will hatch in your tank.

and yes, the un hatched cysts are a good food source

how many MB is this vid.

how many MB is this vid.
its about 108 MB

I guess I wont be seeing this vid then.

I checked a couple of my normal sources, but I can't find the exact hatchery Rob demo'd. Where can I get that one?

Are you looking for this??

http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=SB1113


Evan- not sure if you have a laptop, but perhaps there is an internet cafe in your area ;)

Are you looking for this??

http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=SB1113

yep, thats the one i have

im just thinking, if i add decapsulated shrimp into my tank, itll be sucked up by my skimmer before they even hatch. are the eggs themselves a good food source?
i turn my skimmer off while feeding. the skimmer sucks up everything...phyto to cyclopze-eze.

Are you looking for this??



Merci beaucoups.

I ordered this one yesterday:

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i233/wildeone/picserve.jpg

along with some of the decapsulated artemia cysts by Algagen:

http://www.seahorsesource.com/shop_images/Decapsulated%20Artemia%20Cysts%202.jpg

After much discussion with Dan at Seahoese Source, I decided to hatch in a feeder, pull 1/3 of the nauplii and all unhatched cysts and feed to my 65 tank. Then I an going to grow out the other 2/3 of the nauplii and feed with the phytoplankton I am culturing.

After 7 to 10 days I will filter the adult brine and feed to the reef. So I think will feed nauplii once a week and adult brine the next week. I am not sure how often I will end up feeding this in the end but I think that is a good start!

Copy of this saved to my journal...

good luck W1

looks like a nifty little unit u have there!
let us know how it pans out!

I will post additional pics as I get them. It should be in middle of the weeka nd i should have my forst batch early the next week ( I am out of town this weeekend).

enjoy ur time out wildone

i cannot remember where i heard this (i think in the refugiums podcast) but i think rob said something about brine shrimp in ur fuge (im listening now to make sure) but what would happen if you were to feed them into your fuge would/could they reproduce if the flow did not suck them out?? or is it just better to grow different cultures to feed your tank, on that note, how often would you feed your tank.

change, it was mysid shrmp that were in the fuge, sorry, my mistake

no prob..

you can catch decaped brine shrimp eggs to you tank, they will hatch in there. probably wont readily reproduce because they will be eaten before that, but its an alternative. you ill produce more using the culture method, but its an option.. :)

on the topic of mysid shrimp, how do they end up in your system, are they another thing you have to hatch or do they come with the LR/LS??

yep, usually in LR

Hi Rob, I dont know whats wrong I cant see the video (actually none of the videos) do I have to configure something in my computer?

nope, just make sure you are using the newest version of iTunes or Quicktime

I have a question about all of this... yes I DLed and watcheed the video...

I PLANNED on buying the hatchery thingie then later ordering the decapsulated eggs. However, the brand I bought was "San Franciso Bay" and it actually came with three packets of "hatch mix" which is salt and eggs combined, I just need to use the right amount of RODI water.

This isn't a huge problem, because I can just share the extra with a friend. (I'll be making about 2x as many as I need, but since their mix includes the salt, I don't want to (sea) monkey :) with anything.

The question I have is their instructions say to keep everything at about 80-82 degrees! Wha? My home is only 70-74 and I don't think we'll be cranking the heat during the summer. Obviously in the winter, things will be colder.

Will this matter?

yes, just use RO water.
the hatch mix it comes with is usually a lower quality grade, so your hatch rate will be less than normal. not a big deal..

as far as the temp just keep it in front of the light and it will hatch fine

this is true, so as with many types of feeding its usually a good idea to turn off pumps/skimmers for a short period. but if they are hatching cysts, they will hatch in your tank.

and yes, the un hatched cysts are a good food source


Hi Everyone,
Could the decapsulated eggs be placed into the refugium to hatch?

yes, they can. many people use them as food just as you mentioned.
i have the decap shrimp from Algagen and i have tried this method

it is important to note that, if you do this you will not have a nearly the hatch rate but its easier.
so if you want to maximize your yield, then hatch them out, but if you dont have the time to actually hatch them then you can dump them in like that.

new instant video added to this thread
you can now view this video right here in the post live

see post #1 to view the video